Yesterday, Sean and Naomi left to fly to Virginia and attend Sean's sister's, Darcy, wedding. Charlotte and I stayed home. The doctors didn't think it would be a good idea to fly with Charlotte. Rather than make her feel bummed at staying home and missing out on being a flower girl, we spent a day running around having fun. We started out by driving down to my work. I had a final catalog press proof to get signed off by Dr. Christensen. Once he put in his changes (his nose looked too red... get that fixed), Charlotte and I drove the proofs to the printing house. I asked if Charlotte and I could see the machines going. They took us out back, and we got to watch as they printed some Breast Cancer fundraiser fliers. They showed Charlotte where the paper went into the press, then walked us down about 30 feet to the end of the press to watch the finished fliers shoot out. Charlotte found the whole thing interesting.
While at work, a co-worker asked Charlotte if we had gotten any pumpkins yet. Charlotte immediately fixated on the fact that we HAD NO PUMPKINS. On the way home, we saw a huge display of pumpkins at a local grocery. Charlotte demanded we stop and pick up pumpkins. She spied a white one, and was out of the car before I could grab my purse, "running" to make sure it would be hers. I say "running" because Charlotte has yet to get herself to a full run yet. It's sweet and heartbreaking to see her struggle to run. We grabbed three pumpkins and quickly purchased them.
After we returned home, we invited our pre-school neighbor, Lilli, to come play. Charlotte and Lilli happily played until Charlotte's home health nurse came to draw blood for her doctor's visit the next day. Then the Fed-Ex truck came with our Monkey in my Chair. She and Lilli played with the monkey until Charlotte's teacher, Ms. Smith, came to have an hour of school with Charlotte. Charlotte is thankfully on par with her classmates in math and writing, and at the top end of the class, reading at a level 18. Ms. Smith explained that the kids that needed help in her class were reading at a level 4. She has a few kids reading at a level 18, and the bulk of the class is averaging at level 8.
For dinner, we invited the McDaniel clan over for walking tacos. It was noisy and great. When we said goodbye to the McDaniels, Charlotte collapsed on the couch, exhausted.
Today we returned to Primary's oncology clinic for another round of Chemo. It snowed this morning, so our drive up was a little nerve-wracking. The first snow of the season always seems to freak out everyone, and they forget how to drive. Some people drive like maniacs, and others drive like morons. We were 15 minutes late to our appointment, even though we left with enough time to arrive 15 minutes early.
Charlotte shared some chocolates with the nurses and doctors that I brought back from my London trip. Everyone asked what her Halloween costume would be, and loved her super-cool Sketcher boots with the light-up toes. Her oncologist said she is doing great! Her red blood cell levels were lower, but not enough that they would require a transfusion. Her immunity levels are looking good. When Charlotte asked if she could go to her soccer team's Halloween party, the oncologist said he felt it should be fine, if mom agrees. Charlotte was thrilled. We talked more about what will be coming up. In ten days, Charlotte gets another lumbar puncture. Ten days after that, we finish the "Interim Maintenance's" last dose of chemo.
After the "Interim Maintenance" cycle, we will start "Delayed Intensification". They will bring back the steroids (yuck!!). I say yuck because it causes her to be very emotional. She also ends up taking a half dozen other medications to off-set the side effects of the steroids. If I'm understanding them correctly, she'll be on them for 7 days, off them for 7 days for two months. Charly will also be given 3 different chemo drugs through her IV for weekly appointments. As her oncologist explained it, usually patients see their immunity levels drop significantly at the third week of this treatment. We may have to have a transfusion or two at this stage. If I'm counting right, it sounds like Thanksgiving and Christmas will be low immunity times. However, she keeps doing great! No mouth sores, no rash on her hands or feet, no stopping the clock to allow her to recover yet... knock on wood. I know it is from all those prayers everyone offers on her behalf.
I mentioned that it seemed like she is doing great, with little problems from her chemo. I keep getting people who ask me when she will be able to go back to school. The doctor said, "don't worry, even though she seems to not be having a hard time, the medicine is working". I assured him I wasn't anxious about it, but I do admit to being curious about it. He said with most kids, that along with their low immune system the main negative factor is how exhausting a full day of school is. Remembering how exhausted Charlotte was after our full day yesterday. I'm sure that was nowhere near the normal pace of a first grader. I have no promises from our doctors, they don't like to do that, but I'm confident Charly will be ready to start 2nd grade when the time comes. Who knows! Maybe she will be feeling up to a day or two of 1st grade before school breaks for summer.
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