Monday, October 5, 2009

what a weekend.

Before we found out about Piper, Chad and I were feeling very blessed. We had not one, but 2 beautiful and healthy girls, our marriage is stronger than it has ever been and Chad had just been accepted to the University of Georgia. Excuse me a minute while I brag on him a little...Chad has kept his GPA steady at a 3.5 while being a loving husband who loves date nights with me, an involved father who is not afraid of changing a dirty diaper and loves to play soccer with his oldest and working a full time job. When he was accepted to UGA we applied for family housing, which is essentially an apartment for families on the campus. We planned to move out of our house the middle of December...but then we got Pipers diagnosis.
The little house we rent is actually Chads grandmothers. And although we have put many, many, many hours into it the house still has no ventilation or central heating or air. We do not feel comfortable putting her compromised immune system in the midst of that, plus we have parents who get really excited at the thought of their children back under their roof. Ok, my mom does and my dad loves us and loves the fact that surely we wont be there forever...right? The plan now is to stay with my parents until December when we move on campus. Which is why when my best friends Miriam and Kara told me they "wanted to help in any way" I put them to work helping me pack...we got alot done on Saturday and I am hoping to have the house empty within 2 weeks. I feel a little bit discombobulated with my belongings here, at home and some at my parents place. ugh.
But back to Piper. On Friday they did a Lumbar Puncture (spinal tap) and gave her chemo specific to her central nervous system to continue to keep the leukemia away from there. Saturday she was here with my mom and my "second mom" Aunt Marilyn and we got nothing but good reports when we got back to the hospital at midnight. For some reason though Piper had a very rough night Saturday night and I was up with her most of it. Her temperature had spiked by Sunday morning and that combined with the diaper rash she has developed, the doctors decided to start her on antibiotics and treat her as though it is an infection.The blood they drew on Sunday will take a few days to get back and until then she is on antibiotics and good cream for her hiney. Also, Piper has always been a vocal little baby but the last few days she had begun to sound like a kitten...very small and weak. This weekend it was been decided that she has temporary vocal paralysis due to a specific type of chemo done last week. It is very, very uncommon but dont you know Pipers little voice is mainly gone. While it is very pathetic to hear her attempt to cry, she is not in pain and her voice should be back to normal in 6-9 months. Her mood had improved signifigantly by early afternoon and she even chose to smile for some of our visitors, and we had not seen a smile out of her for a few days. And last night she slept from 1030-430am, got a bottle and slept in until 930...it was much needed rest for all of us.

1 comment:

  1. praying for sweet piper's little voice and her diaper rash and SLEEP :)..and for your family as you move in with the parents... :)

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