Monday 5/10

It been a whirlwind of a week and weekend. Chad completed his finals, Piper completed her 5 days of chemo and we moved into our own shoebox. Everyone breathe a huge sigh of relief...I know I am!

Chemo went as well as it can. Piper is such a wonderful trooper. Our biggest frustration was attempting to feed her without a highchair and to keep up with her...she is so very active! She really loves to walk around while holding onto our fingers but that is not an easy task to do while hauling a IV pole with you. Her ANC today was down to 540 and should still drop a little before beginning to rise. All the other blood work continues to look great. We began the Neupogen shots nightly on Saturday. It is intended to boost the white blood cells to keep her from becoming neutropenic and to enable her body to keep infections at bay. Neupogen does cause her bones to ache so we will see if she still crawls around as well the next few days.

Chad is done with Spring 2010! He finished each class with B's and is feeling good about taking May off. He will be taking one class this summer and hopefully working a little more to save up for Fall 2010 semester in which he is signed up for 5 classes. Yuck.

And we are finally in our own "casa de petite". Small it is but we are overjoyed with it. We spent a little money on organizing things to keep the clutter away...I get a twitch when I see too much clutter. Hopefully this will help. Linley and Piper are both happy in their new room and Chad and I both agree we have slept the best sleep in months the last 2 nights. The boxes are slowly but surely being worked through and we plan to have yet another yard sale to get rid of things that are not being used right now. I told you I twitch with clutter right? Another thing that we were happy about are the kids. Family Housing is pretty basic and we often wondered if we were the only family around who wanted to put their kids/families through all of the sacrifices that college means. And we aren't! Linley already has a new "best friend" and Chad and I have enjoyed chatting with other parents who are familiar with this lifestyle. I cannot tell you what a relief that is!

I will post some pictures of the new place once I find my camera. And the couch. And towels. And all the other things I so carefully packed away 7 plus months ago!

clinic 5/4

Day 2 of the 5 days of clinic chemo. I really didnt think that her ANC would be high enough to do it this week ( it was 480 on Friday and was supposed to be at 750 to start the 5 day junk). But Monday morning it was 680 and Dr Lew felt confidant that her counts would come up in the next few days before her body realized it was getting chemo and began dropping again. So we accessed her port and got her started. She has had 2 rounds of these drugs before with very little side effects and this time seems the same. Piper receives Zofran for nausea before they start and then its 2 and a half hours of chemo followed by Mesna, which coats her kidneys. These drugs are especially tough on the kidneys so after the chemo she receives 4 hours of fluids to keep her kidneys flushing it all through. All of this makes for a long day. For some reason I havent felt as overwhelmed with the ickiness of these drugs this time...I can only explain it by saying that I am beginning to fully comprehend what these drugs are doing to those microscopic, horrid leukemia cells hiding out in her little body. So instead of wanting to complain about them I am attempting to appreciate them.

Also, we got the pictures back from Flashes of Hope yesterday and they are AMAZING. I will upload some tomorrow on Chads laptop when he isnt in the throes of last minute Calculus 2 exam studying. Wednesday my mom and dad are taking Piper to clinic for the chemo, giving my back a break. Piper is crawling all over the place and it is quite a workout keeping her on the cleaned up mat and not crawling all over the nasty ground. And eating...wow, eating. She doesnt have a highchair there and the stroller just isnt the same. I swear I have peanut butter in my ears from her lunch. Silly girl was a wonder. I am so very proud of the way she rolls with things, although this really is all her little mind knows. She naps, eats, plays and generally just stays busy and waving. After todays chemo she had enough beads to begin her 4th necklace for Beads of Courage...I will see if I can get a picture of that as well.

We get the keys tomorrow and I plan to clean the apartment while my Mother in Law has Linley after preschool and my mom has Piper. I also plan to go visit that lovely red bullseye for a new showercurtain. The folks who work there will be happy to see me solo without my 2 man/ladies popcorn throwing show. Hopefully by the end of the weekend we will be moved in and semi unpacked. And this round of chemo will be done and working its magic and Chad will be school free for 4 blessed weeks. I. Cannot. Wait.

On the road again

After the fun that was south Boston and the Children's Museum of Science, we were understandably exhausted on Saturday. So we slept in and found lunch at a park. I found some beautiful scarfs and took some beautiful pictures of my daughter and off we went to the airport. Not without getting lost in south Boston again of course. I swear we had a homing device between us and there. Not to be outdone by South Boston, Cambridge also had us turned around and yes if you look on a map neither one is anywhere near the airport. And I love my sister but she is not the one you would want to be lost with anywhere, although she will crack you up throughout the process. After she dropped Linley and I off at the airport she beat a hasty path back to New Hampshire. Linley and I found a smoothie, waited to board, flew 3 hours ( not too much greenish-yellow for mommy), landed safely, got our luggage, grabbed dinner and waited for daddy to pick us up. While waiting for our ride Linley was dancing around wearing the scarf I bought on her head like a burka. A nice lady asked if Linley could sing and Linley informed her she would for tips. (Thanks Boston) And so she did. She made out with 35 cents by the time Chad wandered in looking for his travel weary wife and her still very sweetly awake (thanks "airplane only coca-cola") 5 year old daughter.

This was an amazing trip. Linley was at the perfect age to go along with all we did and Hannah was the perfect addition. Many, many thanks to my mom and dad who not only gifted us with the tickets but also cared for Piper while Chad was in class each day. I hope that this trip brings back wonderful memories for Linley as she grows a little more into a little lady. I know that the time with Linley was grand to me.

I love Boston

...just not south Boston so much. Which of course, is where Hannah, Linley and I found ourselves lost on Friday evening. It was decided that we would ride the T into the Children's Museum of Science. It was not decided to get directions and so we wandered. A lot. Past frightening people. Past needles on the ground. Not past any taxis or policemen because that would be entirely too helpful. Finally we wandered onto the T and rode North. And yes, that was our destination in its entirety. We landed in a much better area, but still lost. This time there were less needles and homeless and more cops and taxis...so we got a ride to the museum and WOW, I love that place. Friday nights are a dollar per person so it was the best 3$ I have ever spent. We stayed for almost 3 hours and still didn't make it into each area.

Afterwards, not being fools, we found a taxi immediately and went to find dinner. We ended up eating fondue at 11pm with Linley wide awake and "super happy" to eat cheese and chocolate. We abandoned all hope of ever riding the T again and found yet another taxi back to the hotel where we collapsed and slept until 9. That was a blissful night sleep if I ever had one.

So much to do

I can honestly say that New Hampshire is a beautiful state. It is totally different than the south but still lovely. Hannah (and Nick) did a wonderful job of entertaining us. We painted pottery, ate Mexican, got pedicures, saw a bear (kinda), went sledding and visited Hannah at work. Thanks ya'll!

Snowy Day in NH

In Ga this would have been considered a blizzard, I am pretty sure. At the very least we would have stocked up on toilet paper and bottled water and hunkered down for a day or so. Here in NH, all I heard was a "whattt???? again????" . Linley loved it and CoeCoe helped her make an ice cream sundae thingy out of a ball of snow and some chocolate syrup. We felt very northern until I realized that I only brought layering clothes and no parkas. Sandals wouldn't have cut it much but God must have heard my plea because the snow all melted by afternoon.

Leaving on a jet plane

Want to know a secret? This mommy does not like to fly. I have been flying since I was 2 and flying solo since about 1o, but I do. not. like. it. (To be honest, its only the take off that makes me green...the rest I do fine on) I do, however, like my sister very very much. Sadly, she lives in New Hampshire and the only thing I consistently dislike more than flying is my 5 year old whining in the car for 24 plus hours. So, we flew to New Hampshire. By way of Boston to be exact...which is now one of my favorite places. More on that later.

Usually on my take off I put on some headphones and read a magazine and fade off into my happy place. This was Linleys first plane ride though and I thought it bad mothering to fade out with her so excitedly peeking out the window and asking a million questions. She was so very delightful that I almost, almost felt normal during take off. The clouds enthralled her, the stewardess were enthralled WITH her, the free headphones were a huge hit and she especially liked the "Airplane only" rule that allowed her to order a coca-cola.

During our layover in Baltimore we explored and colored and watched other families and imagined where their plane was going. My Linley has a very active imagination, or maybe it was that thrilling coca-cola...either way she was wonderfully animated while people watching and new friend visiting. We made it to Boston about 830pm and saw that very special CoeCoe. Linley and my sister have a very tight bond. Thankfully, Hannah's husband is also semi-cool and was happy to have us for 4 days. I mainly was happy that I made my first flight with one of my children and she never even noticed that mommy was greenish yellow.