She's a superhero!

Or superhuman, or something. Maybe they should do a study on her. This is unprecedented. She never even went neutropenic this week! Today should be her nadir (ie, when her blood counts bottom out and she's subceptable to all kinds of infections) but instead she's got flying colors on red, white and platelets! This is the part of the regimen where delay is likely because the patient's body doesn't rebound as quickly, so starting the next treatment is put off until their counts are good. Instead, she beats her recovery record by 3 or 4 days! She was a tad tired early in the week, and we suspected she'd need a hemoglobin transfusion, but no... now she's eating voraciously (always a good sign), enjoying time with her brother and family, swimming, playing, doing summery stuff while we redesign her bedroom and bathroom (more on that later) and aside from being completely hairless and still limping on her dropfoot you'd never suspect she was ill in any way. Know why? Because she's not! As far as I'm concerned she's cancer-free and has only three more treatments to go. Then we're going to Disneyland!

Starting Summer

It's ninety degrees today in Petaluma. Millie has been wearing summer dresses and trying to figure out how to keep her head cool under her hats. Her appetite has come back with the increased dose of megace we're feeding her each day. This last cycle of chemo was fairly easy on her- she did not develop mouth sores or nausea.

She had a playdate with her friend Caroline, and even climbed up the tubes at Chuck-E-Cheese during their lunchtime pizzafest. Her days with Caroline are very special to her. We are so grateful for this friendship, as Caroline's parents are both medical professionals, and Caroline's mom is a cancer survivor. Millie feels so comfortable with them-she trusts them to care for her, and can be hatless around them. Caroline's parents (Lisa and Chris) even changed Millie's broviac dressing (at Millie's request) after a swim session had loosened the covering. Brian and I have turned to Lisa and Chris many times with questions about injections, medications, broviac care, and navigating the oncology highway.

Millie went down to severe neutropenia again this week (as expected). I was watching her temperature climb last night, but it never got over 100.2. Today she was back to 98 and actively playing with her visiting cousin Andrew.

Our godchildren, Sydney and Sebastian visit tomorrow with their father and our great friend Scott. It is our first time having overnight guests since Millie was diagnosed- and we are eagerly looking forward to the time together.

Six Months of Cancer Living

Posted from the hospital during cycle 10 (5 days of Etoposide and Ifosfamide).

The months crawl by, and here we are six months from our first hospital stay. Winter turned to spring, and now summer teases us as the end of the school year looms.

Griffin has finished his second grade year largely without his mother or sister, and Millie's classmates are attending end-of-year picnics while Millie spends another week in the hospital bed.

Two of the kids we met when we started this journey, two "frequent flyers" on the 10th Floor Pediatric Wing, have completed treatment cycles and are home regrowing hair and looking forward to a wonderful summer. More kids started after us, and to them the halfway point seems far away. Two sweet young kids started recently- as they still have their hair and their families have that deer-in-the-headlights look.

And here we are, our lives still caught in these horse latitudes of endless hospital nights, but a breeze promises a push towards the shore. We can see the end, with only 4 more cycles to go- only 2 more 6 day stays to complete.

We can start to think about life without the hospital- our jobs, travel, holidays, school. It is a quickening now, realizing what we should accomplish while still in the stillness. House organization, photo albums to create, letters to write, (loads of thank-you cards), and preparations for re-entry.

Millie had a chest xray on Wednesday to check for any metastasis (ewings sarcoma typically spreads to the lungs). It came back normal. I feel that we are truly on the downhill slope!