Delayed Intensification Has Begun

Today in a nutshell....  Tiring, but good.  

Here's the long version....When Abbey woke up this morning it seemed as if her cold was almost gone.  Her body amazingly did a 180 while sleeping last night and she woke up feeling much better.  As of last night she was so congested that I thought for sure her treatment would be off for today, but was so pleasantly surprised when I woke her up this morning and could feel and hear breath coming out of her little nose.  

When we got to the clinic she was accessed right away to see which way today was going to go and a thorough exam was done on her.  Dr. Bodas said that if her numbers looked good and her ANC was high enough he felt very comfortable with going ahead with her treatment for today.  Her lungs sounded completely clear and he said her cold seemed very mild.  So, we sat and waited for her numbers to come back.  It usually takes about 10 minutes, but somedays it seems like an hour.  Every time someone comes in our room whether it's a doctor, nurse, family life specialist (the door opens often) we stop what we're doing and hope it's good news.  Today Kathy our nurse brought us the good news.  Her ANC was 2640 (it only needs to be 750 to start) and all her other numbers looked great too. We were cheering for Abbey's bone marrow today! :)  It did a great job in getting those numbers up so she could start this phase strong.  

So off to sedation we went.  I was sure to tell every nurse and doctor that came in our sedation room that she had a cold just so they were aware and could watch her closely during her procedure.  She breezed through it like a champ and woke up happy and wanting to be held.  There is nothing better than seeing her bright eyes open and I always gladly scoop her up and hold her tight.  Every time she has a procedure she gets to pick a prize from some bins on the sedation floor.  She always picks a beenie baby and she has quite a collection these days.  She usually picks one, then changes her mind at least five times before finally settling on the one that she wants to take home. 

The people are so wonderful to us at our hospital and they do anything and everything to help our days there be a little brighter.  Abbey has countless new toys that she gets by being such a trooper.  Our house is being crowded out by stuffed animals, but whatever helps this peanut get through what she's been through is fine with us.  We will be forever thankful for how they have held our hands through this whole thing since day one.  We can honestly say that our doctors and nurses have become our friends and we love them for helping get our Abbey better.

So, back to the clinic we went.  Today, Sherry the art therapist came to our room and set Abbey up with some water paint and a paper.  Abbey and I enjoyed painting and it made time go a little faster.  While painting, she had zofran (anti-nausea med.) and two chemos put through her port.  When we were done with our picture she said she wanted to give it to Kathy, our nurse because "she does a really good job at being a nurse".  She then got her "tubey" out and we were free to go. Overall, things went very well and we are thankful to have been able to start this phase today so we are 1 day closer to being done with it!  Tomorrow morning she starts the steroids and will be on them for 7 days.  I will keep you posted on how she does this week.  Thanks for praying for us today.  I felt so covered in prayer from the second I woke up today and can't believe how "o.k." I felt as I went through this day today.  I have been dreading this day for weeks and was so thankful again for this peace that God continues to give as we continue to move forward.  Maintenance... Here we come!!!