Sleepy Medicine & Dancing...

This week sure flew by (which is a good thing when you have a little girl on steroids for much of it)! Last Friday went fine at clinic. It was a long day, but Abbey was a trooper. We got to clinic at 10:30. Her blood looked good and her ANC was nice and high. Her oral chemo that she gets at home daily has been at 75% dose for a while now. Once a child's ANC drops below a certain number two times while in maintenance phase, they adjust the chemo until they see their numbers recover for a certain amount of time. It's kind of confusing, but Abbey has not been up to 100% dose since the summer. This past Friday, they raised the chemo that we give her at home back up to 100%. It feels good to have her back up to the highest dosage as we pray for each and every leukemia cell in her body to be being killed. They assured us that kids do just as well when they are on reduced doses because each child handles the chemo differently and they adjust their medication according to what their little bodies are doing, but it just feels better to know that her body is handling the tougher stuff better, in hopes to wipe away this disease completely and permanently. So, all that said, right now Abbey is exactly where she should be with her medications.

After we got her medication figured out, she was given her vincristine through her port and we were free to go to sedation. Her sedation time was at 1:30, but once we got there we learned that they were running behind. She ended up not getting her "sleepy medicine" until 2:30. She woke up a little after 3 (after getting her lp and spinal chemo) and finally was able to eat. Abbey was smiling and so patient as she waited for them to come in. It truly was amazing to see her that day. My mom, who came with us that day asked Abbey if she took a happy pill that morning. Abbey commented on how nice her nurse was and said that she liked getting her sleepy medicine so she could take a nap. It's totally a 'God thing' to see this child go through these days with such ease. Me on the other hand was getting frustrated that this little girl had to wait so long to eat or drink. I don't eat when Abbey can't eat so by that point, I was hungry and getting a headache and knew she too had to be starving. I needed some of Abbey's patience and grace that day :). It's over though and everything went fine.

Abbey did pretty good on the steroids this week. Her appetite picked up like normal and I did notice some swelling this time in her face, but overall she handled them well. Her vincristine caused a little difficulty in her walking the last couple days and she has fallen a few times while running around. The chemo's that she gets in her port take full effect around 7 - 10 days after she gets them so once she fell the other day, I immediately knew it was from her chemo. It seems to be getting better and it's something that isn't permanent, but that wears off with time. It's always a reminder though of all this tough stuff going in her body and that none of it is without side effects.

And now for some fun updates :). Jacob lost his two front teeth over this past week. The first one came out late one night. He was in bed for the night and came out into the living room because he said his belly hurt and he tasted something yucky in his mouth. Turns out, his gum was bleeding around the tooth and he twisted it and it came right out. The second one fell out at school... at lunch. He was just finishing up his last bite of his pb&j sandwich and he said he felt something in his throat. He said he felt like he was going to throw up, then he realized he swallowed his tooth. Poor guy! I can't believe he's loosing his teeth! He's growing up fast.

And these pictures below are from one of our 'dance parties'. You will often find Jim blasting music in the kitchen and dancing with the kids while I make dinner. They just love it (as you can see in their faces). If you look closely at the pictures, you can see Jim starts with his normal clothes on (long sleeves) and as the dancing goes on, he gets hot and is down to his t-shirt. He gets quite a workout and works up a sweat as he goes all out with his moves :)! You can also see that Abbey had an outfit change too... what can I say.. she's a girl ;)! Even Caleb got in on the action this time. He will soon be asking daddy to dance with him too. Jacob skipped dancing this time to play the drums. Fun times in the Colbert Home and memories that we will all remember forever!

And lastly, isn't he just delectable :)! Have I mentioned that I am so crazy about this baby?!

Thanks for checking in! Have a great weekend ;)