10.30.2008
October Fun
10.29.2008
Tagged
Mollie was tagged by friend RGW. That means she has to tell 7 things about herself that you (the reader) don't know.
With a little help from Mama, here they are:
1) I have never eaten a hamburger.
2) I've got the tiniest hint of a Southern accent. When I say "jail", it sounds like "gel". When I say "hill", it sounds like "heel". My mom and dad have noticed the occasional "y'all" creeping in.
3) I have never had a soda.
4) I am scared of monsters, ghosts ("ghostes"), and monster-ghost mixes.
5) My favorite dream is that I am sliding down a rainbow.
6) I get really sweaty when I sleep soundly.
7) I am going to be Little Red Riding Hood for Halloween.
I am tagging Alyson, Katie, Isabel, Marielle, Emily, and Serenity.
With a little help from Mama, here they are:
1) I have never eaten a hamburger.
2) I've got the tiniest hint of a Southern accent. When I say "jail", it sounds like "gel". When I say "hill", it sounds like "heel". My mom and dad have noticed the occasional "y'all" creeping in.
3) I have never had a soda.
4) I am scared of monsters, ghosts ("ghostes"), and monster-ghost mixes.
5) My favorite dream is that I am sliding down a rainbow.
6) I get really sweaty when I sleep soundly.
7) I am going to be Little Red Riding Hood for Halloween.
I am tagging Alyson, Katie, Isabel, Marielle, Emily, and Serenity.
10.28.2008
Scratch That
Mollie's ANC was 700 today so they are not going to start DI. I'm glad in a way (since Matt will be here to help and Mollie can enjoy Halloween), but I really want to just get this all started so it can be over.
And I'm annoyed we had to wait 3 hours in the waiting room, with Mollie having eaten nothing since 9 PM last night, only to be sent home. But now we're going to get burritos!
A little more detail added...
Mollie's ANC was 700 and the cut-off for beginning treatment was 750. So, we are going to try again next Tuesday, change one of her regular meds this week, and hope for a higher ANC next week.
And I'm annoyed we had to wait 3 hours in the waiting room, with Mollie having eaten nothing since 9 PM last night, only to be sent home. But now we're going to get burritos!
A little more detail added...
Mollie's ANC was 700 and the cut-off for beginning treatment was 750. So, we are going to try again next Tuesday, change one of her regular meds this week, and hope for a higher ANC next week.
10.27.2008
DI
Tomorrow, Mollie begins delayed intensification (DI). This phase lasts about 6 weeks. Here is the list of chemotherapy drugs she will be getting:
Vincristine
Dexamethasone
Doxorubicin
PEG Asparaginase
Cyclophosphamide
Cytarabine
Thioguanine
Methotrexate
She will get most of these multiple times during this phase. All of them can have serious side effects. And they all kill cancer. The goal of this phase is to use new, more toxic drugs to kill any leukemic cells that may have escaped the induction and consolidation phases. So there we are. Without this phase and the 2 years of maintenance that follow, most leukemias relapse. I've been reading a lot, and the subject of relapse always seems to come up. I just can't go there mentally. It's hard, but I think the only way to deal with this is to take it as it comes. Of course that doesn't mean I'm not worried.
Because we expect that Mollie's blood counts (red cells, white cells, and/or platelets) will drop in the coming weeks as a result of the chemo, we have been trying to get in a lot of fun stuff the last week or so.
We celebrated Lucy's 9 month birthday (wow, how did that happen?!) with a trip to the pumpkin patch last week. The weather was beautiful and we had a lovely time. Mollie already had a pumpkin so she picked out some decorative squash.
This weekend, Mollie and Isabella had a lot of playtime together and they thoroughly enjoyed it (no fights!!). They had their first German lesson and learned the parts of the face and colors. We also made "scarecrows" out of pine straw and some of Bella's old clothes. They turned out cute, but girls enjoyed painting the faces on the pumpkins more than stuffing the clothes with pine straw.
Not sure how Halloween will go. Mollie is excited, but she doesn't know she has to get two painful, intramuscular asparaginase shots in her legs the morning of Halloween.
Vincristine
Dexamethasone
Doxorubicin
PEG Asparaginase
Cyclophosphamide
Cytarabine
Thioguanine
Methotrexate
She will get most of these multiple times during this phase. All of them can have serious side effects. And they all kill cancer. The goal of this phase is to use new, more toxic drugs to kill any leukemic cells that may have escaped the induction and consolidation phases. So there we are. Without this phase and the 2 years of maintenance that follow, most leukemias relapse. I've been reading a lot, and the subject of relapse always seems to come up. I just can't go there mentally. It's hard, but I think the only way to deal with this is to take it as it comes. Of course that doesn't mean I'm not worried.
Because we expect that Mollie's blood counts (red cells, white cells, and/or platelets) will drop in the coming weeks as a result of the chemo, we have been trying to get in a lot of fun stuff the last week or so.
We celebrated Lucy's 9 month birthday (wow, how did that happen?!) with a trip to the pumpkin patch last week. The weather was beautiful and we had a lovely time. Mollie already had a pumpkin so she picked out some decorative squash.
This weekend, Mollie and Isabella had a lot of playtime together and they thoroughly enjoyed it (no fights!!). They had their first German lesson and learned the parts of the face and colors. We also made "scarecrows" out of pine straw and some of Bella's old clothes. They turned out cute, but girls enjoyed painting the faces on the pumpkins more than stuffing the clothes with pine straw.
Not sure how Halloween will go. Mollie is excited, but she doesn't know she has to get two painful, intramuscular asparaginase shots in her legs the morning of Halloween.
10.26.2008
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