9.05.2009

On the mend

Mollie had a great day at school on Friday, and then a play date with Bella. She's definitely feeling better, although the cough is hanging on.

Have a great weekend!

9.03.2009

Crafty Day

Mollie stayed home from school today due to 1) yesterday's fever and 2) big time antibiotics. Other than the cough, she felt pretty good and did not want to just stay home and rest. So... we picked up some bagels and cream cheese and headed over to the park for a picnic. Mollie and Lucy had a great time playing in the water park, but the play structure was just too hot, so we didn't stay for long.

Mollie missed art class (her favorite) at school today, so we had our own art class at home. She has been learning to recognize all the color words, so I made a color wheel for her to paint. The learning experience was two fold: she had to recognize the colors that I wrote on the wheel and then we talked about primary and secondary colors and color mixing. Definitely a success!

After a little down time, I took Mollie to her first Girl Scout (Daisy) meeting. The troop made paper bead necklaces, a craft right up Mollie's alley! Lucy also had a fun time scooting around on the floor in the gym, where the meeting was held.

Today definitely made up for yesterday! I plan to send Mollie to school tomorrow since her cough seems to be getting better and she's tolerating the antibiotics well.

9.02.2009

Clinic Update

Have I mentioned the spontaneous nature our lives have taken since Mollie's cancer diagnosis?

Today, I planned to pick Mollie up from school, take her to clinic for counts, and return her to school. After school, she was to attend the first meeting of a Nature Club for K-2nd graders at a local park.

As you may have already guessed, it didn't go that way at all. It started with Mollie coughing and wheezing in the middle of the night. At one point, she had such a hard time breathing that we almost went to the ER. But the pediatric ER was closed and it would only be a few more hours until the clinic opened, so we decided to try to hold out until morning. We fixed Mollie a spot on the sofa, and she calmed down enough to go to sleep. The coughing subsided somewhat and we all got a little (a very little) rest.

We headed to the clinic as soon as it opened, and Matt postponed some meetings so he wouldn't have to go out of town. It was a struggle to get Mollie to wear a mask (to protect the other patients), but Miss Kym walked by at just the right time; within minutes, Mollie was wearing the mask.

Mollie had a low grade fever, but her lungs sounded pretty clear, and her ANC was 3400. She was a trooper for her port access this time. She was scared and said it hurt, but she stayed very calm and was even laughing when she tried to drink water through her face mask. She recieved an IV antibiotic (rocephin) and a prescription for another antibiotic (Zithromax) and we got sent home. We'll skip the Bactrim (Septra) for the next two weeks (with all the other antibiotics, I'm not concerned) and stay on 100% dose of oral chemo.

We ended up being in clinic until about 2, but don't think I'm complaining. She could have been admitted to the hospital, and I'm so glad she wasn't! She is still in good spirits, but we will keep her home from school tomorrow so she can rest a bit more and we can see how she's reacting to the new meds. Hopefully, she'll be back to school on Friday and ready for the weekend!