Thoughts of the Day

One of Matt's former co-workers, Frank, is shaving his head to raise money for childhood cancer research. He is honoring Mollie-- see the link to St. Baldrick's in the side bar. Matt may have a little more to say about this later, but he's told me that Frank is a "prince of a guy."

Mollie's musings on the way to school today focused on houses. She is currently pondering "who invented houses."

Tomorrow (Tues.) is a chemo day. She will go in for blood counts and IV vincristine. And she starts steroids again.

Mollie celebrates her 5th birthday on Friday. She doesn't seem to think it's a big deal, but we do!

Mardi Gras and Pancake Day--UPDATED

We made the news.... go here for the video.

Mollie and I are off to serve short stacks of pancakes at IHOP for Pancake Day 2009. This is a fundraiser to raise money for the Children's Miracle Network, an organization that supports many children's hospitals throughout the country.

Celebrate Mardi Gras with a free short stack of buttermilk pancakes until 10 PM tonight and make a donation to the Children's Miracle Network. Mardi Gras, or Shrove Tuesday, is also called pancake day because pancakes (or fried batter) were traditionally made to use up all the fats and dairy products in the house before Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent.

Normal days

Mollie is really enjoying being normal. Now that her hair is growing back, people sometimes think she's a boy (yes, even when she's wearing dresses). It doesn't seem to bother her if it is adults, but she does NOT want her friends to think she looks like a boy. Luckily, she's got some great friends, a great attitude, and fast growing hair!

Last week, the child life specialist and two interns did a special presentation/project with Mollie's class to help the kids become a little more aware of Mollie's special needs. Mollie loved it! They didn't single her out or talk about cancer, they just talked about medicine in general and some of the side effects of "strong medicine." The child life staff people are awesome!


Mollie is very excited to have her grandparents (both sets) and aunts and uncles visiting this weekend for Lucy's baptism. She said, "Maybe when all of them come you and daddy can have a vacation?" Um, yeah right. But it will be great to see everyone, especially Uncle Sam who has just arrived home from Iraq.

Love...

to all our friends and family this St. Valentine's day. This might just be Mollie's favorite holiday. She is working on a story called, "The Girl Who Loved Valentines."

She had a great Valentine party at school yesterday. We made a special mailbox to hold all her goodies. Today will be low-key; the weather is bad so we're going to have some play time and take it easy.

Hope everyone has a happy weekend!

Zofran rocks!

Mollie's weekly, at home drug/chemo regimen goes like this:

6-MP- every single day (for the next 2 years!)
Methotrexate (MTX) - Tuesdays (unless she has spinal chemo)
Septra- Fri, Sat, Sun
Oral/Mouthcare- everyday (we have to get better about doing this!)
Dexamethasone- 5 days every 4 weeks

That is a lot of drugs. The steroids are difficult- no way around that. The only other drug that has caused any side effects is the methotrexate; it makes Mollie feel nauseated.

That's where the Zofran comes in to play. Mollie was upset this morning because she felt like throwing up, but she really was hungry and wanted to go to school. One Zofran and 20 minutes later, she was dressed and ready to go! We got to school a little late, but she jumped right in to the funky scarf-dancing session with her friends!

Playhouse

The weekend was okay; Saturday was the last steroid day for a while. We worked (moving furniture) around the house, but we did make it to Teresia's for a German lesson (and some delicious treats) on Sunday.

Mollie spent some time looking at playhouse ideas... I found one that she really likes (on this blog). What do you think? I love it! We're hoping that Make-a-Wish can build something along these lines. We will keep you updated on the progress.

Mollie had a great day at school today and asked me why she can't stay for afterschool care. She is looking forward to Valentine's day (her favorite holiday, I think). We will work on her special Valentine mail box tomorrow after school.

Not too bad

Surprisingly, this week on steroids has not been as bad as I thought. Since clinic on Tuesday, Mollie stayed home from school Wednesday, went to school Thursday, and stayed home Friday. I think she could (or maybe should?) have gone to school Weds and maybe yesterday. The effects of the steroids are cumulative, so today she was definitely feeling them more.

Weds morning, she woke up and wanted to go to school. So, I sent her up to her room to get dressed and when she finally came down she was teary and emotional. "I was just trying to be a big girl. I'm really sorry." Hmmm... turns out she tried to paint her own fingernails while she was up there (at 7:30 AM) and spilled some nail polish on the rug. It wasn't too bad, and I certainly wasn't angry, but she still didn't feel like going to school. Instead, we ran errands, went to lunch, and went Build-a-bear to make a special bear for my cousin Katie's baby-to-be. Mollie had a great time and then took a 4 hour nap when we got home.

Today we went to the library and then ate lunch. The cafe in the library, where we ate, is a family business. The owner put in a special gumball machine in honor of Mollie- most of the proceeds go to cancer research. Mollie and I were surprised and touched. Afterwards, we went to a children's resale shop to get small treats for Lucy and Mollie. We scored big! Some brand new bear slippers (Mollie's been wanting new, bigger slippers for a while) for $2.99, a Valentine's nightgown with hearts on it, a free Little Red Riding Hood storybook with a CD, and a toy purse (for Lucy).

Last night, both girls went to bed at 7:30. Today is Mollie's last day of steroids until next month. The dark circles under her eyes will go away and she'll have more energy. We are all looking forward to that!!