Yesterday, a little girl named Anika lost her battle with leukemia. I am heartbroken for this family; their little girl has been plagued by this disease since she was a toddler. Please keep her family in your thoughts and prayers as they deal with the devastating pain and loss.

In a selfish way, when I hear of a child who has died or relapsed I look for any details that make their cancer and treatment different than Mollie's. I'm looking for some reassurance that this won't happen to us, but it's not there. This is a fear we have to live with.

Hug your loved ones tight. Be gentle with your children. Keep in mind the parents who have lost a child; they would give anything to have their little ones running around, making messes, and pestering them with questions.

Clinic Update & Pictures

The update from the clinic is good- ANC = 2040. So... Mollie starts back up on daily chemo (6MP and methotrexate) at 100% dose. I am guessing her counts are going to crash again and then they will cut back on her dose until we find a happy medium. We may need to consider changing antibiotics since the Septra (Bactrim) she takes as a prophylactic can also suppress the bone marrow. But for now, all is well.

I also talked at length with Dr. Bell about the swine flu vaccine. She says get it. All of us, including Mollie. Mollie may not be able to mount a full immune response, but any immunity is better than none.

Mollie' seems ready for the first day of school. I will meet with her teacher next week to give her some information and talk about our concerns; she seems really responsive and I noticed a huge bottle of Germ-X in the classroom, so I feel pretty good about Mollie going to school on Monday.

Here are a handful of pictures from our trip. I can't really sum up the whole trip in a paragraph, so I'll just mention a few of the highlights: Claire's baptism, days at the beach, family dinners, rafting on the Truckee, Fairyland with Anita, and visiting my grandma at Mercy.

Jet Lag

We got home from California late last night. After a week in Tahoe and then a few fun days visiting family and friends in the Bay Area, we are exhausted!

Both girls traveled well- nobody got sick (thank heavens!) and everything went very smoothly. The trip home was a little challenging; I was traveling by myself with Mollie and Lucy since Matt went home a few days earlier. Let me tell you, three people in an airplane bathroom is a very tight squeeze!! We had a very short layover (30 min) so we had to run through the airport to catch our connection. But, we made it. We haven't even attempted the daunting task of unpacking.

The trip was really wonderful. Our annual trip to Tahoe got canceled last summer after Mollie's diagnosis so we were REALLY looking forward to it this year. Mollie enjoyed swimming in the crisp, clear waters of Lake Tahoe and Lucy enjoyed throwing rocks. It was fabulous to have a whole week to spend with family that we love dearly, but don't see often. Mollie and Lucy had a great time with all the family around. They loved playing with their second cousin William, and Mollie especially loved doting over her two newest second cousins, babies Claire and Vivian.

Tonight we attended an open house at Mollie's school. We got to see her classroom and meet her teachers. It turns out her friend Hannah will be in her class- they are both very excited! She's got her "first day" outfit all picked out and is eager to start on Monday!

Tomorrow, we go to clinic for blood counts. Please cross fingers/pray/chant/whatever that her counts are high enough to re-start chemo. She has been without oral chemo for a month; it has been a nice break, but I want it to be over!

Tomorrow, pictures & details of our trip and a clinic update.

"When I don't talk about it, it's not as bad"

That quote from Mollie was in reference to the steroids. She has handled them great this week. There have a been a few tearful and indecisive moments, and she's somewhat tired and subdued, but overall, I'm very impressed.

In this picture, she's working on a craft project and you can see the flower "tattoo" that one of the Child Life volunteers drew on her arm in the clinic waiting room.


We will be offline for a week or so for some much needed time off!

Letters... She's got letters....

Mollie got so many letters at camp- she was so happy that there was something in the mailbox for her every day! She wanted to say thank you to everyone who sent something. Here's the list:

Lala and Finn
Izzy
Momo & TC
Anita
Janet and Charlie
Chemo Angels Susan & Belle
Rhian- for the welcome home card. Perfect timing, as usual!

I hope I didn't forget anyone! I will double check her pile of stuff to make sure.

And here's a shot of her right after she got off the bus from camp-

Clinic Update

Well, here it is, 3:15 PM and we just got back from Mollie's 9:30 AM appointment! Usually, we are home by 2, but today we got held up at the pharmacy because of an insurance issue (ugh). Anyway, the point is that these clinic days are long and boring; it's exhausting trying to keep everyone entertained.

Mollie's ANC remains very low (300), but the good news is that barring any fevers, we get to take our vacation! She got her IV chemo and is starting steroids, but we will still hold the daily oral chemo and we will also hold the weekly antibiotic (Septra) since it can also suppress the bone marrow. Beth (the NP) thinks that will help her counts rebound- let's hope so! All other numbers (hemoglobin, platelets) are fine. Mollie has developed a small rash on her face. Beth thinks that it is atopic dermatitis- the kids on chemo seem to be more prone to that. I tend to disagree, since it is not itchy, and I've heard many other parents say their kids get a similar type of rash when they go off chemo. But, either way, it is really not bothering her very much. If it is inflammatory, though, that may partially explain the low counts.

So, bring on the steroids!

Clinic tomorrow

Mollie has adjusted to life back at home. We had a fun family weekend- the weather was cooler and drier than usual (mid-high 80s) so we went to the Putt Putt (mini golf). Mollie hit a hole-in-one all by herself!

I will take Mollie to clinic tomorrow for her monthly IV chemo treatment and count check. Hopefully her ANC will be back up above 1000 and she can resume oral chemo at home. She will also begin the 5-day steroid pulse. We are looking forward to getting that over with so we can go on vacation! Fingers crossed for good counts and no fevers!