Easter Celebrations and Christmas in July

We had a lovely Easter this year, out at Matt's grandparents farm in South Carolina.  Activities included fishing, rambling, cow watching, visiting with family, church, and two egg hunts (carefully avoiding fire ants and poison ivy).  And too much food!

I hope all of you had a lovely weekend too!

For those who are reading this blog that know children suffering from cancer (in treatment or remission), there is a wonderful lady known as The Blanket Fairy who is organizing Christmas in July to help brighten the summer for these kids. Click the link to find out more about this program and to register a child (parents only).  Please pass the info along to anyone you know who may be interested!

Clinic Update

Mollie's clinic visit went very well! 

The best part, from Mollie's perspective, was that they gave her the choice between a finger stick and an arm stick (she chose finger stick, of course).

By all accounts Mollie looks healthy and has the bloodwork to prove it.  All her numbers were right where they should be, with an ANC of over 2000.

Happy Weekend!

We're still here

... but we have been the victims of microbes!  Various infections and afflictions have slowed us down a bit the last two weeks.  I won't bore you with the details, but with three different antibiotics (for three different individual) and numerous OTC meds, we are coming out of the fog.  However, I anticipate more sneezing as allergy season has just begun.

Mollie and I had a nice little trip to Augusta for Bella's birthday at the end of March!  Visiting our friends always reminds us how much we miss them, and Augusta is really beautiful this time of year (dogwoods in glorious bloom- it is no coincidence that this is when the Masters tournament is held), so it was hard to come back home!

Not much else to report at the moment.  Mollie's monthly clinic visit is tomorrow so I will post another update when we get the numbers.

Courage

Showing courage means being brave at something.  That's what it means to me!  I like courage!  Don't give up!
       ~Mollie Carroll King

Today Mollie received the character education award for her class at the monthly school assembly.  The character trait she displayed to earn the award was courage!  Her fellow students voted that she should get the award and she was taken by surprise at the assembly today.  These children never knew her during her cancer treatment, so clearly she's making it known that she is a brave girl!  We are so proud of her!

Have a lovely spring weekend!

Egg carton daffodils and a found bird's nest bring a little spring indoors

Clinic Update & More

Updated to add...  NO MORE SEPTRA!  Can't believe I forgot to mention that.  I asked Dr. J. for a new prescription and how much longer Mollie would be taking septra/bactrim.  He said 6 months.  I said it had been 6 months.  Well, okay then.  No more pills for Mollie!!!

Goodness!  More than 2 weeks since my last post... days have been busy around our house.
My parents were here visiting, which we all enjoyed.  Now it is time for cleaning out wardrobes, storing the coats and winter things, and getting ready for warmer weather.

Mollie got sick this past weekend, with a fever and cough.  Matt and I were both worried, but the presence of the bad cough and congestion reassured us that this was just a cold/flu and not related to leukemia.  She had a clinic visit scheduled on Tuesday for her regular follow-up so we decided to wait it out rather than put her through an additional doctor visit.

As it turned out, her fever spiked to 102 while we were in the clinic.  Dr. J's response?  Go see the pediatrician if she's not improving in 2-3 days.  Really.  I was expecting he would just write her a scrip to Zithromax and be done with it.  Such a different response than we would have gotten 6 months ago. Obviously, waiting it out is the better way to go, but not necessarily the easiest!

The clinic visit went really well even though Mollie was feeling puny.  We had talked about how to handle the inevitable arm stick.  It didn't go so well last time, so this time we decided she would close her eyes, take deep breaths, and squeeze my hand.  It worked!  Plus, Lucy was in the room with us telling Mollie how great she was doing!  Very sweet.

Her counts were great- ANC 3200.  They read them to me over the phone and I didn't have paper so I don't remember the details something like:

WBC 4.9
Hgb 10.9
Plt 175

The hemoglobin and platelet numbers are slightly lower than Mollie's usual numbers, but are well within the acceptable limits.

That's about it for now... she's getting an award at school tomorrow.  Shhhh!  It's a surprise!  I'll post photos and a re-cap this weekend.

Birthday Girl

Mollie had a lovely birthday- we celebrated all weekend! 

She had been looking forward to having her best friend Bella visit from Augusta- they had a blast!  They stayed up talking, playing, and watching movies until 1 am! 

We celebrated with cake and a few gifts on Friday night.  She was very pleased with her new pet venus fly trap (a North Carolina native plant!) and earrings!

Don't know why those little candle reflections kept showing up...

    Then she chose lunch at Panera and pottery painting at a ceramics studio on Saturday.

 

By Sunday, her real birthday, we were all ready for rest.  I got up early and picked up a bouquet of flowers and a balloon to surprise her.  Matt made pancakes for breakfast and we had a slow morning.  In the afternoon, we went shopping for art supplies with her new gift card and had an early dinner out (Mollie's choice).

Here's to Mollie!  May she have a blessed and healthy year, full of learning, exploration, friends, family, and fun!

Time Keeps on Slippin'...

... into the future!

Still in a bit of shock that Mollie is going to be 7 this Sunday.  Yes!  Seven!