The Story of Mollie's First Lost Tooth

Too excited to hold still for a picture!

See that gap? Mollie's wiggly tooth came out last Weds. night!

She was brushing her teeth when she started screaming, "Mama! My tooth is GONE!" I thought it had gone down the drain or something, but there it was in the sink (she meant gone from her mouth!)


So the tooth fairy came and brought her a silver dollar and a certificate; after school, she got a flower delivery! She was also the first in her class to lose a tooth, so she brought her certificate in for show and tell.


Losing the first tooth is definitely a major milestone in growing up. Time is really flying, but it makes me so happy to see Mollie experiencing these normal phases.

Mollie goes to clinic to have her counts checked tomorrow. Two more weeks until the next spinal tap. She has developed a cough over the last week, so we will be sure to mention that tomorrow and see if they want to do anything. She has not had a fever, but she is pretty congested. I'm expecting that to have some effect on her ANC, but hopefully not enough to reduce her dose of chemo.

Zoo & Baby!

The last few days have been great! Mollie is back to enjoying school without being too tired. She has a loose tooth (and I mean LOOSE), so the tooth fairy is preparing to make a visit sometime soon.

Mollie wanted to celebrate being off steroids by going to the zoo on Sunday, so off we went. It was hot and Mollie and Lucy both seemed a little subdued, but I think they had a nice time anyway. The best part was how Mollie spent her "Safari bucks" at the souvenir shop. She spent forever in the store trying to pick something for Lucy and herself, but "they just didn't have that many baby things that Lucy would like". She finally settled on some glow-in-the-dark frogs and they were both pleased. She's such a good big sister.

So, things are back to normal around here. Mollie goes in for a routine hearing and vision test tomorrow afternoon and then back to clinic for a count check next week (she is back on Septra, so Beth wants to make sure it is not suppressing her ANC).

In other exciting news (and if I know you in real life you probably already know this), we are expecting a baby, due in January! Mollie has really been expressing a lot of interest in holding & feeding the baby and wondering if it is going to be smaller than Lucy (I hope so!).

Here's a picture of Mollie in the school outfit that her chemo angel sent her:

Kindergarten on Steroids

Well, we have reached the end of Mollie's second week of school, her first on steroids. She has done great! Each day, she was smiling and happy when I picked her up. She has had a tough time waking up in the morning and she has been ready for bed by 7:30 PM, but she has handled all of it very well.

Mollie had school pictures yesterday-- not sure how those are going to turn out since she has big circles under her eyes.

Today she was off to the Y with Bella. She will get her last dose of steroids for this pulse tonight so tomorrow she should start feeling better and more energetic.

Off to enjoy the rest of the weekend...

Steroids, Day 2

It's been interesting.

I know that Mollie behaves differently around me, especially when she's on steroids. She's clingy and needy ("But I just want you, mama.") and very emotional. She did NOT want to go to school this morning, but we really thought she should go. I never want her to use cancer as an excuse to get out of doing something she doesn't want to do, but it is so hard to tell whether she's looking for an excuse or she's really not feeling well.

So, the morning was rough. She didn't want to get up, didn't want to eat breakfast, didn't want to get on the bus. But, I convinced her that she could make it through half the day, wrote a note to her teacher, and she agreed to go. I picked her up shortly after lunch and Mrs. S (her teacher) told me that she had had a great day!

At home, there were a lot of ups and downs; Lucy was really annoying her (very unusual since they usually get along great). She said she was feeling gloomy like Eeyore. Around 2 she took a long nap and went to bed at 7:30 tonight. No doubt she was tired.

We're going to try the same thing again tomorrow, except I'll let her stay at school a little longer because tomorrow the art teacher comes and Mollie LOVES art. Mrs. S said she'll call if she thinks Mollie needs to go home earlier.

I'm hoping for a good day; she does very well with structured, organized activities, as long as she gets enough time for rest.





This picture is from the last time she was on steroids, but I haven't busted out the camera this week so it will have to do.

Clinic Update

I was surprised at the numbers: ANC = 1900. Perfect! Mollie will stay on her 100% chemo dose and will start back on Septra (the preventive antibiotic she takes every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday). She will have her counts re-checked in 2 weeks to make sure the Septra is not suppressing her counts too much. If it is, they will switch to a new drug, pentamidine. So, we'll just wait and see.

Mollie had a rough time at clinic today. Lots of tears. We had to hold down her arms and legs so the nurse could access her port without hurting her. I even had to drag her in to see Nicki for her weight and height measurement. She did finally calm down and was downright pleasant, even giving Beth a hug before we left!

She's already had her first dose of steroids for this pulse. We are planning on sending her to school tomorrow (barring any problems); it will be interesting to see how she does at school the rest of this week.

To quote another cancer mama, "The great thing about cancer is the spontaneity it provides to your life." Thanks for putting that into words, DMM.

The Weekend

Well, after consulting with 2 oncologists and the school nurse, principal, and Mollie's teacher, we decided to send Mollie to school today. So, she's off.

We had a lovely weekend, even though Matt was out of town. Friday night we did a little impromptu school clothes shopping; Mollie has outgrown everything and we had to supplement the big batch of hand-me-downs from our neighbors (thanks, Michelle). Then we went over to Shane's for "girls night" and had a nice time chatting & eating delicious snacks.

On Saturday, we woke up early and headed to the pool/waterpark at the Y. Mollie and Lucy both had a fabulous time swimming, and the weather cooperated. After dinner we all snuggled up on the sofa and watched Shark Tale (Lucy couldn't sit still so we finally just put her to bed).

Sunday, we went to Mass, ran some errands, went to the pool with Isabella, and then had a quiet evening.

Tomorrow (Tues.), Mollie goes for her monthly IV vincristine in the clinic and then begins her 5-day steroid pulse. I'm also a little anxious to get her counts. I hope they are good (we're shooting for the range of ANC =1000-2000); if they are low, we'll definitely be keeping her home from school until they come up again.

Swine Flu... What Should We Do?

Well... this happened a little sooner than I thought it would: a child at Mollie's school (not in her class) was diagnosed with novel H1N1 influenza.

The good news is that the child's parent told me and the principal called me to inform me last night. Actually, I'm very pleased because it means that the school and parents have taken our requests to heart. Just last night, we distributed a letter to the kindergarten parents explaining Mollie's health status and asking for parents to please notify us if their child becomes ill. It worked.

So now for the swine flu. I spoke with Dr. Bell. She said that we could keep Mollie out of school, but it will probably take at least a year for the virus to make it's way through the community. Or, we could just be careful about monitoring the people with whom she comes into direct contact. Basically, it's up to us. Man, this is tough.

I am inclined to be extremely cautious right now. Once the vaccine is available, I think (& hope) that it will reduce the chances of Mollie getting sick (or severely sick).

She went to school today. Next week, she has chemo on Tuesday, so I will probably keep her home all week. She will be on steroids anyway. And we will find out her ANC which should help us decide.

I wasn't expecting this decision to be so hard, but Mollie really loves school. She's just getting into the routines and getting to know the other kids and her teacher. I hate to yank her from that right now if it's unnecessary, but I definitely don't want her to wind up extremely ill in the hospital over missing a few days of school. If only there was a published risk benefit analysis!!

Updated with an excerpt from an e mail I got from another practitioner (Beth) in the Peds Oncology practice:

If the child in her class isn't exhibiting any symptoms (cough, sore throat, fever, etc), then Mollie is okay to continue going to school. I think this flu season is going to make everyone a little more nervous that usual because of the threat of swine flu. We are following the CDC recommendations in our advice to our patients. Currently they are not quarantining family members of persons that have the flu...that may change as the season progresses. For the present, I would allow Mollie to continue attending school....keep in touch with her teacher, and if children in her classroom have active flu symptoms, that would be a reason to keep her home for a few days.