Interim Maintenance- Day 1 (Halloween)

It felt like forever, but it was only 2 weeks since we stayed at Treena's. It never fails.. always a party. She was so excited to wake up and NOT fast AND to see the kids in their costumes. We arrived at 11:00pm Sunday night, woke up at 6:30am, left for clinic at 7:15am and arrived at 8am.

We had our costume change in the lobby. She was very excited!







She walked in without total fear in her eyes. It may be because she knew she didn't have to go to the RTU.

She has been reviewing some pictures of Chase at clinic and I pointed out that he does it all by himself. So she went ahead and did it... pretty much. You could tell it was hard for her but she wanted to do it.

*weight 31 lbs*

(up 1 pound from diagnosis)

Acessing the port, always one of the hardest. She doesn't love it. Well, she doesn't love the cleaning and the bandage that goes over it. Not many tears though. It's getting easier.

They didn't do a CBC because we had one on Friday. They did some kidney and liver function tests and her liver enzymes are a little high so we are going to watch those.

Waiting for the chemo takes the longest. She was enjoying herself though. Matthew was there to play with and she loved it. It was crazy to see her walk around, dance and be herself while we were there. She is usually clinging to my side. I never thought this day would come.

Thumbs up for chemo. Keeping that Leukemia away!

We didn't have an appt in the RTU but she wanted to see Miss Lindsey (child life specialist). She loves her. They even hooked her up with a treat bag.

All done... and thrilled to be going home!

Luckily the drive home was pretty uneventful. We made it home in time for some festivities. I didn't want to take her out and put her hand in the bowls with LOTS of germs. We did our own thing... and I think she liked it!

Someone had mentioned a while back about a fun/less germy way to do Halloween. My mom provided all of the candy/prizes. We invited Chloe over to go trick-or-treating "Taleah style". All of my siblings dressed up and went to different rooms throughout the house, the girls knocked and received a prize and candy. It was so fun and exciting. She LOVED it! She loved taking pictures with the people at each door as well. Chloe was taking it all in (people/noise overload), but I think she secretly loved it too!! Her mommy said that it was all she could talk about when she left. Good thing Taleah has good friends to help her feel normal!

Slade had to try on the Rapunzel hair... he pulled it off after 2 seconds. Scott was proud of that!

(our attempt at a group pic... the kids were done)

I know I say this a lot, but I don't know what I would do without our families. They help us out so much. Scott kept Slade home while we went up to PCMC. I know it's hard on him when we leave because he wishes he could be there with us. We just do what we have to do. The Stevensons are always so great to take care of Slade. He loves being with them and it makes it so much easier on me! My mom is great to drive with us every time. It makes the trip so much easier in EVERY way. I know I could not do it without them. They are all so willing to help at any time.

We are ready for this phase. It is 56 days long, no at home meds (other than the septra 2 days a week), half of our chemo can be done down here, and it is count dependent. It may get tricky if she doesn't make counts every 10 days. Another lesson to just go with the flow..it's out of my control. Trying to keep the anxiety under control...patience.

We have learned a lot from this cancer thing. It does suck, but we are growing. Scott and I have learned a lot. It is hard on our family in so many ways, but we feel blessed to have thing the way they are. Sounds crazy, but we do.