Simply in Awe

Isabella just got home from school.  That’s right.  The day after coming home from the hospital after five days of intensive chemotherapy, Isabella wanted to go to school.  This will probably be her last day of school for at least a couple weeks as we expect her blood counts to bottom out within the next couple of days.

Everyday, Isabella finds a new way to amaze us, and on some days, she finds multiple ways.  For instance, the last couple days in the hospital, Isabella was too weak to really walk, but when we left the hospital, she walked all the way from her room to the parking lot.  Today, we thought Isabella would only have enough energy to spend a few hours at school and we were fully expecting a call that said she wanted to come home.  But not only did Isabella spend the whole day at school, she also finished an entire OT session afterwards.  And she wasn’t done yet.  After dinner, we went to a furniture store for an hour where she walked all over and even walked up an entire flight of stairs, something she couldn’t do just a few days ago.

She is doing so much better than after the last round of chemotherapy which included the same set of drugs.  At this point last time, she didn’t have enough energy to move from the couch or chew her food.  And although she had a bit of a suppressed appetite a couple days ago, she’s eaten much better the last two days and has not had any nausea yet.

We don’t know whether the chemo is working or not, but Isabella is certainly trying her hardest.  I know she’s frustrated at not being able to do what she used to be able to do just a few short months ago.  Whether it’s climbing stairs or writing her name or just simply talking, nearly everything has become a struggle for her, but she continues to try.  And while she’s willing and able to try, we’ll be there alongside her. 

She has truly become a huge inspiration.

Finally Back Home!

So we finally got Isabella home after spending most of the day in New York City.  We were planning on leaving around noon, but her blood counts were low.  They gave us the option of either getting a transfusion today or coming back to the city tomorrow, so of course we opted to get the transfusion today.  Plus, the kids favorite clown, Looney Lenny stopped by in the afternoon to entertain everyone.  Isabella and Annalise had a great time and both showed great enthusiasm and participated with the magic show.

We also ended up eating dinner at the hospital and finally left around 7pm.  It’s all worth it since we don’t have to go back in until Tuesday (unless Isabella develops a  fever).

What was also nice was the New York city streets weren’t too bad after the snowstorm.  Connecticut was a mess after we got 2 feet of snow, but at least the highways and the City were cleaned up and made the trip a breeze.

Anyway, here are a couple pics from the last couple days.  The plan for the next couple weeks is to try to keep Isabella from developing a fever which would require us to stay at the hospital for another week.  We’ll also probably do another MRI in a couple weeks to see what’s going on in there, then decide what the next course of action is.

Roneil cleans off the car after the blizzard.

Annalise and Nathaniel build a snow slide off the car.

Annalise stands on top of a snow pile that puts her taller than the deck.

Isabella raised her hand for practically every question that Looney Lenny asked!

Nathaniel, still with his clown-phobia, wouldn’t even look at Looney Lenny.

Finally, this picture was from a while ago, but we call it “The Anna Lisa”.

Chemo Update

We’re now more than halfway through this round of chemo and thankfully, Isabella has not experienced any side effects from the chemo yet.  We’re having the same issue that we had the last time, that is, because they are hydrating her heavily through the IV, she has the go to the bathroom every hour.  But she hasn’t felt any nausea yet and her appetite has been really good.

We have two more days of chemo left and we are hoping to be discharged from the hospital on Thursday.  The pending snowstorm on Tuesday/Wednesday should make trying to get home real interesting as the area is expecting a foot or so of snow.

In anticipation of the snow, here are a couple more pictures from last week’s snowfall with the kids having some fun in the yard.  I hope we’ll be able to get home to enjoy the snow.