Wednesday, August 11, 2010

The count is in

The number is in. Her ANC is STILL 270. Very low. However, all of her other counts did improve. They told me that her bone marrow is now showing signs of recovery, whereas before it really wasn't. Her Hemoglobin, White Blood Cells, Platelets, and Monocytes have all risen quite nicely. The best news...her liver is completely back to normal now with AST/ALT levels at 29 and 32. If you saw her, you would know that she is recovered. She is swimming and active and talkative and everything I want my child to be. She says she is ready for school (with a smile) and, oh yea, can I please sign her up for swim team and piano lessons too. How could I ever say NO?

Our clinic nurse told me today: we encourage you to live as normal of a life as possible.

We are trying.

Her chemo is still held. She hasn't had chemo at all since something like July 29. She goes back in for monthly chemo infusion on Tuesday, so they will reassess her at that time. She will have gone almost a full month without chemo by that point. Scary, but true. Obviously, she could not handle the doses of chemo they were giving her and the doctor will have to revisit that. This was expected and I can count three other kids that I know that basically just did the same thing.

For now, until Tuesday, we are going to enjoy a few more chemo free days. We feel very blessed that our daughter continues to show her old self. We love rubbing her new hair. We are mindful of how our lives have changed, and quite honestly will never go back to how it used to be. But we are adjusting to living life as normally as we can considering the situation.

5 comments:

  1. I can just picture you rubbing Ally's soft fuzzy hair. Is it the same color it used to be?

    Wouldn't it be nice to do as the nurse said and just live normally? Your "new normal" is different, but it seems you are getting there. Cheers to swimming and piano lessons. Love it!

    Amanda

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  2. Normal it up! hope these last few days of summer are great.

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  3. Congrats, enjoy the rest, it will do all of you some good. This also happened to us several times and it was truly a blessing. It just gives you that extra strength to forge ahead when you do start chemo. Love those swim lessons. Take care

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  4. Great news, Janel! So happy for all of you!

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  5. Ally is so very strong- as are all of you, and I'm so glad to hear her marrow is recovering. If only I had one of the old Cardinal Hill swim caps, I'd get that in the mail to protect that awesome fuzzy hair! :-)

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