Day 1, Month 3

Today Ally started the third month of her chemotherapy. We had a long day at the hospital primarily because of the amount of fluids they had to give her after her chemo was infused. Ally was in great spirits today. She has been very quiet around the medical team this entire time. Maybe giving a slight wave or if they were really lucky a word or two. Today she was a chatty Cathy....giddy if you will. She talked to everybody and even spent some time showing Dr Broxson her zoo pictures. He patiently listened as she went through all of them, and then I said to him "that's the most you have heard her speak in three months, isn't it?" Everyone there said she looked great...much better. I can't see it because I am around her everyday. Sort of the same thing happened when she was diagnosed....apparently everyone was saying how pale she was but her own mother didn't see it for a while. But I do notice when she is smiling more. We did get some clarification on school from the doctors. They want her to go. Everyday if possible. Regardless of her counts. They say most infections come from within her body anyway. So as long as she isn't having nasty side effects, she is to go. She heard it. I heard it. We'll try it.

Her former Kindergarten teacher, Mrs Wolf, spent the afternoon with us. We talked about all things school, looked at some pictures of all the Valley teachers at a wedding, did some fake fingernails, and then played a few rounds of a card game. It helped to make the day seem shorter and more fun. Mrs Wolf even said she had not seen Ally acting like this...just silly. It makes us all feel better when Ally is happy.
We did end up having our Extreme Home Makeover dinner tonight at the Pentagon Tower Club. About 20-25 of the crew came and joined us for a dinner that we had catered in by Kohler's. It was good food and very interesting conversation. The executive producer sat with us at dinner and he has worked on this show, Survivor, and the Amazing Race. I really enjoyed hearing all of the behind the scenes stories. I also got to meet the design team (3 young woman who picked out and bought everything that went into the house). Again, the best part was hearing about how many people come together to help a family in need. Not just people from the show, but the thousands of local volunteers who took time to do good for someone they did not know. Reminds be a bit of our army.

We are expecting a home health nurse to be here at 10am. More ARA-C chemo to be delivered via Ally's port, which is currently accessed. And I need to go to bed now that it is 1am. Thanks for following our story. Everyday I meet a new person who is reading the blog that I didn't know was reading the blog. And it keeps me going.....