One more quick post from me before Janel gets back. Ally's treatment went well yesterday, but of course longer than planned. We started off by putting her EMLA cream on. This is the numbing agent that helps with her "pokes". I had to take her picture with it because it really is a miracle worker - you can see it on her port in the picture.

We had to put it on both thighs as well for the 2 shots I mentioned in the previous blog that I was worried about. But, she did great with both shots in the legs (although she did scream "I want my Mommy" right before they did them!), even saying afterwards that it did not hurt nearly as much as the first time. Just as we were about to leave around 11:45 a.m., they said her platelets were low and she needed to be infused. Platelets can be infused in about 30 minutes vs. 3 hours or so for red blood cells, but Murphy's law would naturally dictate that they did not have any of Ally's type of platelets in the entire hospital so we had to wait quite awhile for them to courier some from the blood bank. So while we had some time to kill, I thought we'd take some pictures of a few of the many people working to save our daughter's life. First is our hero, Dr. Emmett Broxson (aka Dr. Broccoli, but Ally hasn't worked up the nerve to call him that yet):

He has been at Children's since 1986 and seems to know everything there is to know about leukemia and pediatric cancer in general. I got acquainted with him prior to this when I joined the Board at the Hospital last October, never knowing I would someday need him to help save Ally. He was impressive before he started treating Ally and even more so now that I know him better. Two other physicians, Dr. French and Dr. Dole, are also fantastic, and we are lucky to have such great physicians right here in Dayton.

Next is our nurse for the day, Nurse Amy:

All of the nurses including Amy are amazingly good with Ally and the rest of the children in the Hemoc area. Their compassion and understanding makes an awful disease much easier on Ally. You can tell, as I hear often on the Board, that turnover is very low in the Hospital and that most of the nurses are seasoned veterans with children. Ally even got to pick out some nail polish from the toy box because Amy said she did such a good job with her shots. So at 3:15 we finally got the platelets and were headed out of the Hospital around 4:00. So much for our quick 2 hour visit to the Clinic, but it never goes that way. What was a little more disappointing was that Ally's ANC count was 243 which meant no movie with Daddy, something she was very excited to do. Instead, we stopped at the video store on the way home, and with Ally's laid back attitude that was just fine as well. She was supposed to have her first sleepover of the summer, something she normally would have done several times by now, at her friend Madisons. We went over there for our "fantastic friday" as we call it, where we have pizza (and a few adult beverages) and rotate hanging out at one of a handful of different neighbors houses. Ally and I got ready by putting on our Fun Hats that a neighbor of ours is kind enough to occasionally drop off for Ally.

While the adults went to battle over our new favorite game, Sequence, the older kids set up a full service nail salon in the Booher's garage including massages by Joshua and warm foot baths and pedicures by Ally, Madison, Kate and Abby (Brownell). I apparently tipped well early in the evening so I received a free massage and pedicure! I was forced by the nail team to close my eyes the entire time, which resulted in the following artwork on my toes (Ally, Madison and Abby are grinning ear to ear because I requested ONE solid color and received what you see below instead!):

Caulin Booher also took part in the action. I thought this picture of him chillin' with some lemonade while Kate painted his toes was hilarious!

All was going well until about 10:00 when Ally came crying over to me and said her belly hurt and she wanted to go home. Alas, her first sleepover was not meant to be. I think she was really just tired after a long day at the Hospital, as she recovered quickly once we got home and slept pretty good through the night. Maybe next time for Ally, but as always she just rolls with the flow...