Still doing good

Although I have not posted lately, we are still doing good! I guess no news is good news. I mentioned that she was doing well last week, and then we found out she needed a bag of platelets. We ended up spending about six hours at the hospital on Friday because Dr B decided Ally needed blood too. So first, the bag of platelets, then the bag of blood. It takes a long time! Usually when she needs blood she feels pretty yucky, but this time she really did not. But, as a consequence, once she got the blood she felt even better! You can really see the color come back to her face once they do this.

Friday night had been designated as "boys night" and a group of friends (all male) went to the Nutter Center to see the monster truck show. Which both of my boys absolutely loved! Who knew that could be so fun. So the girls decided to go to our local Mexican restaurant and then just hang out. I was quite surprised when the girls decided to make up their own dance routine and Ally actually participated!! She always just watches when they do this. So I had to snap a few pictures of the stars Kate, Madison, and Ally. It made me so happy that she did this.

Saturday was another huge deal for us (remember: she is like a baby and we are always celebrating her small "firsts" and such). It was our friend Bob Winger's birthday and everyone was getting pizza and going bowling. Jerad and I debated this throughout the week...never wanting to expose her to germs, but yet still wanting her (and us) to have a bit of a life. On Friday, we found out that her ANC was 500, which is pretty high, so we let her go. I really didn't think she would want to bowl, because I thought her port site might kinda be right in the way of the bowling motion. But she did it and did it well and had a great time. All of this definitely wore her out, but seeing her acting like a normal child is so good for all of us.

Here is Evan and his buddy Sam. Sam is like the brother Evan doesn't have!

Even Miss Carly participated in bowling and she loved it!

So, of course, we have had some good times along this eight month long journey that we have been on. But normally, she is feeling this good when she is on a delay from chemo. For instance, we have seen peeks of this behavior when she hasn't had chemo for 10-14-18 days or whatever it is. But Ally got two pretty strong chemos last Monday, and is still acting this good. And when this happens, it makes four other people's lives so much easier: Janel, Jerad, Evan, and Carly. Because she fights the hardest, but we are all affected by this disease and we all live it right with her.

On Tuesday, she will get her last chemo in a 50+ day phase called Delayed Intensification. It has been a rough phase, but Tuesday will be the final push of the round. Then she will begin another 50+ phase called Interim Maintenance. I am liking the sound of it already. Maintenance. Not quite there yet, but I think this phase might be just a little lighter. I hope this is true anyway.

And I have decided to do something really crazy and pretty spontaneous for me at this time. I am heading to Florida for the weekend...leaving Friday morning. My Dad just bought a place down there, and he is wanting a little bit of help from my sister and I to decorate, organize, etc....a woman's touch maybe. Of course I owe thanks to my awesome husband for encouraging me to go and get a break from all the madness here. He knows that I have really needed a mental break from all of this and to escape from the bubble. I also owe thanks to a couple of friends who are helping me out with the kids so that I can go. I can help down there all day and be perfectly happy. But, I am thinking he might give me a little break to sit in the sun too. Now I am just praying, praying, praying that it all works out...because we all know that Ally has a bit of a problem with getting sick for any and all important, big things in our life.

Hoping for another good week. I hope you have one too.