Aly's fight with ALL ( Leukemia): Play Date

Monday 22 August 2011

Play Date

Well it was a special day today .... Aly and I went to her daycare this morning so she could play outside with all of her friends. When we first pulled into the driveway, she was excited and wanted to see Denise but when we drove up the drive way she saw all the kids run towards the gate and I think she got nervous. It has been about 2 months since Aly has been to daycare or really had any form of socializing with kids her age so I guess I understand why she might have been anxious. We got out of the truck and I carried her into the backyard, and our dog Lola followed close behind. At first she had a firm hold of me, but all of the kids were great and gave her the space she needed. It didn't take long before she was playing with the toys in the yard and asking to go on the swing. She interacted with each of the kids, played with all her favourite toys and ran around screaming with joy like any other child her age. We stayed for a while and Denise and I had a great chat while her daughter played with Aly and watched her to make sure she was OK. It was getting close to lunch when we decided to leave, as I could see that Aly was getting tired. She said goodbye to all of her friends and gave Denise and her daughter hugs and thanked them for the visit........I think we were all happy to see Aly playing with her friends and in such great spirits.......thanks Denise and kids xoxo

2 comments:

angie23 August 2011 at 20:59
This is one of the gifts I was talking about; the pure happiness you feel watching your daughter play and knowing how happy she is in that moment!
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Aunt Cathy24 August 2011 at 22:01
That is the nicest thing I have heard all week!
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Treatment Plan Update

12-27-11: Interim Maintenance II begins

Treatment begins with a spinal, then treatment every 10 days for 8 weeks ( another spinal on week 7)

10-31-11: Chemo today - - vincristine, doxorubicin

10-28-11: Delayed intensification begins - - today Aly had another spinal tap in addition to 2 other types of chemo.
Interim AAly also had her flu shot.

10-03-11: Aly has been visitng the Cancer clinic every 10 days to have her bloodwork done and receive her chemo treatment. Tomorrow she will undergo another lumbar puncture- - she will be at the Cancer clinic first thing in the morning and will get her bloodwork done and then get sedated for her spinal tap. So far Aly has not had any negative side effects from her treatments, and her bloodwork has continued to be strong.

8-19-11: Aly had her final LP today for this round of treatment. All of her blood levels are great so we don't need to return to the cancer clinic for 10 days!! Aly continues to received an oral chemo nightly and will continue that for another 2 weeks.

8-10-11: Aly continues to receive her antibiotic for the blood infection and now takes a chemo pill nightly ( I dilute it in water and give it to her with an oral syringe). This will continue for 28 days. She has another spinal on Friday, then her final one for this round the following Friday. Then on to the next protocol.

8-2-11: Ultra-sound completed today on Aly's left arm. They uncovered a blood clot, so blood thinners begin tomorrow ( that means 2 needles/day). They also want to complete an MRI on her left arm ( similar to what was done with her right arm) - that will happen tomorrow at noon. Aly is in remission now, so next phase of treatment will likely begin tomorrow.

7-31-11: Both procedures were completed on Friday ( 29th) and all went well. MRI was also completed on her right arm and she received Chemo to her spinal fluids. The MRI did show an infection in the tissues that surround her muscle from her elbow to her shoulder. Results from her test will be available on Wednesday of next week. Currently the only treatment she is receiving is antibiotics for her infection.

7-28-11: Bone Marrow / Spinal Tap delayed one day due to blood infection. Unable to determine cause of infection / arm pain. This morning there was lots of swelling around her port and they were unable to draw blood - so there may be a chance they have to remove her port fully an replace it. It could be the cause of the infection.

7-21-11: Aly's chemo treatment went well today. The nurse later phoned me with her blood levels and said that everything looked ok - -her hemoglobin was down a bit, but not the point where they worry about transfusion - -let's hope it stays good for next week. They also mentioned that her white blood cells were decent as well, but that the steriods are likely inflating those numbers and once the steriod are gone we will have to monitor that closely. Low white blood count will cause her be become neutropenic ( ...basically have no immune system)

7-19-11 : Bloodwork went well today, no need for a tranfusion today - yay! Her diaper rash is quite bad, so we have to pull out the zinc for her. It's sad because she has never had a diaper rash as a baby. Next week is bone marrow test and spinal tap to she how she did......fingers crosssed and positive thoughts!!

7-14-11 : Chemo went well and blood levels were so good we might not have to go back until next Thursday - Yay!

Today we have to go to the cancer clinic for a short round of chemo. We should be in and out within an hour.