Happy New Year!

Well I think we just finished up the hardest round of treatment with Aly - - and all right before the Holidays.  She was having daily chemo treatments then once that stopped we watched her immune system plummet, but Aly surprised us all again - - it was down for only days.  I was worried that she would be neutropenic for Christmas and not be able to play with her cousins and other family members ... but just days before Christmas her blood results came back great!  What a gift! Aly had a great Christmas.  She was so excited for Santa to come, and she even came out of her shell a bit at the Cancer Clinic.  To say that she is not the happiest kid, or cooperative kid at clinic is a bit of an understatement.  I am not blind to the fact that she gives the nurses and doctors a hard time with her "attitude" and at times they have admitted to drawing straws to see who has to access Aly's port, or even take it out.  When they told me that one day, whether it was a joke or not, I laughed out loud.  I am sure its not easy to hold a sharp object, and know you have to be so precise when a screaming 3 year old, with a very big vocabulary, screams not so nice things to you.  But lately that has changed.  We have began to distract her with an ipad, and now instead of being mean to nurses she says "please don't hurt me" just as they are about to poke her.  That might actually be harder for them to handle then the tears.  Anyway, over the past few weeks she has been very cooperative with the nurses and doctors.  One of the Doctors even said - - well this is a lovely little girl you have with you today.  It was funny considering that during the last visit Aly flopped around the exam table like a fish out of water and screamed at the top of her lungs, but the experienced Doctor just did what he had to do and got his job done. I told him I was impressed how he just kept going.  Now I will say that it would not be easy for everyone to see what we see in clinic. I am so thankful that I am not an overly sensitive person - - I know what has to be done for Aly and that it will make her better, so I do what I have to, to assist the nurses and doctors, even if that means restraining Aly and holding down her arms and head while they access her - I will do it.  I will do it because I know that it has to be done, otherwise she would not be able to fight this disease like she has.

  To be honest I was expecting the last round of treatment to be much worse than it was. I was expecting her to lose all of her hair, and although it is so fair and she definitely did experience hair loss, she still has hair left including her eyebrows and lashes.  I keep looking ahead in her protocol to see what drugs she still has to take - - and I wonder if she will lose it.  I was expecting her to be sick.  You would think that daily chemo would make you throw up or have an upset stomach, but she was a trooper!  Last week we started the next phase of treatment called Interim Maintenance II - - and this protocol of all treatment includes chemo drugs that she has already received before - - Vincristine and methotrexate.  As usual this round began with a spinal treatment and she will receive another one in 7 weeks.  Thank goodness they sedate Aly for this treatment, as I doubt she would stay still for the Doctors.
  It is great to see Aly doing so well and hope that he spirits remain high over the next few months.  Her daddy left to go back to work in British Colombia today and she will be able to talk to him daily on the phone or skype until he returns home in 4 weeks.  I am grateful that he makes this sacrifice for his family.  I know that being away is tough, but it allows me to be able to be at home with Aly - and I wouldn't have it any other way.