Relief

I took Maggie back into the hospital this morning for a scheduled lab draw to check her electrolytes. With this lab came a new finger poke, which Maggie was not too pleased with; however, the pink band-aid she received on her finger has been a hit. She has "talked"about it most of the day and held her finger up to admire her "pink" band-aid. What can I say, band-aids and stickers tend to heal all wounds. I am so glad that this does the trick as it reminds me she does have some normal 2 year old traits.

The labs measured her potassium and carbon dioxide levels, two levels that determine hydration. Her potassium went from 2.1 yesterday to 3.5 today-- a big jump and just below the normal range. Her CO2 level went from 10.9 to 18-- another level just shy of being within the normal range. So, Dr. French did not need to see Maggie further today for more hydration methods. Though she had about 6 diarrhea stools last night, her body managed to maintain her levels. After a stool when Maggie woke up this morning, we have not seen one since, which is a rarity in this house.

This evening Andy and I were able to get away and spend some time together. We were able to "escape" our life by watching a movie tonight on the big screen. The last time Andy and I did something alone together was in November of last year. Since Maggie has been born, we have had 3 "date" nights. We know that nurturing our relationship is very important, but with all that has been going on, we just have not had time to do so. We have read in books that often marriages struggle to survive when a child is diagnosed with cancer and I can totally understand why. The continual stress of a sick child wears on everyone involved, and for Andy and I, the last 7 months have been particularly hard on us as we have had to deal with Maggie's cancer AND diarrhea. So, it was much appreciated that we spent an evening together.

The last day and a half my parents have come to "rescue" us from the day-to-day stress. It is so hard to keep up with regular household chores, especially during steroid week. My parents were able to take a couple of days to come down, clean up the house, fix up things that had been neglected, and give us an opportunity to have a "date" night. In short, I think they gave us some of our sanity back. We are very grateful for their help and all the support that we receive from our families.

Please continue to pray for Maggie, that we can find a resolution to this diarrhea problem, that the side effects to the chemo and steroids will disappear, that we can have some "normalcy," and most importantly the cancer will never return.