Monthly Clinic Visit

Maggie had her monthly clinic appointment yesterday morning. It ended up that one of the machines that runs her IGG level (immune system response) was broken, but we were not told that until after almost 2 hours of waiting for the number. Therefore, the appointment took much longer than necessary and we had to wait for a call back from the nurse to determine whether she would need an IVIG due to her number being too low. We got that call back this morning and Maggie does in fact need an IVIG as her number was 475. She needed to be above 500 to not be infused. This means that we must go back for Maggie to be accessed again (another poke on her port) on Friday for the 2+ hour infusion. This also means that Maggie's immune system has still not recovered. I am a bummed about both of these things. It has been almost 10 months since Maggie's last chemo treatment and they say that normally your immune system recovers within 6 months. This goes to show what a toll her body took with the chemotherapy, but more so the 3 month illness she endured. Dr. French was discussing taking Maggie's port out sooner than originally planned (perhaps in 2 months), but now with this knowledge that her immune system isn't healed, this may push things back again. We will see what he has to say.

As for the rest of Maggie's counts, Dr. French said they looked good. Though I was not especially happy to see an ANC of 1600 (normal is 1500 and above), they were not worried about it. We keep plugging away and Maggie continues to physically grow (she gained a half pound in a month to 31.1 lbs.) and blossom in her language and gross motor skills, though Andy and I both say she is quite a clumsy girl falling over quite a bit. She is very fun and funny and we laugh with her quite a bit. She is a typical 3 year old, climbing onto things, coming out of her bedroom with multiple excuses after being put to bed, leaving the table after eating half her meal and insisting I feed her while she walks around the house...

We had professional pictures taken of Maggie and Colin a couple weeks ago. I will try to post those soon. Thank you all for your continued prayers. Though our road is less rocky, we are still on the road to recovery.

These pictures were taken at Thanksgiving. Maggie is dancing in the first two. She loves to dance!

We were practicing our posing for when she was going to have professional pictures.

That is a phone next to Colin's head. Maggie had given Colin the phone to talk to someone.

Happy Thanksgiving

We have had a wonderful couple of weeks. Maggie has been doing great. She had her monthly clinic visit last week and her counts continue to be great. Dr. French lowered the threshold on her IGG levels (from 700 to 500) and for that reason, we did not have to have an infusion (this helps with immune functioning). They had only good things to say and for that we are thankful.

We also went for a pulmonary visit as well. Her doctor again had great things to say. They will continue with the plan to do a scope, CT scan, and take out her port all at the same time sometime in the spring. We asked about isolation, as we have stayed pretty isolated since coming home from the hospital in May and especially with the holidays coming up. The doctor felt it was still important to do so, saying the longer Maggie can go without a cold, the better she will be at fighting it. For that reason, we will be celebrating Thanksgiving as a family of four rather than with our extended family. This will be a first for us as we've always spent the holidays with our parents, siblings and extended family. Andy is quite excited to make our turkey and fixings, so we'll see how things turn out. While I am sad not to spend the holiday with our family, I have been reminded of how much we have to be thankful for, given that 9 months ago we weren't sure if we'd have Maggie to celebrate with. And now we have another little one, another wonderful blessing.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Halloween

Never did I realize how hard it would be to do much of anything with two little ones. To survive, I find that I need to nap during nap time as our nights are so broken up and sleep is often hard to come by. For this reason, free time is limited and I apologize for a lack of update.

We are all doing very well. Maggie continues to be a good helper. The biggest challenge for us is working with discipline issues with a little girl who has a stubborn, independent personality. We have found that the fight that was within her to live is now an everyday thing. Though it is frustrating, we appreciate her spirit.

Below are pictures from our trick-or-treat night. Maggie walked some, but Andy would carry her to keep up with her friend Jay. She would not speak to anyone, but as soon as she got her candy, she would turn around and say, "Look Mom!" She was pretty happy to get the candy. We went up and down one street and then she was finished. All in all, we had a great night and were so happy to see her walking and having a good time.

Here we are coming back from a house after getting candy. It's too bad so many people had stairs. We are still working on walking up and down stairs.

Our happy little dinosaur walking.

Life Update

These photos of pumpkin carving were taken prior to Colin's birth, but I am only now getting them posted. Needless to say, it has been a busy 2 weeks.

Morgan and Parker came on Monday before Colin was born to help out. I was quite uncomfortable at the end of this pregnancy and having some labor signs. It eased my anxiety knowing that someone was here if we had to go in before our scheduled c-section on the 17th (which we did end up going early). Here she is with Parker posing for the camera with the pumpkin we had picked at Young's Dairy.

Daddy and Maggie are preparing the pumpkin carving by drawing on it first.

Life Update:
Maggie is making a remarkable adjustment to having a little brother in the house. I am continually amazed at how she has been doing. I was very worried that Maggie would have a hard time while we were in the hospital, being as this was the first time that we had been apart (it was definitely hard on me). Her aunt Morgan and my mom stayed with her and she did very well. She came to visit us at the hospital the day after Colin was born (again, I was very hesitant to do this as I thought she would not want to leave), but again, she proved me wrong. She was so happy to come to the hospital and walked in carrying 2 white carnations for us. She went around the room talking and taking pictures. It was a joy to see.

Since being home, Maggie has been a great help by getting diapers, burp cloths, blankets, and whatever we ask for. She has become even more independent and is just the happiest little girl. Though we have reverted back to wanting me to lay in bed with her for nap, she is doing wonderfully. Colin is a very good baby who sleeps most of the time. We're not quite used to that as Maggie from the beginning was never a good sleeper. Though we are still sleep deprived, we are enjoying our new little family.

Maggie had her monthly clinic visit a week ago, which of course created anxiety in me once again. Her numbers looked great and she actually didn't have to get an IVIG (antibody infusion), as she was within the normal threshold. Andy took her to the appointment and they were back home within 2 1/2 hours. This was a record for her. With this appointment being so positive, we feel like we can breathe once again for another month.

This past week, Andy had taken Maggie outside since it was so nice out. As I looked out the window, I felt that my world was perfect at that moment. Maggie was walking outside by herself, carrying a watering can and watering our dead flowers. Andy was helping her fill up the can and I stood watching it all unfold while holding our newborn son. At that moment, all was forgotten about where we have been and what we have endured. Instead, all I could think about was that this family of four has so much joy ahead of us. It's a new beginning that I am ready for and look forward to.

The day we got home from the hospital, Maggie came into the house asking, "Where is my little brother?" She was ready to hold him and hasn't let him go since.

Maggie enjoys sharing her bed with Colin.

I foresee a beautiful friendship.

She loves to hold her little brother. She asks constantly to hold him and does a good job doing so. She doesn't seem to mind his crying at all. She tells him "it's okay," and "calm down."

Maggie has become a good mommy to all of her babies. She was even pushing 2 strollers with babies in them last night.

Maggie meets her little brother

Maggie is a very happy big sister, as you can see. Colin Gabriel was born yesterday at 6:50 PM. He weighed 8 lbs., 11 oz and was 21 1/4 inches long.

Maggie turns 3!

After all that Maggie has been through, we weren't entirely sure we would ever get to see the day she turned 3, but on October 8, we celebrated as a family the wonderful event.

The birthday girl!

Opening up her first present. I love the surprised look she gets on her face. The funny thing though is that she went to the toy store with us the night before and picked out her presents (a little unconventional) so they should not be much of a surprise.

Grandpa and Grandma Bixler gave Maggie a doll house, so we got a bathroom set to help fill the house.

We thought to help Maggie with the upcoming transition, we would get her a baby seat. As soon as she opened it, she went to get her baby (see next picture).

She got her baby (which was actually one of my babies when I was little). The baby doll is almost as big as she is!

We went to the park as part of Maggie's birthday celebration. It was quiet so she was able to go on the slides without little kids running her over. She also loves to swing!

Opening up her last present--a cash register!

Maggie was excited to help put icing on the cake.

Singing "Happy Birthday" to Maggie.

Say "Cheese!"

After our cold birthday celebration, we came back to our house to finish the Ohio State game and warm up. We were able to get a couple of pictures that I wanted to share on here as well.

We were able to get a "cheese" out of Maggie. This is a very tough thing to do, and I think the trade-off of the "cheese" was that she got the camera to take her own pictures afterwards.

How else can you get Miss Maggie to smile? Tickle her!

The Presents

Maggie was almost more impressed with the card than the presents.

As Maggie opened up each present, she would say, "Daddy look!"

Everyone was very patient with Maggie as she opened up her presents. It was a very chilly day--the upper 50's, with wind and threatening rain. I thought choosing the first weekend in October would give us the best chance of good weather, but this has proven to be wrong as last Saturday was hot and this coming Saturday looks to be just as beautiful.

We had Maggie's birthday party at the same park as where we had her 1st birthday party. The weather was drastically different between the two years as was Maggie's demeanor. If you go back to her 1st year birthday party on this blog, you will see a very unhappy child who was on steroids. Now, 2 years later and drug-free, she's so happy.

Maggie informed us the night of the party that she wanted a birthday hat. We had not gotten any hats and so scrambled the next morning and found one that she had for her first birthday party.

Showing off her presents to Daddy and the camera.

Thank you to everyone who was at Maggie's party and gave her presents, as well as those who have sent her presents. We are very grateful to all of you and appreciate the outpouring of love we continue to get from our blogging family.

The Cupcake

We were watching a tv commercial that showed Dora cupcakes and how to make them. After that, that's what Maggie wanted for her birthday--Dora cupcakes. We tried our best and though it isn't a masterpiece, they did taste pretty good.

It was a bit of a struggle to get the candles lit with the wind. I think the wind ended up blowing them out.

She really liked eating the icing off the candles.

Maggie prefers the icing to the cake.

Yum, that was good!