The Plan

Andy gave me a "break" yesterday by taking Maggie to her monthly clinic visit.  You would think with each month, it would get easier, but it has not.  I still awaited anxiously for Maggie's counts and once I found out that "they looked great," I felt like a weight had been taken off of my shoulders.  This will most likely occur again next month, as there is no guarantee, but for this week we can feel relief.

Unfortunately for us, it doesn't take much to get our minds wandering/wondering.  A spot here, a bump there, a change of behavior...  It is a process that we are continually working through.  We will be doing so well and then we have a weak moment where fear creeps back in.  Will it ever get easier?

Dr. French came into the room yesterday with another plan.  Maggie had her last infusion of the anti-pneumonia drug, Pentamadine, yesterday.  She will continue through the month of April with IVIG's to help give her body time to continue healing from her critical illness.  They will give her a break in the month of May and then check her IGG level (immune system function) in June.  If her levels look good, they will take her port out in June.  Of course with her port coming out, she will also have a scope to check her stomach and a CT scan to check her lungs.  That's the plan for now, but we know it can always change, as it has so many times already.

Another remarkable number we received yesterday was Maggie's weight.  She weighed 31 lbs. 1 oz. last month and this month she weighs 32 lbs. 10 oz.-- a pound and a half in a month and 6 pounds since her critical illness began.  Throughout treatment we struggled so much with getting Maggie to eat and gain weight.  I'm so happy to say that she is such a good eater (though she does tend to wander around the room eating during the second half of the meal).  Her foot has also grown 4 sizes since February.  She is making up for all the lack of growing that she did during treatment.  She's a healthy little girl!

Like I said in the previous post, the end of this month marks 11 months off treatment.  Next month will be a milestone in the cancer world, including our own.  We hope to meet every milestone possible in this cancer journey.

Last week we had our first big snow storm.  Maggie got snow clothes for Christmas and had the chance to use them with Andy.  This was her first real snow experience--being able to walk in the snow (though challenging at first) and pull her new sled.  She had such fun that she didn't want to come in.

Merry Belated Christmas

Merry Belated Christmas! We hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We had an abridged Christmas celebrating with some of our family members. While we are still very cautious with Maggie and her health, we really wanted to spend the holiday with family, since we decided to stay isolated for Thanksgiving. We spent five days with the family, trying to stay away from illness, and I'm happy to say that we all remained healthy. This is something I will always stress about given the horrific journey we experienced, but we are also aware that we can't keep Maggie isolated forever (as Dr. French has told us) and Maggie needs to socialize with other little children.

We continue with our "normal" life. We haven't taken this for granted, nor will we ever. Lately, Maggie has loved putting puzzles together. She has a 24 piece Dora puzzle that she puts together all by herself. Her other big interest for over a month now is Toy Story. She managed to collect Buzz and Woody for Christmas from Santa. We are currently in a transition with going to no naps. Maggie had been going to sleep at night between 11-12. Andy would lay with her in bed and he actually fell asleep before she did. For that reason, we decided maybe we would try no nap and with this new schedule, she goes to sleep within minutes at a bedtime like other kids her age, and Andy and I have some downtime in the evening. While this new schedule is not perfect (she has fallen asleep around 6 pm several times and I have lost my nap as well), it is something we are moving towards.

Maggie continues to love on her little brother, Colin. When she comes into the room, his eyes will brighten with a smile. There are times when she has a tendency to become jealous, telling me that he doesn't need to eat and is fine, but for the most part she dotes on him. Colin is a growing boy, almost 3 months old. He is wearing 6-9 month clothes, as he is such a big boy. He is a much easier baby than what Maggie was, which is a blessing now having two.

Though we are much slower in posting on the blog, we thank you all for continuing to follow along in our lives. Next week Maggie goes back in for her monthly clinic appointment. Please keep her in your prayers that she continues to be healthy. At the end of the month, she will have been off chemo for 11 months. We continue to pray daily that the cancer will never return.

Our annual Christmas tree picture with 4!

Colin's first Christmas

Maggie was clapping when she saw she had opened Buzz Lightyear.

She received some princess dress-up clothes and had to try them on.

Sporting her new slippers.