Tonight Grace was riding her scooter as fast as she could. I had to tell her to stop as I have high suspicions that her platelets are low again. It's just too dangerous, so she's playing the iPad instead. She's happy about it, but my heart is sad a little.
We were going to visit with friends at the beach this Monday but I had to cancel. Not only is her ANC very, very low (which means she's nuetropenic), but her port has to heal for 24 hours before it can get wet, and we're not taking the bumble bee out until Sunday night. So Monday is a no-go.
It's hard to get her out- between nuetropenia and low platelets, there aren't many places she can go. Outside parks are fairly germ free, but falling off play equipment is too dangerous. Indoor play centers aren't dangerous, but house too many germy kids. Friend and family houses tend to work, but we've been at the hospital so much that it's hard to go visit.
These last three weeks have been exhausting. We've been at the hospital three times a week for the last three weeks, for a total something near seventy-two hours. She's been nuetropenic most of that whole time, which is why she was rejected for the lumbar puncture so many times. It also is why we've had to be very careful to not be around the general public again. Which makes grocery shopping and Target very challenging.
Thankfully she should start to recover in the next two weeks, and then she'll be on a low dose of chemo for a month. It should be our "vacation" from cancer, if all goes well. Then she'll start this same two-month cycle that we're finishing up this week. There won't be any more inpatient hospital stays as long as she stays fever free, but we'll be back to two or three times going to the hospital for some hard-hitting chemo rounds.
I'm really not looking forward to it. In fact, we'll probably need help in a lot of ways for October and November, if anyone wants to volunteer.
But how thankful I am for friends and family who've carried us through these last three weeks. How we needed it! And how thankful I am that we'll have a few weeks of peace before heading back in to what we pray will be Grace's last cycle of rough-chemo treatment.
How thankful I am that cancer is not forever.
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