countdown to….boo!

Only two more months until our favorite holiday!  Yipee for Halloween!

 

calling all fair maidens...

One of the fun things we did this summer that we had never done before is go to the Renaissance Faire.  My family and I had the BEST time.  There were some interesting characters there and we even got to meet a fairy and a mermaid.  Neat!  This will definitely be a yearly tradition and Claire and I already asked my mom and dad if we could dress up next year :)

so honored…...

Dear Chloe,
Your road with cancer has been an inspiring one and you have been a shining example of bravery to me.  But above all, you have been a really great friend.  And so today, I wanted to honor your journey by donating my hair to other children like you, who have lost theirs.  Life can be unfair and I can't give you anything to take the cancer away, but I can be your friend thru it all….and I will.
Love,
Kate
 

 

 

Beauty and the Beast

I was so happy to get out of the hospital in time to see Beauty and the Beast downtown with my sister and Ellie.  Miss Katie treated us and it really was such a special treat to be there!
 

 

hospital highlights

No stay at the hospital can go without showing some highlights, which included:
surprise visit from a best buddy
a cool magic show from a magician
another pretty dress up dress (aka nightgown) from Grandma and Grandpa
and my "hospital marathon of snoopy and friends"  and in case you were wondering, yes, I did watch every single one of them (at least once)
seeing some of my nurse friends from my stay back in February
A friend of ours said it best when she said, "as nice as the hospital is, the nicest part is coming home"
So true!
 

 

 

 

 

home sweet home

Guess what? Dr. Hayani said I could go home today! No fever for 24 hours and good counts make for a very, very happy day! My Mom was so happy she even let me take a ride downstairs on the cart. Fun! I am so excited to be sleeping in my bed tonight, without being hooked up to any tubes or machines, and without those wonderful nurses poking me every few hours. Thank you ever so much for all of your good wishes and prayers and of course superpowers :)
                                                             Ahhh....sweet dreams everyone!

 

 

 

n..n...nice!!!

Neutropenic....neupogen....lots of "n" words that have a lot of medical jargon, half of which I don't understand. 

I am highly neutropenic right now, and there is a sign outside my door at the hospital that says so.  My blood counts were low (ANC~200, Platelets~30 and hemoglobin~8.1) so I am not supposed to really have visitors (except family) and anyone who comes into my room needs to wash their hands and wear a mask.

But, I have some good news to report this morning!  Although I did spike a fever last night (darn that 5 o clock hour!), Dr. Hayani told me my counts are way up today.  And do you know why?  Well, partly because I am awesome but mostly because of this little medicine they call neupogen that they started giving me yesterday.  Apparently it helps boost the immune system for chemo kids like me and it is definitely doing it's job.  My ANC is up to 900 this morning.  WOW!

So...he says if I don't spike a fever today/tonight and my numbers continue to go up...there is a chance I can go home tomorrow.  Holy Moly!  That was the best news we have heard all week!

No fever...no fever....no fever....no fever...no fever.....

happy days

This is not a picture of me on the peds floor right now, but of happier days at the clinic (aka…home away from home) and not too far away from where I am now.  I was surprised one day when I walked into clinic and the lady from marketing and a photographer were there waiting for me.  Waiting for me?  Why?  Well, they explained that they needed to get some more pictures of me from my famous video I did for them awhile back.  Remember the one where I was talking about the child life specialists and how great they are?  I think I might be a little bit famous….at least that is what they said.  So, Miss Trina and I had some photos taken of us and did you notice how color coordinated we are?  We did not plan that at all.
That was a fun day with lots of smiles and giggles.
 I hope to be back at clinic soon….I miss them!

 

superfriends unite!

Ellie and Claire and I always try to get Aunt Kristi's super powers.  It is a really fun game we play all of the time.  But now I am hoping they all give me their superpowers so I can leave the hospital!  Doc says I will be here probably until Friday :( and that they need me to be "fever free" for at least 24 hours and that my counts also need to go up.  The good news is, my counts haven't gone down since yesterday and so far, no transfusions. Yah!  And I haven't had a fever since last night. Yah!  So, keep your fingers and toes crossed that our superpowers can let me fly on home sooner rather than later ;)
 

confidence

My Mom and I were both feeling a little over-confident that we beat the "chemo-induced fevers" this past weekend and this recent hospital stay has reminded us how powerful the treatments are that I am getting and how chemotherapy can really wreak havoc on your body.  In other words, kind of mess it up.  After all, I have done extremely well with treatment thus far and so we really did think we would fly through this latest round of chemo, especially since I had no reaction or fevers until well after I was finished with it.
Note to self….being confident can be a good thing….being overly confident….not so good.
Every once in awhile we need to be put in our place, right?
:)
 

sleepover…. part two

I am still hanging out at the hospital tonight.  My counts haven't come up very much (but not enough for a transfusion quite yet) and I spiked a pretty high fever last night.  Bummer!  That means I need to stay at least one more night…probably two.  Double bummer!  My Mom is planning on grilling the docs when they make their rounds tomorrow morning.  She wants me to bust out of this joint as soon as possible and I kind of do, too.
One thing they are pretty sure about is that these fevers I am spiking are "chemo induced fevers", which are very, very common after the last two weeks of treatment.
Go figure.
One bright spot in my day was that Miss Theresa from clinic found out I had been admitted and brought me up a cup of her very famous tea.  I love that girl.  She also brought me a "Girl Power" bag filled with goodies that had been donated to clinic.
And my Grandma and Grandpa and Claire came to visit twice.  That was super neat.
Sweet dreams everyone and until tomorrow.....Super Chloe signing off.
 

 

sleepover

Okay...so, I am spending the night in the hospital tonight.  It is my first sleepover since I was first diagnosed.  Aunt Kristi and Claire got me this really cool Brave dress (which I am wearing as a nightgown tonight) and Grandma and Grandpa got me a new outfit for my American Girl doll.  Pretty neat.  I am hoping to leave here tomorrow afternoon/evening, if my fever doesn't spike again and the blood work comes back that it is not a bacterial infection.  That is what they really worry about. 
Besides my runny nose and little cough, I am feeling pretty good and have lots of energy.  Kind of a bummer when you are sitting in a hospital bed, but my Daddy and I will make the best of it tonight.

 

hello hospital on a Sunday afternoon…..

This was a picture of me not too long ago…before I started feeling yucky and running the dreaded….. FEVER.  Oh my!   It started with a runny nose and then the cough came.  Ok, we could deal wtih that.  But then I started feeling a little warm and my mom took my temp.  101.7.  Not good in the world of leukemia and chemo.  We didn't actually think the docs would make me go to the hospital but they did.  So, here I am, waiting to hear if I will have to spend the night.  Odds are that I will have to.  But the good news is that I get to see my old friends on the peds floor.
I will keep you posted…..

 

let's celebrate!

I have a lot to celebrate today!  I had a day off from going to clinic and getting my chemo shot.  I am done with the latest round of chemo (everyday for two weeks!) and I am feeling pretty darn good.  Today is Blake's 2nd birthday!  And my Grandma and Grandpa and Grammie and Grampie are all it town and we are heading to the lake house.  Ohhh…and it is Friday!  Lots to celebrate!
 

Shake it up

 

Feeling good...feeling groovy...getting down to some of my favorite songs from one of my favorite shows.  

Rock on!  Oh...I mean...Shake on!