Chemo Round 6 and Flashes of Hope

Today’s Chemo went very smoothly.   All of her blood counts were almost back into the normal range this week.  Yippie!!!  Ashlynn wasn’t feeling great the beginning of the week.  We are assuming her counts were at their lowest Tuesday, and have since started climbing again.  The Visiting Nurse will visit us on Wednesday to take her blood again to see if she can have her third big treatment next week.  While we were waiting for ashlynn’s Chemo to be mixed up she was showing off her dance moves for everyone.  She was constantly looking around to make sure everyone was watching her.  After she got bored of dancing we headed to the playroom.  There she played with the farmhouse and all of the animals.  She kept telling Dr. Chaffee that the Camel was a goat.  Ashlynn was happy to help with her Chemo again today.  All of the doctors and nurses and everyone else in the Hem/Onc department are great at making this whole experience as much fun for Ashlynn as possible!

While we were at the clinic Ashlynn got to have her pictures take.  Jenn the AWESOME Life Specialist had arranged for the “Flashes of Hope” program to come and take pictures of patients today.  Megan got Ashlynn an adorable outfit to wear for her pictures.  “Flashes of Hope” is a program that was set up to take pictures of children with cancer at no cost to the families.  All of the pictures we get back will be black and white (my favorite).  We should get our photo’s pack in 6-8 weeks.  I will be sure to post some on the blog.  The photographer is nice enough to volunteer to take the photos for free and even give us the rights to the images.   

After we got home Ashlynn and Garrett shared an ice cream sandwich!

Milk N' Cookies

Since Ashlynn has been loosing a little weight each week due to her chemo treatments we have been trying to add more calories into her day.  Last night we decided Oreo’s would do the trick.  Garrett was also in the mood for some Oreo’s and Milk so this plan worked out wonderfully.  Ahslynn really likes to eat whatever we are eating.  I guess the saying “Lead by Example” is true at times.  Hopefully that won’t apply to all of our bad habits….Ashlynn really seemed to enjoy eating her Oreo.  She seemed quite pleased with her self!  I have a feeling that this might become something Ashlynn and Garrett do together on a regular basis.

Water Baby!

 Since the nice summer days are limited I thought we should take advantage of it this afternoon.  Ashlynn really loves being in the water so we set up her kiddie pool for some fun in the sun!  Ashlynn helped me fill up the water bucket in the tub.  Once she was in the pool she had a great time throwing all of her toys out of the pool and then reaching over the side to put them back in the pool.  She also thought it would be a good idea to put my sandals in the pool too!  She was being such a goof ball today.  She was dancing to the music that was on, and showing me all kids of funny faces.  Roxy also thought she should play with Ashlynn while she was in the pool.  Ashlynn would splash Roxy, and then Roxy would drink some of the water out of the pool.  After Ashlynn was done splashing around, she sat in her new chair with her towel to dry off, and then it was nap time J

 Best Friends

Ashlynn Expressions

Chemo Round 5

Today was Ashlynn’s 5^th Chemo treatment.  Michelle came with us to keep us company this trip!  It’s always nice to have someone to talk with during the long trip.  Treatment went very well this week.  First thing Ashlynn got her blood taken so we could get her blood counts.  We were pleasantly surprised that all of her counts were already back into the normal range.  This means no blood transfusion will be needed this week.  The only minor concern we have this week is Ashlynn’s weight.  She has lost weight the past 3 weeks, not a lot of weight, but we want her to be gaining instead.  She is at 20lbs even right now.  Before her treatments started she was up to 22lbs.  We talked to the dietitian today and got some tips for adding in some extra calories.

While we waited for the lab to mix up Ashlynn’s chemo we played with the iPad Nana let us borrow from her classroom.  This was probably a bad idea, because now we want one even more.  Ashlynn loved the app with the dancing animals.  She figured out where she needed to touch to change the animal very quickly.  Its amazing that she could figure this out in a matter of minutes.  When the animals would dance Ashlynn would dance too.

Once it was time for chemo Ashlynn sat very still with Michelle.  She was such a good girl.  Tammy even let Ashlynn help push her chemo!  We are hoping for and uneventful couple of weeks!!

Playing on the iPad

Proud Mommy

Just a quick little post for a proud Mommy moment!  Ashlynn has been working really hard on feeding herself with a spoon all week.  Last night she did a really great job with this.  She would let me load the spoon for her and then would bring it to her mouth for a bite.  Some of the yogurt ended up on her face, but she was getting quite a bit of it in her mouth as well.  After she would get a big bite in her mouth she would look at me with a huge smile!  Way to go Ashlynn!!!

Daddy's Helper

Tonight Garrett was working on yet another project in the house.  He cut the ugly wall on the stairs down to a half wall to open things up.  I was busy doing something and turned around to see that Ashlynn had decided she wanted to be Daddy’s Helper!  This was far to cute to not take some pictures.  Garrett was rather annoyed as always when he ended up in most of the pictures, but I’m sure in a few years when Ashlynn isn’t quite as little and cute he will like having these photos to remember how sweet she used to be….  

After helping Daddy got too boring we took out yet another birthday present to play with.  Both Ashlynn and Meow Cat were more interested in the cardboard box then the Little People Zoo.  Ashlynn would crawl into the box and then Meow Cat would get in the box, and then they would both get into the box together.  This lasted just a few minutes.  Meow Cat was too trusting of Ashlynn.  Ashlynn grabbed Meow Cat by the tail and was sliding her across the floor.  I know it’s only a matter of time before she ends up with her first scratch from her dear kitty.  

Recreating a memory

When my brother was about a year my parents took a picture of him grabbing water droplets of water in the tub.  When I was about a year old they recreated this same picture.  As long as I can remember these pictures have been hanging in the bathroom at my parents house.

Now that Ashlynn is about a year old I thought it was about time to recreate the same picture for the 3rd time.  I'm sure in about a year from now my brother will be recreating this picture with his daughter Evi to add to the collection in Nana's bathroom.

I would have to say this was one of the more interesting photo shoots I have done with Ashlynn.  Nana was the helper, and in charge of the water (I am way too clumsy to handle water and a camera at the same time).  Ashlynn was a crazy lady in the tub that morning, and just wanted to dance all over the place, so that made things a more interesting.  Luckily we were able to get the shot we needed pretty quickly because Ashlynn was having way too much fun doing her own thing in the tub!

 

Not her finest moment, but certainly a photo we will save for future boyfriends.

Getting closer...

Not quite

Got it!  Can't wait to frame is and add it to Nana's wall.

Chemo Round 4

Ashlynn's Chemo treatment went very well this week!  This was her fourth treatment, and also one of the difficult treatments.  We had an 8am appointment, so we had to leave the house at 6am.  Ashlynn was still tired so she slept the first half of the ride, and then she enjoyed some new kiddie music the rest of the trip.  Once we got to the clinic her port access was done quickly and then her IV fluids were started right away.  Ashlynn played with her animal app on my iPhone while she was waiting.  She has already figured out that if she touches the screen it makes the animal noise.  (Maybe Daddy will have to get her and Mommy and iPad to share for a christmas gift!)  She spent a short time in the playroom in the clinic, and then we got sent up to CHaD.  There was only 1 room open and Dr. Chaffee wanted to make sure we were able to spend the night.  

Once we were upstairs Ashlynn took a nap.  After her nap she had some lunch, and then the chemo was started.  The chemo lasts about a hour, and then she has to stay hooked up with fluid until the next morning.  Ashlynn did such an amazing job handling her treatment.  She gets a little annoyed having to be attached to the pole, but she makes the best of it.  Once she was just getting the fluid we went for a walk around the hospital in the wagon.  We stopped at the gift shop to look around.  We tried to find a  cute hat for Ashlynn that wasn't a sun hat.  The didn't have any for kids, but Ashlynn tried and adult one on (she's getting a little light up top, but still as cute as ever!).  Ashlynn and Nana also played with some of the hand puppets.  She also enjoyed watching her Sesame Street dvd she got for her birthday from her cousins Maddi & Ethan.  She loves dancing to all of the songs in the dvd.  Her favorite one is about a hard working dog.   This trip we brought Ashlynn's new rocking chair just in case the swing wasn't working again.  She likes to sit in it and relax.  I was hoping she would use it to nap in if the swing wasn't there.  We were lucky enough that we didn't have to test that theory.  She did have a good time 'reading' in her chair.

We were able to leave the hospital by 10am and were home by noon- this is a new record for us.  Ashlynn is a little more tired than normal, but other than that she is doing great!  We will keep an eye on her mouth to see if she will get mouth sores with this treatment (we have the medication to start right away if it does happen)  Fingers crossed she won't need any blood transfusions this week!

We are very happy to be half way done with the most difficult treatments!!!  We are also very thankful to have so much support and help from our family and friends.

We don't pack too light when we have to stay overnight....But we have a system that seems to work.