10 days and counting

Maddie is sick with a cold. This is the second time she has been sick, but the first time since treatment. She has a runny nose, is a little more clingy and more excitable (she already is an 11 on a scale of 1 to 10 on being excitable). She is still very cute and playful, though. At this point post treatment, the doctors are not too worried since she has been doing so well. We are just tracking and keeping her away from Elle - which is our main concern. If Elle gets the cold, this would delay us taking her down for therapy. She can have no active infections when she undergoes the bone marrow transplant and chemo. *Sigh* At this point, we will take anything you can spare to get her to, through, and post treatment - prayers, good vibes, witchcraft, voodoo, etc.

On a happier note, Maddie is getting very crafty which makes me kinda proud. On Monday night, Fernando wouldn't let her go to the dining room because the mess she left from dinner was still on the floor (which is her favorite time to play with food). First she tried just using her super strength to run through Fernando. Then it was time to call on her toddler lightning fast speed to run past Fernando. When those didn't work, she turned to trickery. She pretended that she wanted Daddy to read a book to her. When she positioned herself so that she could make a straight b-line to the dining room, she threw the book at Fernando and made a run for it. After we all calmed down from laughing, Maddie's final attempt was to crawl to the dining room because maybe we wouldn't see her if she crawled instead of walked.

Other than being in quarantine, Elle is doing well. Her lymphocyte count dropped way down from a high of 2600 to about 750, and the doctors just say that is just what her body is doing. Other than that, she is growing like a weed. She is still the super cute squishy, coo-ey baby but growing way too fast. She is sleeping great through the night, but I am waiting for someone to invent a baby bed that heats up and is cozy called "the womb." Elle is only taking naps in her baby carrier. Why can't someone invent a crib that looks like a chest with bendy arms that heat up? As soon as I see an info-mercial, we are totally there,.

We have Elle's planned schedule. Sunday, October 10, we fly down to UCLA. Monday, they run various tests, and Tuesday, Elle will get her bone marrow extraction and CVC (central venous catheter) to receive the chemo and transfusion. On Thursday, she will receive the chemo, and the following Monday, Oct. 18 she will hopefully be transfused her new and improved stem cells. After that, it is a wait and see game and pray for her health.

So, I thought I had a great idea and buy us all matching pajamas. It ended up being a little weird, but still kinda funny.

Last weekend, Fernando came down with Elle in the morning, and her eyes were goopy from a blocked tear duct. I asked if he washed her face, and he replied "No, I am a bad Dad. I guess I could just say 'No, I am a Dad.'" Oh the start of a typical Saturday.