Wow, I got really backed up. I had a list of names that I needed to write thank-you cards to, a good 75% of the clothing my family owns was clean but in hampers, Nathaniel’s birthday is just around the corner and I haven’t planned any kind of birthday festivities….and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
So today I spent, literally, hours folding clothes (primarily because Peyton wanted to help and if you’ve ever had a 3 year old help you fold clothes then you understand…..if you haven’t, it’s sort of like trying to put pantyhose on an octopus….a total pointless waste of time, but realllly amusing!) and trying to get caught up with life. I get a call from the school at 4:30….it was life calling to taunt that it had gotten a huge head start on me again. Nathaniel made full face contact with a basketball hoop pole and chipped a permanent tooth. It went something like this:
“Oh wow, you really did a job on that tooth, didn’t you? Does it hurt?”
“No, not much anymore.”
“Did it hurt really bad when you hit it?”
Silence….roll of eyes…..”Mom, have you ever smacked a tooth on a metal pole?”
“Right.”
He’s fine, I have to find out if our dentist’s office can get him in sometime in the near future….say, before prom and graduation. It’s ridiculous how long it takes to get in there, but now we have to make it a priority with old snaggle-tooth waiting.
The end of Peyton’s week went chemo on Wednesday, visits to see our friend Kaylie AND to the circus on Thursday and then chemo on Friday. Let me just tell you what a fantastic visit we had with Kaylie and her family at St. Joseph’s hospital. Kaylie actually let me hold her and play with her, Peyton was in a fantastic mood and was just cracking everyone up and Tisha and Patty (Kaylie’s mom and grandma) are starting to lose that slightly glazed look. I could see that they’re getting to that point where it’s starting to become a routine, and not so much of a constant shock. Plus Kaylie is doing so well now, no more bad reactions to chemo, she’s chubbed up in a big way from finishing a round of steroids and it was just wonderful to see her so active and interested in us. I think it’s a drag when we have to drive to the clinic several times a week to get Peyton’s treatments, but Kaylie has to be admitted for 3-4 days a week to get hers, so we’ll take our outpatient treatment without complaint.
Wednesday Peyton got double leg shots which she wasn’t too thrilled with, but she recovered from quickly. Kyleen, our child life specialist at the clinic, called Thursday afternoon to ask us if we wanted to take the kids to the Barnum and Baileys circus, there were tickets available for suite seats from the Children’s Cancer Society. It was amazing! I haven’t been to a circus in years and Pete and the kids have never been. They were just in awe the whole time of all the action and the daring deeds and the animals! Peyton was just wild about the dog show and the zebras. Nathaniel was really into the clowns and acrobatics. Rachael thought the trapeze artists were the best and Pete was pretty blown away by the nerve of the tiger trainers. We were able to attend with the Powells, so we got to share this fun night with our good friends and that just made it so much better.
We call them "The 6-pack"
Friday, Peyton got medicine administered via her port, Vincristine and Doxorubicin and she did really well for those. She talked non-stop about the circus and ate chicken noodle soup the whole time we were there. She’s 11 days into her 21 days of steroids and I have to say that God answered our prayers, because she is doing so much better this round of meds than the first time. She’s still eating way more than usual and her cheeks and belly are getting round, but it’s not the obsessive, scary eating she was doing the last time. She’s teary and cries easily, but she’s not being mean or throwing wild temper tantrums. I just pray that it continues to stay steady, we can deal with this easily. If it gets worse, so be it, we’ll cope with that too, but this is nowhere near as bad as we had mentally prepared ourselves for.
She is starting to complain that her mouth hurts. I poked around with a flashlight because mouth sores are common with leukemia treatment and this is the first time she’s said anything about it. I didn’t see anything big, but I am giving her a special leukemic mouth wash for the pain whenever she says anything.
Other than that, we’re doing great! Pete got the lights and tree down and packed away, I did finally finish all that laundry and am ¾ of the way to getting it put away, and the kids are happily back at school….life just has a way of keeping on.
Thank you for the continued support and encouragement, the prayers are Peyton’s best weapon against this cancer and you can’t believe how well she’s fighting.
f.r.o.G….fully rely on God
—Anissa
