Milking the last of her counts

This weekend was full of activities for us. I found out that the calendar Summer will be in is not actually a childhood cancer calendar per say, but it will feature several survivors. Clint and Summer are supposed to be on the month of June for father's day. I think Summer will be on another month by herself too, but I'm not sure which one. She is also in group pictures with other kids. All of the proceeds raised from the calendars will go to the American Cancer Society. I think they are only selling them in Trenton. So, if you want one, let me know.

We also went to a cancer reception which was fun. They had door prizes and Summer got a camera and a Hannah Montana game. It is pretty fun although we don't know many of the trivia questions. Half of the questions are dancing or singing, which allows for a lot of fun. "Awesome!", "Rock On!!!", high fives, smiles and giggles are all part of the game. Well, at our house anyway. Can't wait to get her together with Willow so they can play. I bet Willow will actually know the questions though. Although Summer likes Hannah Montana, she would much rather watch cartoons on Noggin or Sprout. She's livin' the big life right now with more cartoons than we've ever had. A few weeks ago, we had only one cartoon channel. Now, we have at least 10 channels. Can you say cartoon heaven (or better overload)? I used to think I would never let my kid sit in front of the TV all day, but now with low counts and the inability to go anywhere, I see no reason not to let her spend hours in front of it. She does play too so I am not too worried, but when she doesn't feel good it is nice to have a variety of "good" cartoons (wholesome).

On Sunday, we went to a hot air balloon fair which did NOT have hot air balloons because of all the rain we received over the weekend. On the way there, Summer pointed out that it wasn't hot out side like hot air balloons would need. LOL I was wondering just how the hot air balloons would do in the rain. I guess they don't. Bummer. She didn't seem to mind the lack of balloons like I know my sister and I did. They did have inflatables which Summer and her cousins all enjoyed. Even Auntie Erin and I got on a slide. Summer was given a cotton candy for "advertisement" the guy said. Oh the perks of having a kid with cancer! Of course, I'd rather have myself a healthy, cancer-free kid, but I'm not in control here.

Sunday night was the Taste of Hamilton Place. If you are local to Chattanooga and did not go, you missed out. It was awesome with yummy food to eat everywhere from local restaurants. I was stuffed half way through. I heard it was better than Taste of Chattanooga although I've never been to it. I encourage you all to attend next year, if not for the awesome food, but to also support your ONLY local children's hospital. Where would you take your kids/grandchildren without it? I know a lot of local money is sent out of town to St. Jude and there is nothing wrong with that. But, they wouldn't even take Summer. I don't know where we would be without T.C. Thompson, but it wouldn't be in Chattanooga. Summer was featured on one of the 8 foot banners as were several other local cancer kids. She was also in a "3 words" video that played all night. It was the first time we had seen it and she loved it. She was famous for that night and may be again because it has been submitted to GMA. She also met "a real princess," Miss Tennessee and got an autographed picture that she wants to put in a frame. :p

Yesterday, we went to the clinic for counts and Vincristine. She gets another does of it next week and then we are officially done with cycle 7 chemo. Her counts are dropping this week. White count was .7 yesterday and her ANC was 200. Hemoglobin is 8.6 she needs blood, but they are waiting until Thursday to give it to her. They went ahead and cross&typed her yesterday. Her platelets were in the 50,000's so not too bad yet. We took a chance and went to Lexie's birthday party last night hoping no one was sick or was carrying any germs. She wore her mask most of the time, but she did have to eat so it came off some. We washed her hands several times while we were there though and she got a shower as soon as we got home. All the clothes went into the washing machine and I Lysoled everything I could think of.

She seems to still be feeling good although she has been saying her belly hurts really, really bad. I assume this means she feels like she is going to throw up. She has been taking Zophran every 8 hours to keep the nausea at bay and I think it is working pretty well. She is still eating, but not as much. She will ask for something and only eat a few bites, but that is better than no bites. We are swishing a few times a day to hopefully keep the mouth sores to a minimum. She isn't complaining of any yet, but she never really does until they are really bad. I am still able to brush her teeth so that is good. I think we are homeward bound from here until the counts recover or she gets a fever. Then, we get a little "vacation" from home. That's one vacation I never look forward to though.