What happens when we are stuck at home with low counts

SUPER COOL people come to visit, including SWOOP from the Utah Utes! He chased the kids all around and even gave Millie his squirt gun. I wasn't thrilled, but she was! It's her new favorite toy. THANK YOU SWOOP!!!

We wash Millie's hair in the sink when her port is accessed. It can't get wet.



We sing Thanksgiving songs.


We make homemade masks to go get a redbox.

Even Austin gets one.

We give LOTS of doses of antibiotic at all hours of the night.

We color, mostly on paper, but not always.

Our home health nurse, Dylan comes over a lot to test blood levels. He has become a permanent fixture in our home.

We make potions out of colorful rocks.

Even I got a turn to access Millie's port. I was terrified, but it went great. I was surprised that I had to push with so much force to get it in. Kind of freaked me out.

We play dress up.

We build things and make LOTS of crafts. Thanks Grandpa Jager for bringing the nails. She made a bird house and a couple stools.

Millie teaches Austin the piano.


Last but not least Brady and I FINALLY painted our front entryway and upstairs. We love it!

We have had a crazy couple of weeks, but we are grateful for all the love and support we have been shown. Millie being hospitalized took us completely by surprise and was a huge wake up call. Sometimes we forget how fragile Millie's immune system is since she is such a tough cookie. Millie's had a very hard time rebounding this time when her counts plummeted, but we have finally reached an ANC of 800 and she will restart her chemo tonight.

Blood Counts over the past week and a half:

11/10/11 ANC 300- normal clinic, cancel chemo and wait for counts to rise.

11/17/11 ANC 100- fever of 104, start antibiotic and fluids every 4 hours, hospitalized.

11/18/11 ANC 100- slight fever, continue antibiotic, stay at hospital again.

11/19/11 ANC 100- no fever, change antibiotic to every 8 hours, get to go home!

11/21/11 ANC 100, continue antibiotic every 4 hours

11/23//11 ANC 200, stop antibiotic, watch for fevers

11/28/11- ANC 800!!!! Amelia is good to go. Restart all chemo at a 50% dose, and retest in a week.

I am so proud of my Millie Bug. It has been very hard to be trapped in the house for so long, but she handled it very well most of the time.

Thank you again to everyone who called, brought meals, and came to visit. We love you!

Clinic November 2011

We had a visitor with us today at clinic, Aunt Kim! I asked Millie who she wanted to invite this time and she was certain she wanted her Aunt Kimmi to come with her. Amelia started a new round of Maintenance so she had her usually Vincristine, but she also had a Lumbar Puncture where they inject a chemo called Methotrexate into her spinal fluid. She did very well and thankfully it went pretty fast for a chemo appointment. I think we were out of there within four hours. She also started a new round of steroids, YUCK!

Clinic Stats:

ANC: 300

Millie's ANC is under her target range so

she has temporarily been taken off all oral chemo until her blood counts come back up.

Height: 112 cm

Weight: 20 kg

And for her hair...

* A lot has been going on with Miss Millie but I wasn't up for a long post, so I decided to just blog clinic for now. I will post again later this week about being inpatient and what's going on with her blood counts.

Pippi Longstocking is coming into your town....

Miss Millie has been planning on being Pippi Longstocking since last year and Austin was suppose to be Mr. Nilson, but he hated his costume. We resorted to whatever he would put on.

Happy Halloween!

Fall Fun

October Clinic Update 2011

Millie did fabulous at clinic and it went fast! We were out of there in 1.5 hours, that never happens. Everything went well and other then the normal side effects from her chemo like, stomach pain, and an aching body Millie is looking fabulous. I am sure proud of my little Super Hero.

Clinic Stats

Height: 111 cm

Weight: 19.1 kg

ANC: 1.4

I had to include this picture. This is Austin's "smile". It's a little frightening.

Boston

Last December for my birthday Cousin Sherry gave me a trip to Boston and we finally got to go. I love the Fall, it's my favorite time of year. I am so glad we waited to go until October. Sherry's sister, Krissy, attends Harvard University and also works there. She has been in the area for around 9 years now and she was the perfect hostess. Krissy knows everything there is to know about Boston.

The first night we arrived pretty late so we headed to dinner at a place called Fire and Ice. The service wasn't that great, but once we figured out what we were doing we all loved it. I would definitely recommend it. We also stopped by a cupcake shop called Sweet. BEST cupcakes ever. Their frosting is like nothing else I have ever had. Truly perfect.

Saturday morning we woke up and hit up a place called The Friendly Toast. Oh my goodness it was amazing. The restaurant itself is pretty quirky and the menu was extremely unique. I ordered Gingerbread Pancakes with Pomegranate Molasses. I'm actually not a huge ginger fun, but I couldn't pass these babies up. You can check out their menu here.

Me and Cousin Sherry

Me and Krissy

After filling our bellies we went home cleaned ourselves up a bit and headed out to Bolton Spring Farm for some apple picking. So fun! Then we walked across the street to get some fresh Apple Crumble, Cold Cider, and rummage through the local market. If you can't tell already a lot of our trip was based around food so next we drove to Kimball Farms and tried out their famous ice cream. There was NO room in my belly, but I still managed to force down the best Burnt Almond Fudge I've ever had.

At this point we waddled our behinds to the car and drove to Waldon Pond where we spent the afternoon wading in the cool water. I loved seeing all the locals swimming. Next time I will be packing my swim suit. I know we are dressed for cooler weather in our scarves and boots, but it was in the 80's. Who Knew...

Cousin Sherry, Me, Krissy

That night we went to dinner at a place called, Punjabi Dhaba. I LOVE me some good Indian food and this place hit the spot. Here in good ol' Utah when you go get Indian it's usually at a really nice restaurant with white table clothes, not very authentic. This place on the other hand had Bollywood music blasting, it was full of locals, and the food was served on a metal tray. For dessert we walked down the street a bit and got more ice cream at Christiana's Homemade Ice Cream.

I am one happy and FULL girl :)

Sunday we woke up early and attended our church meeting, took a peek at Jennifer Gardner (my girl crush), and Ben Affleck's home, then we headed to Topsfield for the longest running fair in the county. The fair is my favorite. I love the people, rides, food, the giant veggies, and all the randomness that comes along with it.

We made a last minute decision to stop through Salem on our way back and I am so glad we did. There is a lot of history in Massachusetts, but Salem is different. It's difficult for my mind to wrap around what really happened there with the witch trials, but it was very interesting to wander through the town. When we pulled in there were booths set up everywhere, and people decked out in their witch attire. It was so fun, but strange all at the same time. Salem was one of my favorite things we saw, but I also felt a tiny guilty for enjoying it's mystery.

Salem, Massachusetts

For dinner we got take out pizza at Otto Pizza in Harvard Square and since we were so close we couldn't resist trying a new flavor of cupcake from Sweet, again.

Sunday = Duck Tour of the city, eating at Faneuil Hall Marketplace, resting at the Harbor, shopping at H&M, and then the best night of eats yet! Little Italy is a must!

Mike's Pastry had the BEST cannoli I've had in my life. I even packed one home for my dadio.

If you are ever in Boston you HAVE to eat at Giacomo's. We were all dying over their delicious food. My favorite was the Pumpkin Tortellinis and Garlic Broccoli. Get there early or you'll wait all night for a table (totally worth it even if you do have to wait)!

My mouth has started watering just thinking about their yummy food.

***Thank you Cousin Sherry for taking me and thank you Krissy for giving us a place to stay and touring us around all weekend. You both are amazing. Can't wait till next time!