Day 24

I like good days.  And when I say “good”, I’m not saying that we did anything outstanding.  A good day is when Kennedy isn’t nauseated, isn’t in pain and has enough energy to seem somewhat like her self.  Today was a good day.

Maddox and mom started the morning at the Y, Maddox at swim lessons and mom at a much needed/missed TRX class.   Kennedy hung out with dad for the hour and was waiting for another feeding when I got home.  We used to space out feedings with at least an hour in between but she can’t even last that long anymore.  The doctors seem ok with the compulsive eating and said that after next week, she may not have an appetite so enjoy the appetite.

My Aunt Joanne and cousins Alene and Nikki stopped by with what seemed like an entire toy store for both kids.  They were kind enough to wear masks so Kennedy wouldn’t have to.  When K had enough of all the excitement, she kindly said she needed to rest and they left.

K and mom took a nice 2 hour nap – I’m starting to really enjoy napping.  Although there is a ton of stuff I could be doing instead, Kennedy doesn’t like to be alone so that means I get to nap too.  Gene ran out to the store to buy shelving for all of the bears and art projects Kennedy is accumulating.  Now K and I have another project for next week – organization.  For anyone who knows me, they know I’m the care-free clutter queen but I’m going to give it a shot.  I hear that kids like to be able to find their toys too J

Jane stopped by to bring dinner for us tonight – thank you! 

K opening more stuff from when she was
in the hospital from her Pre-K teachers

On a side note, I know that a lot of our friends and family have asked why Loyola?  Why not Children’s Memorial, Mayo, St. Jude’s, Etc?  In the beginning we didn’t have time to ask or answer these questions because the treatment process needed to start right away due to the aggressive nature of ALL Leukemia.  We did know that our doctor and hospital was part of Curesearch, which meant her treatment was part of a protocol that involved 271 hospitals (including St. Judes, Mayo Clinic, Children’s Memorial and more).  What I recently learned is that we were lucky (blessed) to start with one of the nation’s best doctors in pediatric hematology/oncology. 

Dr. Richardito Manera, MD is our doctor.  He is a Pediatric Hematologist-Oncologist. Per US News Health and Castle Connolly's estimation, Dr. Manera is among the top 1% in the nation in his or specialty.

There are 333 top pediatric hematologist-oncologists on the list of U.S. News Top Doctors. The physicians were selected based on a peer nomination process. Within this list of the best pediatric hematologist-oncologists, 179 have been named to a highly selective list of America's Top Doctors (ATD) by achieving national recognition for outstanding work.  Dr. Manera falls in the 179 doctors with this recognition.  

Link:

http://health.usnews.com/top-doctors/directory/best-pediatric-hematologist-oncologists?specialist=Pediatric+Hematologist-Oncologists&doctor=Name&hospital=Hospital+Name&doctor_gender=&sort_by=name&specialties=050&location=City%2C+State%2C+or+ZIP&specialty_plural_urlname=pediatric-hematologist-oncologists&page=14