Day 25

Met a fabulous family.

Kennedy putting on make-up for her visit with ella

This morning dad got up early to take Maddox to his wrestling meet.  (Maddox took 3^rd at regionals, yay Maddox).  Kennedy waked me up when she crawled into bed with me and held my hand - the best alarm ever, and said  “I’m hungry”. 4.5 more days of steroids, at least that is what we were told.  Induction ends on Friday and the regiment changes completely which includes a temporary reprieve from steroids.  Most of the time Kennedy replaces “I’m hungry” with “steroids” as they have become the known culprit of endless starvation.

K and I spent the morning organizing the toys in the basement and putting on make-up.  I think I would have gotten more done if I didn’t stop to feed the eating machine every half hour but I didn’t do too badly.  Around 1:30, we stopped the cleaning and met a wonderful little girl (not to mention her fabulous mom and sweet little brother). 

When Kennedy was diagnosed with Leukemia, the Child Life Specialist recommended reaching out to another family who was diagnosed with ALL just 1.5 years earlier.  With that introduction, we learned about the Build-A-Bear incentive for clinics (or pokeys) and also read a heart wrenching and inspirational blog that gave us our first glimpse into life with Leukemia.  Today we got to meet Ella.

Ella was diagnosed with Leukemia in August of 2010, 9 months before her 5^th birthday.  Ella is now in kindergarten and has a full head of beautiful red hair.  She is still undergoing chemo but is vibrant, strong and absolutely adorable.  Gene and I had so many questions for Ella’s mom, Kate. She answered every single one with complete openness.   It was such a breath of fresh air to talk with someone who knows what this is like, how scary it is and how badly we wish “we” could fix it.  It also didn’t hurt that Kate was a warm and friendly person.

 

Kate brought some supplies to decorate bandanas and the girls did a few projects.  Once the bandana dries, K will model it for mom to post.

Grandma came over and worked on the basement with me and Maddox went to Alek’s for the evening (thanks Jane). 

The count down begins for Friday’s clinic and the end of induction chemo.   A new chemo regimen will be introduced based on her risk level.  This Friday Kennedy will get a spinal chemo infusion and have her bone marrow tested to determine her risk level.  Please start praying for “under .01” which will make her low-risk.