Saturday - Mostly Good With a Mix of Blah

Katie had a reasonable good day today. Her platelets came up a little bit, her white blood cells and ANC are pretty much unchanged, and her hemoglobin is low enough to require a transfusion. She got the transfusion this afternoon, and has been feeling pretty good ever since. However, before that time, her temperature kept rising and falling for no apparent reason until finally reaching 38 Celsius and then she was given Tylenol to break the fever. She spent most of the day relaxing and napping in her mother's arms while Amy read her story after story. I don't know how she reads so many stories, but she keeps going long after my mouth and throat are parched to the point where I have to stop reading out loud.

The transfusion really seemed to perk Katie up a bit and when I spoke to them last at 8:30, Katie was gleefully telling stories in the background as Amy and I tried to have a conversation. I told her she should try to read enough stories to get Katie to sleep some time soon, and she was going to try but she didn't have much hope of accomplishing anything soon.

Josh, however, is already fast asleep. When we returned from Milton today, we stopped at the house only long enough to put on some warmer clothes and then we went straight to the barn and stayed there until bed time. We took our first horse-back ride of the year, giving Charlie a bit of exercise and relearning how to ride double-bareback. It was fun and relaxing. Later we flew a kite in the strong winds that were blowing on top of Burton hill. We also sat and visited with Robin, Josh's Nana, and her son Sean and his girl friend Andrea. It was a very nice way to spend the rest of the day. Josh didn't take a nap while he was there, so he was tired when he got home. It didn't take him long to fall asleep.

Tomorrow morning will start off again just the way Josh likes it - at the barn for a breakfast of pancakes with his Nana. After that, I have some work to do to get ready for school on Monday. Living at Fletcher Allen for days at a time really makes it difficult to stay on top of my online interactions with my students. I have no connection in the room and I can't take Katie to a room with a connection, so I prepare for a week at a time whenever I'm at home.