Sorry For Skipping a Day

Alas, my days are often filled to overflowing with a long list of things I have to do. Some days, by the time I get to the end of the list, I have forgotten what was on the list in the first place. Yesterday's blog entry was one of those list items that I kept trying to find time for, and finally forgot about. Happily, there were no earth shattering bad reports to deliver or questionable test results to worry about. Katie had a fine day hanging out at home with Grandpa and Grandma Kelley. They are covering for Amy and I this week while we go to school for the first three days of the week. Thursday and Friday, Katie and I will be at Fletcher Allen for her next bone marrow extraction, lumbar puncture and chemotherapy.

Today was similar to yesterday for Katie. She stayed home with my parents and had kind of a lazy day. She didn't feel like doing much walking or swinging in the back yard, but she played quietly in the house, got a stroller tour of the neighborhood, got in a nap and worked a little with her physical therapist. I can't say the physical therapy is going all that well because Katie simply doesn't want to cooperate. She is still not interested in walking for the sake of walking and doesn't want to "play" with the therapist. However, on her own or with Amy and I, she will walk when its convenient, fun and safe. Her walking still bothers us, but it is getting better. She is more confident and more willing to take short walks (approximately 3ft) without prompting.

Both children and both parents for that matter are showing signs of being tired so the focus this evening is on an early bedtime for all. The kids are winding down with a movie right now, and as soon as I'm done writing, I will be reading them stories as they lie in bed and hopefully fall asleep quickly. Josh gets grumpy when he is tired and Katie just slows down and wants to stare off into space. A long night of sleep will do them good.

Stair Climbing

The highlight of the day was indeed the climbing of 14 stairs multiple times. You see, Katie's last couple of rounds of chemotherapy have included a drug, Vincristine, that generally causes side-effects such as reduced reflexes, fatigue, numbness and gait imbalance; all of which would make it very difficult to climb stairs.

Until yesterday, Katie had not been climbing stairs for fear of falling down. She would climb the first one or two and then ask to be picked up. She has never tried going down the stairs at all. But something changed yesterday. She climbed three stairs while I was chasing her around the house on my hands and knees. She wanted to get away by climbing the stairs, but she wanted to be picked up at the same time - she had a dilemma. We solved that dilemma by climbing the stairs very slowly, side by side on our hands and knees with the occasional tickle encouragement. At the top of the stairs we continued our game of pursuit.

Today, she willingly shot right up the stairs all by herself, celebrated at the top, and has climbed up the stairs again since then. We are very happy for her and extremely pleased to see her find ways to overcome some of the more debilitating side-effects of her treatments. To express my feelings in some of Katie's own words, "Yea Katie!"

Good Morning Princess

A wonderful and rare thing occured last night. Katie slept through the night again in her own bed. She woke up this morning to an exploded diaper that took a little while to clean up, but after a sponge bath and a change of clothes she headed down stairs for her breakfast of champions. Her choice of foods this morning included a blueberry bar, a granola bar, some cereal, some graham crackers the hot dog you can see her eating in this picture.

In the picture, she is wearing her Dora dress and her princess tiara. What you can't see in the picture is her magic wand lying beside her on the floor which really completes the princess picture.

She is in a good mood this morning, but a little weaker than I am used to seeing her. The meds have really begun to affect her gross motor control and she can no longer stand up or sit up by herself. Her muscles simply don't respond accurately enough or with enough power to move her little body. Once she is up, she can still walk but she is very shaky and unsteady on her feet. She usually just holds one of our hands for balance as she totters from the living room to the kitchen to peruse the food options in the fridge.