Day 4, Chemo Round 2 :: Kids Will Be Kids

We tried something a little different this evening at the hospital. Instead of being engrossed with Sesame Street videos, Super Mario Galaxy youtube tutorials, etc. I imposed some silent reading. (It's really been quite difficult for me to say "no" to the kids nowadays.) Diary of a Wimpy Kid 6 and Good Night Moon did the trick... until Jade was finished and wanted Jaytoe's book. The exchange went something like this:

Little Jay: No, Jade. Stop, Jade!
Jade: Moooove!

lol.  We still have to work on that sharing, turn-taking bit.  :)  I love that kids will always be kids.  In spite of everything that's going on, Jade and her brother are still just kids.  I'm happy for that. They're resilient and stronger than I can fully grasp.  That's one of the things that I have to hold on to as we walk through this with Jade.  Seeing her playful, carefree, and self-absorbed like any other toddler is just as comforting for me as a clean bone marrow biopsy (those tests are not 100% accurate anyway, but her smiles, laughs, songs... I can completely trust!)

Jade watches Hello Kitty music videos
 in Japanese on a loaner ipad (thanks,
auntie meeks!) while the light-sensitive
chemo drugs begin their overnight run. 

Treatment wise, today was a good day.  The docs are pleased with Jade's fluid and calorie intake now, so she doesn't need to be on the IV fluids. (This gave her plenty of opportunity to venture off to the playroom with Dad.) No count update; apparently they're only doing the CBCs, complete blood counts, on Mondays and Thursdays.  They ran these labs everyday during Jade's first round and reported on her white blood cells, platelets, hemoglobin, and absolute neutrophil count (ANC), so this strikes me as odd.  The fellow says they have a sense of how quickly her counts will drop from the first round so they don't need to run them daily right now.  So maybe it's good that I don't have the counts to obsess over daily... but I'll follow up with primary doc tomorrow. After all, we have heard more times than we can count that every patient responds uniquely to the treatment... Why not just do the CBC?

Thanks for caring about Jade and our family; we appreciate your prayers and support.