Through Day 6, Chemo Round 4 :: Reinforcements!

Big Brother in Little Shirt. 

J: It's not too small, Mommy. I got it
when Jade was about to be born.
Me: Yeah, that  officially makes it 

too small.

The cavalry arrived this weekend -- in the form of Auntie Shameika and Grandma -- and not a moment too soon.  The doctors have cautioned us that this round, is on average, a week longer than previous rounds... Fun.  While overall uneventful, these have been a restless six days -- with 3:30am, 5:30am, and 5:30pm chemotherapy infusions, round-the-clock IV fluids, diapers/pajamas/sheets soaked with bright green "chemo pee" (the newest addition to Jade's chemotherapy regimen is mitoxantrone, a drug bright blue in color when it's infused in... and green when it comes out), Jade's discovery of her ability to refuse to swallow her antibiotics, and the return of the steroid and saline eye drops rotation that is administered every three hours. (I'll only briefly mention that on top of the start of round 4, the long-term sub for Little Jay's class, who began in April after a string of substitute teachers "lead" the class since February, is also no longer with the school.  A surprising and disappointing progress report was the subject of many back-and-forth communications last week; we have a meeting scheduled for Thursday.)   

Jade continues to wow us with her winning smile and high spirits.  But needless to say, the arrival of Auntie Shameika and Grandma was quite welcome by all... I went home Friday night and managed to get in 11 hours of uninterrupted sleep, but not before my dear sister playfully (?) chastised me, "Ummm... Do we need to get the Maid Brigade in here?"  Both kids enjoyed the special attention that only an auntie and grandma can give: Jade got an extra "handler" to run behind her just as frantically as mommy does, making sure she doesn't get too far ahead of her IV pole and tug too hard at her central line; Jaytoe had his hot dog/chocolate milk/Chick-fil-a advocate going to bat for him.

Well... another couple of hours before Jade's next infusion (and eye drops).  Thank you so much for checking in and for your continued prayers and positive energy.  We'll keep you posted about Jade's progress.