4/8/12 - Happy Easter Weekend!

About to begin the Easter Egg Hunt

Happy Easter from Haylee and the Easter Bunny!

Getting as many eggs as she can

Thanks to the Darnall Family and all the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade students from your school :)

Sitting pretty with Dave the Duck...a playmate for Big Bertha!

Mason and Haylee playing in the garden

Saturday, April 7

Nonna spent the weekend with Haylee so that I could go home and spend time with Mason and Adam for a few days. 

Haylee slept until 9:30am.  She had a good night, just up and down having to go to the bathroom.  Guess that made her really tired!  After she had breakfast and got up and around, she wanted to go to the garden. 

Her and Nonna were walking around and who did they run into?....Dr. Smartypants, the clown!  Him and another clown friend played Hide-n-Seek with Haylee in the garden.  They had to leave after a while, but invited Haylee and Nonna to go in the lobby and play cards with them.  They played 'WAR' and Nonna won! 
Back in the room, Haylee was bored :(  She played 'Angry Birds' on Nonna's tablet until it was blue chemo time.  After dinner, they went back to the garden.  There was a boy and his mom kicking a soccer ball back and forth.  Haylee wanted to play but only had flip flops so they just watched.  Haylee ended up texting me from Nonna's phone asking for her soccer ball and tennis shoes :)

Haylee's triglyercides are still high but not nearly as high as they were less than a week ago.  The doctors have ordered daily CBC checks to start watching counts.  Saturday's counts were:

WBC - 5570
HGB - 13.1
Platelets - 332K
ANC - 4710
SEGs - 84.6

Beautiful counts!!


Sunday, April 8

I came back to the hospital today with Mason and Adam so they could see Haylee for Easter.  We didn't make it down in time for the Easter egg hunt in the garden but Nonna took a few pictures for me :) 
Mason hasn't seen Haylee since we dropped him off at daycare last Tuesday.  We get on Skype every night with Adam and Mason but it's just not the same (plus, our connection isn't always the greatest).  It was Mason's first time ever going up to her room since there was visitor restrictions in place before.  He carried Dave the Duck up to Haylee's room...Dave is as big as he is! Dave was a gift from one of Adam's co-workers...THANK YOU!  Dave was a big hit throughout the hospital and with one of the nurses who LOVES ducks!  Mason did so good being up on the floor :)  I wasn't sure how he was going to act being around all the equipment and all, but he was sooo good!  He just played, as if we were at home. 
Everyone was getting ready to leave so we all took Haylee and Mason down to the garden so they could play with ball and velcro mitt set together.  They played well together.  I think they miss each other more than they lead on!
After they left, Haylee and I kicked her soccer ball around the garden (I remembered to bring the ball and tennis shoes like she asked).  She misses being able to play soccer.  As long as she's feeling up to it, we'll go down everyday if she wants.  It's nice being outside and it's good practice and exercise for her.  We headed back upstairs for dinner and we just hung out in the room for the rest of the night.  Haylee and I are on hospital time - and it totally stinks!  There is no schedule and as much as I try to keep us on one, something messes it up somehow (meds, chemo, vitals...)

Haylee's counts for Sunday show they are dropping as they should be.  It won't be long now and she will be required to wear a mask when she leaves her room.  If they have already started dropping 5 days into our stay, I can only HOPE they will recover that fast so we can go home for a little bit before her next admission!

WBC - 4520 (down a thousand from 4/7)
HGB - 12.2 (down 0.9 from 4/7)
Platelets - 293K (down 39K from 4/7)
ANC - 2940 (down 1770 from 4/7 - anything under
SEGs - 67

A special thanks to The Darnall Family in Illinois - They and the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders of the school where Michelle works sent Haylee a care package with goodies, get well cards, shamrocks (made in March but we can always use a little luck!), 'reasons to smile' stories, and a letter telling about everything in the box.  Today, Haylee and I read every get well card, every 'reason to smile' story, and every shamrock that was made for her.  We cannot say 'thank you' enough for showing Haylee people everywhere, near and far, are cheering her on to fight and win her battle and she's doing just that...fighting and winning!!  Words can't describe how proud we are of her :)
 

We continue to appreciate all the love, support, thoughts and prayers from everyone, everywhere.