This week Lily had a break, with chemo only on Monday and no other doctor appointments. Her doctor is back to giving her a full dose of Vincristine and she is tolerating it much better than she did in the beginning of her treatment. Lily felt relatively good all week, and was only extra tired and weak when her blood counts dropped from the chemo the week before. The drop in blood counts usually occurs 7-10 days after certain chemotherapies-- like those she had last week. Lily is given time to recover and get her counts back up before her next intensive round of chemotherapy. All week I had to give her daily injections of Neupogen to help increase white blood counts, but red blood counts can only be increased through blood transfusions and I think she may be getting close to needing another one soon.

Over the course of the week, Lily was able to hang out with her friends, go to girl scouts and attend the lunch my dad’s work had on Friday.  We also went to the Boyce Thompson Arboretum. I was hoping we would see spring flowers, but I guess we were too early; there weren’t many flowers to be seen. It made me sad, remembering our last visit to the arboretum before Lily was diagnosed. It seems like ages ago, but in reality it was less than four months ago! It's strange to think that she had cancer then and we did not know it; she seemed healthy and full of energy. It is also unbelievable how quickly her health was ravaged by it!

Spring break is next week and fortunately both Phillip and I have the week off from work because Lily is scheduled to have chemo every day at the clinic. She will have two more new drugs- Isosfamide and Etoposide- and will have to be on 24 hour hydration throughout the entire week. Each day after her doctor visit, we will be sent home with fluids that will be continuously pumped through her port IV to ensure she stays hydrated and to protect her bladder from the chemo.