All set for school

I feel quite excited. Bianca is all set to start pre-school on 5 May 2008 (term 2) and then probably around term 3 will start "big school". We are just waiting for a letter from the school and then one or two things we have to provide. Wow, I am so excited. We had to be quite selective with a school. We wanted small classes. It has to be a school in the city so that we could take Bianca to hospital at short notice if we need to and to be close enough to the hospital for her monthly treatments without spending too much time traveling. And of course most schools are "zoned" in New Zealand which means your child has to go to a school in the area that you live. And with us still renting, there is just no guarantee we will end up staying in this area. So we chose a school in the city about a block away from where Terence lives. This school also has quite a good reputation and high standards.

Bianca has just been so very excited about starting school. In fact one of her favourite games at the moment is playing "school".

So today Bianca started ballet again. It brought back some memories. The last time Bianca went to ballet was almost 9 months ago. There is a little bit of a walk to the dance studio and Bianca and I were walking and I was pushing Caitlyn (who was 3 months old then) in her pram. Bainca kept complaining that I was walking too fast, that her legs were tired. I thought that it was just her acting like that because of her new baby sister. That was 30 May 2007. It was a busy day and an exciting day. I got a job offer just before we left for ballet and I was so excited. Then as I sat there tying Bianca's hair up, that was when I felt the huge swollen gland behind her head underneath her hair. And then 2 days later Bianca was admitted.

Today was quite different though. Bianca didn't once complain that her legs were tired or that I was walking too fast. And boy did she enjoy it. She couldn't wait for the class to start and afterwards she happily said "I had fun!" If she had hair, she would have looked just like any of the other girls in her class, so of course that was a constant reminder of the road we are still walking. The studio also handed out little notes to ask parents to let us know if their children should pick up things like chicken pox and measles. It felt good though for Bianca to be doing normal "kid" stuff again and it was so nice that none of the children made any hurtful comments.

Bianca has a few bruises on her legs. We are keeping an eye on it in the meantime. Bianca is due in on Friday for blood test and chemo. When I looked at the bruises Bianca said "I have little doctors under my skin". I explained to her that platelets are just like having a little doctor in her blood that helps to fix bruises and other sores.

Medicines today:

• Mercaptopurine - 1 tablet a night