2009-01-05

And Bianca is...

at camp. That's right. Right this very minute she is at Camp Quality. Terence has gone to drop her off this afternoon.

We went to clinic this morning for a blood test and to discuss Bianca's blood results and the possible start of chemo again. So we got there, got the blood test done and then we had to wait around an hour, so we took Caitlyn to the Family Playroom at the hospital. Last week the play specialist told me about this as a possible solution for Caitlyn when we have to go to clinic. It is pretty much drop in, let them know where we are at the hospital and then they are available from 8:30am to 12pm and again 1pm to 3:30pm. So today she just went for a really short little while. At first she cried a bit when she realised we were going to leave her, but I believe she settled really quickly and found her way around all the toys.

We saw Doctor Cole today one of the paediatric oncologists and I must say she was really nice. And guess what? Bianca's counts are all recovered!!! Thank you so much for all the prayers and positive thoughts, it really made the world of difference.

So platelets are up from 37 to 100 and neutrophils are up from 0.90 to 1.75 and haemoglobin is also at a pretty good level. So tonight Bianca starts chemo again at 50% and we'll review it again in 2 weeks when we are due at the hospital for our monthly appointment and if counts are still good then we will probably go up to 100% dose as Bianca typically copes well with her chemo increases. And best of all she was given permission to join in with camp. That really made Bianca's day and she checked 3 times just to make sure.

After our appointment we went to get Caitlyn who was happily playing. They have 2 swan plants with some chrysalisses (is that the right spelling?) and caterpillars and it was so cool! I'm determined to get some for the kids so now I just need to find out how and where and when. If you have any info on this, please let me know. I will bring Caitlyn again in 2 weeks' time when we are due for our monthly appointment and see how it goes.

And then I had to scramble to get everything packed and ready. I can't remember when last I had to work so fast with such little time and I sincerely hope we did not forget anything important. I did not expect her counts to look so good and certainly I did not expect to get permission for Bianca to join in with camp and so we were not as prepared as I should have been. But we are not complaining. I'm also pretty impressed with myself because we had to sort out some kind of alien / space dress-up for Bianca for the theme for this camp and so we quickly stopped at the $2 shop and made quite an impressive looking alien costume with a pink child-sized rain poncho, some red gloves that go all the way up her arms (and an extra pair to stick to the poncho), she has a pink sweat band that goes around her head and I drew a big eye on it for a third eye and she has this funny alice band with these funny things that could resemble ears. Bianca was really impressed with her outfit which we put together at the last minute and of course her being an alien, does mean that we can be pretty creative with her outfit.

Today was a fabulous, wonderful day and we feel so thankful for today. Thank you so much to Doctor Cole and Janine Harvey and all the Camp Quality Volunteers for making this day and week so special for Bianca, thank you so much!!!

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

That is such fantastic news, Lea. I bet Bianca has such a wonderful time. I rang up this morning and things are going well for my boys, although Pete did wake up at 5 and is not eating much. I am just so happy that Bianca will be there too. I wonder if she will have much to do with my two.
Re the swan plants, I usually buy seeds from the plant shop and plant them in spring. It's a bit late for that now, but most garden centres do sell plants. We usually keep them in pots and put them outside till there are eggs on them. Then we squash (I get Griffin to do it as I am squeamish), all the eggs except for about 10, depending on how big the plants are. Then we bring the plants inside and put them in a sunny place. If you leave them outside there will be too many caterpillars on them and they eat all the leaves and the next thing you have starving caterpillars which is really horrible. Also, if you have them inside you don't have to worry about wasps and praying mantis's eating all the caterillars. Give it a go, they are great fun.
Hope you guys have a great week. I know Bianca will.
Take care,
Bridget

Anonymous said...

YAY! This is FANTASTIC news, I'm so thrilled that Bianca got to go to the campe!
I hope she's having a blast!!!!

puppygirl said...

Woohoo - so pleased Bianca got to go to camp!!

Anonymous said...

What wonderful news Lea, that is awesome! I'm sure she'll have the best time ever!! I am so pleased her results look so good, well done Bianca!!

Gordon Paynter said...

Great news - any photos of Bianca in the alien costume?

Anonymous said...

fWow! What great news! So glad everything turned out for Bianca and that she is happily at Camp Quality enjoying herself. Wonderful news!
Rosemary

Anonymous said...

I like starting the morning off with great news. I'm happy to hear that Bianca is at camp and it's easy to "see" the smile on your face too. We are all happy for you.

Don

Anonymous said...

I'm so happy she was allowed to go to camp!
Ava