The Impavidos had a happy Thanksgiving in good company. None of the Italians at my table took a liking to pumpkin pie - but nobody's perfect and that left more for me! You should know that my dear husband, Gregorio is the one with a tender heart and the author of last week's blog. He won me over with a copy of a Pirandello play nearly 15 years ago. He's still a big softie underneath.
Isabella enjoyed turkey and cranberry sauce but the rest of the week was downhill. We did not manage the major side effect of the vincristine well and she was pretty low physically and mentally for the whole Thanksgiving break. She only managed a few hours at school on Tuesday but bounced back and had fun all day on Wednesday.
Today we reached round 7 and the doctors decided we had probably pushed her body far enough with vincristine. So a break from that today and only the carboplatin this week. Added to that we also had the lupron hormone injection. We're hoping for less pain this month. Dr Baldy and his side-kick the resident clowns at Children's Hospital appeared at just the right moment this morning and produced a big smile on Isabella's face. She has slept the whole afternoon and has awoken a new person, smiling and laughing and hungry for food. We haven't seen that Isabella for a while. She requested sushi and edamame for supper (she hasn't put in food requests for some time) and that is what she got. She is lapping it up while watching (for the umpteenth time) High School Musical 2.
The house is empty, the Italian grandparents have returned to Rome after their tour de force here. We are extremely grateful for all their help. We are now busy making Christmas decorations, cards etc. Apparently we are getting our Christmas tree on Saturday and in a couple of weeks English family will arrive.
We're are really looking forward to Christmas. We have the last round on Christmas eve and then there will be a break of 4 weeks before treatment starts again. And then we'll have 4 weeks on and 3 weeks off. In January there will be an MRI to assess what effect the past 10 weeks have had.
Here's to a good week.
Love,
Emma & Gregorio. xxx
5 comments:
Natale , 4 settimane di break, l'arrivo della "english family".....ci sono tutti i presupposti per un periodo più sereno di quelli appena trascorsi! Ed è con tanto affetto che vi auguro di assaporarne ogni istante con la vitalità e la forza che fa di voi una famiglia unica e fantastica. Vi vogliamo bene
Paola e Aldo
Siete tanto fortunati ad avere tanti familiari ed amici cosi' vicini. Noi vi pensiamo sempre tanto e preghiamo tanto per voi.
Baci
Fabiana E Domenico
Non sapevo che Pirandello avesse delle responsabilità nella vostra storia. Però...
L'augurio, grande grande, è che il peggio sia passato e che il Natale sia decisamente meglio del Thanksgiving, per Isabella e per tutti voi. Tenete duro!
Un bacio grande.
Nicola e Giulia
dear Emma,
I am Harriet Sandilands (daughter of Lindsey who just came to see me in Barcelona, where I'm living, and sent me the link to your blog). Doesn't Isabella look like your mother???? I would love to send you some head-wear. Much to my mother's disgust I adore sewing and have masses of fabric ends. If you send me your address (to harrietsandilands@yahoo.com)I will happily put some in the post to her. Great blog
Harriet xxxxxx
Wew bet Isabella is quite proud to have such a caring younger sister watching out for her.
We all love you and give you our biggest hug and kisses.
Elaine and Francesco
Post a Comment