One more week till the end of term and another chemo break

Another week and another round of chemo. No dramas last week and fingers crossed we'll get to the end of term on July 2nd and complete cycle four that day also.

As is the 'norm' Isabella asked to be taken back to school as soon as we were finished at Children's today. Normally there is a teacher in the reception area at school only too willing to accompany Isabella up to her classroom or down to the playground. Today nobody was hanging around so I strolled down there with her. Her teacher gave her a warm welcome and looked at me and said "amazing, I don't know how she does it?" And neither do we, but then one of the girls spied Isabella and shouted "ISABELLA'S HERE" and several of the girls came running. It brought a smile to Isabella's face, she was back where she wanted to be once more. Thank you.

Peter and Janie arrive from London on Saturday in time for the birthday celebrations. Isabella turns 7 on Sunday. Matilde wants to give Isabella a 'doctor kit' so they can play doctors and we've found the game of Operation to add to the fun. That was a classic in our youth, but no doubt Isabella will have comments on how realistic or not it is!

The heat and humidity seem to have returned to DC, not to mention the mosquitoes, but we're keeping cool in our new basement watching Wimbledon when we are not splashing in the pool.

Lots of love

Emma & Gregorio. xxx

Still here...

Yes we are still here, despite our constant yearning to disappear to a desert island. In fact Gregorio and I dream about it often. In former times Gregorio would have dreamed about an island with all his essentials - a pizza oven, or a pasta maker... but now a completely desert island sounds wonderful. But we can't really escape at the moment, so we try and carve out some relaxing times where we can. Last Friday we had imagined simply sitting in the garden after the kids had gone to bed, looking at the hydrangeas and sipping a glass of wine. Sadly for all concerned, the venue turned out to be the ER at Children's Hospital.

After a good day at school on Friday, Isabella developed a fever of 38.9 or 102. Fever in a post-operative patient and one with a central line is not a good sign. So we flew to Children's. It took three oncology nurses to access her port. It was an anxious 6 hours, she was swollen, tender and tired from the surgery but finally they did succeed and managed to draw blood and antibiotics were administered. Matilde and I were there till 10:30 pm, she thought it was a great evening, she got to eat in the cafeteria and quite a dinner she had - pizza, fried chicken, mac and cheese and crisps!

By 1 am Isabella, Gregorio and I were finally sitting on our bed at home (yes thankfully her blood counts were high and we were not admitted). Isabella was laughing and relieved to have the ordeal behind her, I was sipping camomile tea to try and relax while Gregorio opted for a more effective whisky!

On Saturday Isabella was a happy girl once more and we all enjoyed the school picnic. Today we are here in the oncology department again. They have decided to give only a half dose of vincristine this week but otherwise her counts are good and we move forward another week.

Let's hope we survive the last two weeks of school and chemo without any further drama and then we'll have another break. The next MRI is scheduled for July 12th. Meanwhile, it may not be a desert island but we will dream of our escape north of the border, to Canada planned for the August break.

Until then we'll make do with getting back to the pool this week-end.

Lots of love,
Emma & Gregorio. xxx

Surgery number 4, cycle 4

Isabella was on the operating table again this morning, the fourth time since this journey began. A new port-a-cath was successfully inserted. We asked for it to be done on the same side, so there would be only one scar, but do parents ever get it right, she was expecting it on the other side and has just told the nurse that now she's not symmetrical!

As always she is a complete trooper. She went to bed calmly last night. Having got dressed this morning, she waits for us to be ready and doesn't even ask for anything to eat or drink. Once at the hospital she is happy passing the time playing scopetta with Gregorio or watching the TV and then once we are taken back to pre-op she knows the routines and climbs onto the bed and drifts off into a slumber without any anxiety.

We are now upstairs in the oncology department starting cycle number 4. While her chemotherapy is being administered, the lovely social worker is helping Isabella with her necklace that she adds beads to each week, representing all the things she has been through in her treatment. This is a regular interlude on a Thursday that she looks forward to.

Meanwhile Matilde will have had another fun day at school. Yesterday as we were trying to get her ready and out the house, she's shouts from the bedroom "just wait, I'm not hurriable!" Oh she is funny, and then this morning's comment was touching. "do you know who is really special? Well I will tell you, its Bella because she has to do all these ports, all this medicine and hospital stuff". Sisters, they may fight but they do adore each other.

After a very wet May, June seems to be heading the same way. The forecast for the next week looks full of thunderstorms. Given that we can't swim for a week because of the surgery we are not too upset but hope that good pool weather will return by next week-end.

Another three weeks and we will be half way there.

Love,
Emma & Gregorio. xxx

Back to normal....

Time ran away and I forgot to update you on the news. Isabella did have surgery on Friday 22nd May to remove the broken port. Poor thing had 7 pokes in about 24 hours what with injections, IVs and attempts to draw blood from the broken port.

Given that she had a fever and was neutropenic they were not able to insert a new port. We are currently awaiting a date when the surgeon and the operating theater (OR) are available. We are hoping to push the date off for as long as possible as Isabella is now on a break from chemo. They decided to simply omit the last round of the cycle.

Isabella came out of hospital eventually on Saturday 23rd (it took them 3 hours to get all the paperwork in order and the girls were nearly tearing the place down). We were home in time to welcome Simon and Florence whom Gregorio had collected from the airport and start the Angelina Ballerina Twirling Butterfly party. A success and great time was had by all 5 year olds thanks to those who helped out with the fun.

We had a fun week with Simon and Florence during our half term break despite the rain and more rain. And finally on Saturday we were able to jump in the pool and officially declare the beginning of summer!

Isabella is due to start cycle number 4 on June 11. At the end of which we will be half way there. We are getting there.

Love,
Emma and Gregorio.xxx