Monday, January 16, 2012

Big Girl Mallory!

 Mallory's FIRST Cereal feeding by Spoon!
(We are trying to mix her medications in with the cereal to make it easier on her and on us!)


First bite not so bad!


Not so Good


REALLY NOT GOOD!

TAKE #2
Getting Pumped up!

Pretty ok!


DELICIOUS!!



ALL DONE!






Hello Monday!

So this morning has been interesting in every way possible.

I went and picked up bagels from Panera (YUM) on Sunday and decided that we would have them again for breakfast, so I load up the toaster, grab the butter and cream cheese out of the fridge turn around and my toaster was SMOKING and Flames were shooting up from the bottom. Needless to say I grab the toaster, knocking over 1/2 a can of formula and threw it out into the snow. (One of the nice things about living in Michigan, hahaha). Luckily it didn't damage anything, usually I take time to change Jillian or Mallory's diaper or use this time to go to the bathroom but this morning I was in a Zombie State so I stayed in the kitchen THANK HEAVENS!

Ryan and I's nightly routine is to spend at least a half an hour talking (which we have ALWAYS done, I think making sure you take time out of your day to spend talking with no distractions helps any relationship) before we go our separate ways, this poor boy has been stuck sleeping on the couch for 6 months now. (I had preterm contractions with Mallory had a TERRIBLE time sleeping for months). Last night we were discussing how lucky we were that Mallory got the cancer that she did and they found it as early as they did. The hardest part of it for us is they are leaving a tumor in her, they can say that they've killed all the cancer but it will be so hard for us to accept the fact that she is "cancer" free when she has a supposed dead tumor still inside of her.  Obviously the oncologists know what they are doing but still it will be hard to accept.

I met a beautiful little girl at clinic. She is just sweet as pie, she is turning 3 in March.She has Neuroblastoma Stage 4, the cancer was found only a few weeks before Mallory was diagnosed but this girl is not as lucky as Mallory. She has already had surgery to remove a tumor and lymph nodes, it is in her bones, in her bone marrow and in multiple places. I pray for this little girl, they will be doing heavy doses of chemo, radiation, a stem cell transplant and antibody therapy. They will be inpatient in the hospital for months and months. She holds a special place in my heart and I have only met her 3 times.

Yes we are going through a terrible situation, but there are many children that need help. We have met a few different families that I pray for everyday. That these little kids can be healed and that there family stay strong throughout this nightmare.

Mallory had clinic today, her potassium was back to normal so no signs of any kidney damage from the chemo. But the poor girl has to have blood draws from her arms because her broviac is not working, our nurse said we were going to try to make it through the next 2 rounds without having another surgery. Which means blood draws from now on, and the poor girl has so few usable veins and the ones she does have our blown from being drawn so often.

Mallory is also doing better since we started the prilosec, she is drinking bigger bottles less often for the most part. Today she has not wanted to eat much, but that's partly due to the chemo making her less hungry and her blood counts falling again. Hopefully in a few days she'll be back to normal. We are going to try adding her medication to rice cereal and spoon feeding her (her 1st BIG girl meal!) to see if this helps her keep it down. She's been refusing to take it lately or vomiting it all over us.

All in all its been a pretty good Monday, my Momcation helped me recharge and I'm feeling better.

We also hit 30,000 VIEWS! That's 30,000 people that have read about our baby girl and her fight. 30,000 people that are now aware of Childhood Cancer, 30,000 people that have been thinking about Mallory, 30,000 people that CAN make a difference. Thank you to the 30,000 visitors that have supported us through! Mallory and our family THANK YOU ALL!!!