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While Ally was in fairly decent spirits (when she’s not having a Dex melt-down), she was really worn out. After breakfast this morning, she came upstairs with me to watch a show while I took a shower. She basically just lounged around and looked like she needed to fall asleep.
We got to Dr. Rob’s office this morning a little after eleven. Ally slept most of the way there. We were at the office for two hours. She needed to get the shot of chemo in her thigh, and that was all. Her blood pressure was a little on the high side, so they took it again right before we left. We were given the OK to leave, so that was a good thing. - She crashed on the way home as well.

She was pretty tired the rest of the evening. Periodically, she’d come climb up in my lap for some snuggle time.

She HATES taking the Dex now. I think it tastes nasty to her, but I also think she knows it messes with her body. That is the only medication that I really have to hold her down and force her to take. I hate having to give it to her like that…She doesn’t like the Septra either, but she’ll eventually take that one.

Benjamin had a good day today. He ate dinner like a champ! He didn’t fuss today until it was time for bed. YIPPIE! He’s so funny right now…if you are sitting on the floor, he’ll just back right into you and plop into your lap. He loves to lap sit - when it is his idea! He shakes his head no to everything right now also. I asked him if he wanted a cookie tonight after dinner. Of course, he shook his head no. I asked again…the no head shake. One more time…still the no head shake. - I went and got one out of the pantry and asked again. The head started to shake, the word no started to come out, until he realized I meant a COOKIE! Ah, it was then that the smile came along with the cheerful grunt of approval!

Let’ s hope for a peaceful night at the Verdigets household…

Benjamin decided to wake up at 6am today and he fussed until I went to go get him at 6:20. Allyson was not far behind, so much for sleeping late on a Sunday morning. Today was a busy day for us. We had much laundry to do and a few errands to run. Once we were done with all of that, the weather was nice so Allyson and Benjamin got to go fly this late afternoon. We put both of them in the bucket swing and they had a great time. We need to get another bucket swing soon  since both kids love to ‘fly’. Benjamin had a very good day. We can tell that the chemo is having an effect on Allyson. She is much more tired and she took a nap today. She also does not stay awake at night and just crashes around 8:30. We are also seeing the Dex start to work its magic, Allyson is a lot more irritable but we just try to roll with it. Well Allyson has to go in tomorrow for some more chemo.

Until tomorrow…

Benjamin and Allyson woke up at the same time this morning, so they got to have breakfast together…pancakes!

Dr. Mueller wanted to check Ben’s ears again this morning, so we got ready and took him in to see her.  They looked better to her, so the meds must be doing the trick.  She was glad to see Ally because she hadn’t seen her in a very long time.  Ally just wandered around the office, checking everybody and everything out!

Ally woke up feeling pretty well, so we decided to take the kids to Korean Children’s Day at the Korean Presbyterian Church.  They had a great time running around and playing.  The drums were VERY loud, and Allyson about jumped out of her skin.  We had to go outside until that performance was over.  Lesson learned, come late, after the into and all the loud hoopla.  The noise didn’t seem to bother Benjamin.  - We got to see our friends, the Kim’s though, and that was nice.  Ayla is such a little cutie.  Benjamin leaned right in and gave her a kiss.  Yes, I know…a charmer already.  (Of course, he wouldn’t do it again when I got the camera out.)

Allyson got tired all of the sudden and plopped down on the floor.  She told me she was ready to go, so we put her in the stroller and packed up.  She was whipped.  The Korean church members always cook a FANTASTIC meal for lunch.  They were kind enough to pack up two large “to go” boxes for us, so we were able to get our Korean food fix when we got home.  It was awesome!

Ally had bags under her eyes the rest of the day.  By night time, they were really bad.  Both kids crashed around 7p.m.  - The little boy across the street made his First Communion, and several of the kids were out playing basketball, right outside Ben’s window.  He was not happy!  He finally went to sleep though, thankfully.

So far, Allyson seems to be fairing pretty well.  She gets tired easily.  The Dex (the drug that makes her crazy) seems to be taking its toll.  She is moody, but I guess she has the right to be at this point.  - Yeah, she’ll be on this wonder drug for three straight weeks.  Pray for all of us that we don’t all pull our hair out!

Today was a big day.  Benjamin woke up this morning, chatting away in his bed.  He was ready to go to Tita’s this morning once we got him dressed.   He’s doing better, thankfully.  He’s not completely back to his old self, but he’s working on it.

It was a BIG chemo day for Allyson.  She actually got FOUR separate doses of four different chemotherapy drugs today along with her spinal tap.  One of the drugs in particular tends to make kids sick to their stomachs.  To prevent that, she got a mega-dose of the anti-nausea drug before they started.  - She did fine during the procedure and woke up about an hour after they were finished.  She was groggy but asked for some yogurt.  She ate that, and then laid back down again.  We hung out for a while today to watch how her body would react to the new chemo.  She seemed to fair pretty well, but we gave her an extra dose of anti-nausea stuff about 1p.m just in case.  We were out of the hospital a bit later than usual, around 2:oo.

Ally and Benjamin played for a bit after dinner.  Ally didn’t actually eat any dinner…She played with stickers instead.  I am sure she had no appetite because of the chemo.  Benjamin went to bed right at 7p.m., and Ally faded soon after.  She climed up on the couch and put her head on the pillow.  I sat with her for a while and rubbed her back.  She was a little fidgety, but finally fell asleep.  - She’s in bed now, but she’s restless.  That tends to happen on nights after hospital treatments.  She is restless and tends to talk out in her sleep, sometimes crying out, “No, no!”  That tugs at my heart and makes for a restless night of sleep for me.  We are hoping she’ll have a good day tomorrow.  Time will tell…

Tomorrow is Korean Children’s Day, and we’d like to celebrate it with our new friends from Dillon, our adoption agency.  Everything hinges on how both kids are doing.

Benjamin had a 102 fever last night and we were hoping it was his teeth. When woke up this morning he  was still running a 102 fever so  I stayed home with him and took him to the doctor. We got to see Dr Jan today and she give him his 15 month check up. He is growing like a weed, but he does have a double ear infection. No wonder he has been crabby the last few days. Dr Jan gave us some drops to put in his ears and they make him feel much better, he is also taking some antibiotics. He was feeling much better tonight.

Tomorrow is the start of a big round of chemo for Allyson.  She will be getting 3 new chemo drugs 3 times a week for the next 3 weeks. Dr Rob said that this will be the worst part of the chemo treatment so Lisa and I are trying to prepare ourselves as best as possible.   Let hope that Allyson just keeps rolling with the treatment.

This week has been the best week for Allyson she was not getting any chemo and she was almost back to her normal self, it was great to see.

Until tomorrow…