Cycle 5, Day 1

Bruno and the girls

Gianni's home and resting from the LP; we had to wait a bit longer than expected, which always stresses her (I should say US) and she had another rough anesthesia exit but other than that she's doing well. The steroid she takes to alleviate the irritation in her spine (from the LP) gives her really interesting mood swings so we have MAJOR battles over the most bizzare details - - that is until I remember that when you pair steroids with a 3 year old your gonna get a wee bit of irrational behavior! She is still full of spunk, causing all kinds of trouble for daddy and Bruno. We stayed with day 1 tradition and ordered a big, fat, greasy pizza for dinner. Bruno ate three pieces and Gianni ate two (another interesting side effect from the steroid is hunger ; )).

Some more good news - Because she is receiving less chemo this round she only has to stay in the hospital one night (Thursday) and we get to come home a day early! We have to go back to the Day Hospital at LPCH on Saturday to get one more dose of chemo but that should only take a couple hours or so.

Even more good news - The nursing staff at PEC found a subcutaneous catheter, normally used for diabetics who have to get daily subQ shots, that they think might work for Gianni's daily G-CSF shot. It will look essentially like a bandaid and if it works, she will only have to get two pokes (that we don't have to give her) and administering the nightly s-h-o-t at home should be much easier for her (and us!).

Last night while reading bedtime stories (the original Horton the Elephant hatched an egg) I must have had a worried look on my face because Gianni stops the story, looks me straight in the eye and says, "Mommy, you need to make the happy face . . . like this..." (as she proceeds to give me a sweet little smile). Needless to say, I made the happy face.

"I meant what I said
And I said what I meant. . . .
An elephant's faithful
One hundred per cent!"
- Horton the Elephant

That's it for now.

[The picture is from Easter, out of time sequence - but I liked it]