So Kate went back to clinic on Oct 9th for her lumbar puncture, chemo and IVIG. Her blood counts are nearly identical to one month ago and they even had to increase her dosages of medication to account for all her growing! She continues to do so wonderfully, that at times I have to remind myself that we aren't out of the woods yet.
We allow the doctors to pour toxic chemicals into our child's blood stream and inject it into her spinal canal and brain because it is what will save her life. That being said, it is so comforting to see that she is keeping up physically despite the treatments. Academically, Kate is reading at a second grade level and she is a math whiz, with the subject coming as easily to her as it does to Jackson. While that may seem like a little thing to other Mom's, it gives me some hope that all of these drugs won't have left her "damaged".
This week we did have some terribly sad news of the cancer variety. One of Kate's closest friends called us this week to say that they had another friend diagnosed with pre-B, the very same day we were in the hospital getting Kate's treatment. This little 3 year old will be treated at Egleston and be on the same protocol as Kate, so hopefully we'll be able to be of some support for them. I know that for us it was unbelievably helpful to be able to talk with people who had walked down the road that was so foreign to our family. One thing we have learned from all of this, is that there are so many wondeful people in the world who are ready to lend a hand, a shoulder or an ear at any time (and that's a lot of body parts) :) I hope to be one of those people for others.
