A Good Day

Yesterday was a really good day for us. It started out a little hard because Rylee wasn't feeling well and was throwing up as a reaction from the Anesthesia she had during surgery. She also didn't have an appetite at all, so since she couldn't eat anything before surgery the day before, it had been quite awhile since she had anything to fill her tummy.

They gave her some anti-nausea medicine and by mid-afternoon, she was back to her old self again. The coloring has returned to her face, which amazes us that we didn't realize just how pale she had been. Her lips are red again!

Rylee spent most of the day up and alert and was playing with all of her new gifts. Care Bears, coloring books, dolls, books, bears and monkeys! She's gotten the mother load. She was able to unhook from some of her monitors and they let her leave the room (with a little face mask) to go for a little walk to the Oncology clinic where she'll receive chemotherapy. They have one of those little push cars (that we have at home as well), so she and her little Care Bear went for a drive around the hospital. She really enjoyed it. She was happy and was talking, smiling and waving to all the nurses today.

A volunteer also brought in this big fluffy black dog and that really brightened her day. She kept looking and showing people the picture of the dog on our camera. It really is amazing how such small and simple things make a difference.

We spent a lot of the day getting educated on more stuff. It seriously feels like we've been to nursing school and back this week. The quickest degree I've ever received! We also got her treatment schedule, which basically means that we'll give her two different medicines twice a day at home and then every Thursday we'll make the trek to SLC for chemo treatments, bone marrow and blood testing. It will be pretty intense these first few months, but we'll get through it.

We got the results from the spinal tap they did during surgery and no Leukemia cells were found in the spinal fluid, which is good news. All things considered, we have a great diagnosis so far. She is in the standard range and everything is looking good in terms of treatment. It's just the process of it that will be difficult. I'm sure we'll have good days and bad days.

We are really just so appreciative of everyone who has supported us through this. We know that many prayers have been offered on our behalf, our ward held a ward fast yesterday (and it was our best day yet!), our names have been put in several temples and so many well wishes, gifts and visitors have came our way. We will be forever grateful for all of the love and encouragement we have received through these hard days.

If everything keeps going our way, it's looking like we'll be able to leave for home sometime on Sunday. They have to give her a chemo medicine into her muscle if count levels are up, no fever and if everything else looks good. They keep us there for awhile to make sure no adverse reaction happens, but then we'll be free to go. There really is no place like home!