Daley Ponderings

Some pretty good appointments yesterday, and the snow (9 inches?!) wasn't too bad at all driving up to Dartmouth (one car sped by our line of traffic and a couple minutes later was spun off the road in the median, but she was already out of the car and on the phone, so presumably was fine, but... (More)

We have only read the test results ourselves and have not heard from any doctors yet. Her TSH is uncomparable, since the tests they do at Dartmouth don't go any higher than ">100" so is it 400 again, or 101 or 1000? But her T4 was up, almost to the normal range. So hopefully that means... (More)

Jeremiah and I will be with Heather's first cousin once removed and sailing from Florida to Connecticut starting tomorrow. We've thought about going in prior years, but the schedule never quite worked out, but this year we decided we would jump in; we don't really know what to expect, but... (More)

Our week has been somewhat full, with a few extra church services, including Maundy Thursday with handbells, which I didn't find out until the end of the service that it wasn't recorded, and I meant to record it during rehearsal, but I forgot.  But, it went well, despite Jeremiah being... (More)

We had our appointment with the NF1/oncology doctor yesterday. It turns out the neurofibroma is even bigger than we thought. In addition to what we already knew, which is that it goes from her external ear where we can see into her middle ear, it also extends down under her ear into her parotid... (More)

As previously mentioned, Heather noticed a spot in Grace's ear last summer, and when the NF1 doctors heard about it, they were concerned that it might be a plexiform neurofibroma , and so scheduled an MRI for today to take a closer look. While it has shrunk on the surface, it is still there... (More)

The appointment with the NF1 doctor went well. One of her oncology doctors was also there, the one who works closely in the NF1 world. Jon didn't remember meeting the NF1 doctor, but it was right at the very beginning, during Grace's first hospital stay, when she was diagnosed. So, much to be... (More)

Grace has had a fun birthday overall, with balloons and presents and blowing out the candles. But tonight, during her line flush, the white side busted a hole through, up above the clamp, near the Y . We did our best with a paper clip clamp, but Jon took Grace to the fire station... (More)

Next week is Grace's third birthday, for which we are exceptionally grateful. I know that there are a lot of people out there who love Grace and would probably like to do something for her birthday.  She has all the physical things she could need or want, so prayers would be the number... (More)

Grace has been on a clear liquid diet until today where she is getting nothing into her stomach until anesthesia at 5:30.  She will be getting a complete GI scope and a bone marrow biopsy.  Please pray for the anesthesiologist and the surgeons as well as for Grace. Jon called this... (More)

We are settling into our second week of being full-time in the apartment. Our schedule consists of: Adminstering meds 3 times a day and then washing all of the syringes and straws and flushes Keeping her central line clean twice a day ( Boston Children's says cleaning twice a day is... (More)

We left the hospital at 5pm today and are "home" at our new apartment and working out this phase.  Lots of meds to organize and schedule.  Getting used to a quiet room, so now we can actually hear the feed machine, where I never really heard it before.   Heather will be... (More)

We've probably said it before, and anyone who has been in a hospital for any length of time knows that any time someone says "soon" that means 2-10 hours, and "tomorrow" means 1-3 days, etc.  So, even though I posted here that it could be Friday, I've been telling myself Monday, though as... (More)

The last couple of days have been tough, but today is looking up. At 2:00 this morning, Jon called me to say that her breathing was worse and they were considering bringing her up to the ICU. I called my sister, she prayed for us. 45 minutes later, Jon texted to say that they had increased her... (More)

T-minus seven days and counting. Transplant Day is Day 0 and they count all other days from that. Yesterday, I left off while Grace was still sleeping. She woke up slightly grumpy, but soon was fully awake and her normal self. Chemo every six hours, blood draws every half hour (!) plus... (More)