Daley Ponderings

23 years ago, we started this blog to have a good way to keep everyone informed of how things were going. In some ways, it really does feel like a lifetime ago.  However, Isaac is still close in our hearts.  His life and death are a part of our family and influence our relationships to... (More)

Grace is getting an MRI, and ECG, and bloodwork (including thyroid) tomorrow morning at Dartmouth.  I'm not sure how much the thyroid medicine is working, so we'll see what the numbers say.  Her skin is very dry and she has rashes in places, and also the dryness is itchy so she... (More)

As they say, no news is good news.  Not much exciting has been going on lately.  Grace is eating a fairly regular diet at meals, which has always been pretty small.  Yesterday, she drank a lot, which hasn't been common for her, so we give her 600ml of water via her NG tube, 50ml... (More)

The kids who have been admitted for any length of time look longingly at the airlock doors that leave the hallway they are not allowed to leave.  So, when discharge day comes, it is a pretty exciting time. For those of you who are confused - yes this was published out of order since... (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)

We have lots of good news to report. Grace has been improving the last couple of days.  Her abdomen measured 53.5 cm, the smallest it has been in weeks.  They have changed her cyclosporin from IV to NG (nasogastric) which is a step towards getting ready to be discharged.  The... (More)

From Jon  "[Yesterday's ultrasound] didn't report too much that we didn't already know. There was a little fluid in her abdomen on that side, so I wasn't expecting much, but a fair bit came out last night, I think 100 mls in the last three drains. The fluid near her lungs is almost gone.... (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)

I woke up at 6AM because it turns out that is when the hospital does weekly generator checks which involves the power going out, which shuts off the ventilation fan briefly and triggers these color changing lights (that we didn't know about previously, see below), and so the nurses run around to... (More)

The last post left you with Jon and Grace down in ultrasound. That procedure took two hours. They took hundreds of pictures - exploring all her internal organs. She does have vessel constriction in her liver, wgich is not unexpected with JMML. So since then, she has gotten another prophylactic... (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)

For the most part, these last two days went pretty well.  Grace was a trooper as we navigated the multiple confusing buildings and talked with many providers and was poked and prodded by various specialists. Her audiology appointment went pretty well.  The doctor was impressed with... (More)

Since I'm on a roll of typing out the insulation we've used, I figured I might as well post about our heating systems too. We have five different heating sources for our home, and someday we'll get a sixth... 1a. Oil burner base board radiators. I grew up with base board radiators and I... (More)

11/2 - Jeremiah, "Aunt Prudence gave us this one."  perfect grammar 11/3 - Jonathan, "Mom, did you know that if you take the 'c' out of 'record' and add 'er' at the end, it becomes 'reorder'?" 11/3 - Jeremiah, walking backwards with finger in front of his face, "Me try to pick [scab],... (More)

5/6 - Jonathan is as tall as Mom! 5/7 - Faith, "Ramen numerals" 5/8 - Jeremiah, "Don't touch it."  I think that's his first three word phrase. 5/9 - Jeremiah was looking at the New Bible Dictionary that has a painting of the last supper (or something like it - Jesus in the middle... (More)