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 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)

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)

Faith steadily improved throughout the day as she slept through most of it and has now transferred to our Boston apartment. She got a present (mailed to Grace at the hospital) so that was fun. Grace's diaper rash did not get worse overnight, and without oral meds, she ate well and did not... (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)

The only known curative therapy for JMML is a bone marrow transplant, so we will be going down to the Boston Children's Hospital/Dana-Farber Cancer Institute . Their team is one of the leading cancer centers for treating JMML. We had our first visit on December 12, and are still processing... (More)

I am posting my backlog of pocket notes. Sometimes details are sparse. 9/3 - Referring to two years ago, Jeremiah said, "The other day of the oott-her day (stretched out, and louder) we tipped over in the big boat." He wanted to know if the motor boat was going to tip over or not. So he... (More)

Or: How This Mom Started Playing Minecraft They say that a good way to show love is to take an interset in what the other person is interested in, even if you wouldn't care about it on your own. I'm a busy mom and wife of an entrepreneur, right?  I don't have time for video games.... (More)

On Saturday, March 26th, Jonathan, Faith, Joy and I participated in our first karate tournament. The whole family rose bright and early so we could drive the two hours and 15 minutes to Standish, Maine.  This tournament is relatively small, with only about five dojos participating.... (More)

2/2 - Noah and I walked past the food pantry on distribution day, and saw a friend of ours heading there. He asked if she was donating food and I explained that she was receiving food.  He wondered why she needed to get food from the food pantry, and we had a good discussion about the... (More)

From an email written to my mom on April 4, 2015 at 7pm. Just after noon, Noah came screaming in from outside.  He was holding one hand with the other and blood was dripping.  I took him straight to the sink to wash off.  He couldn't tell me what had happened and there was... (More)

Once again, we were blessed to have Grandma and Dad-o with us for a birth. Jeremiah was still too clingy on Mommy for us to be comfortable having him at the birth.  He did well completely away from me, but had trouble when nearby and I was unavailable.  That is exactly the situation a... (More)

9/13 - A Friday. Jonathan had been asking me if he could read Harry Potter for a while.  I told him I needed to talk to Daddy about whether we thought he was ready, but I kept forgetting.  The strategy that worked was asking me in Daddy's presence so I didn't have time to forget. ... (More)