Daley Ponderings

Today is Day +500 and we have much to rejoice over! We are so thankful for Grace's good marrow results, so thankful to reach this milestone. I feel so much lighter now, and the smaller things that bothered me last week don't seem so bad anymore. Here are some recent pictures and quotes... (More)

One year ago today, our older kids got to see a total solar eclipse, and Grace came home! These annual milestones are flying by this year, and we are thankful.  Grace's NF1/oncology doctor called Jon with biopsy results on Friday. It is the opposite of what we were hoping. Both biopsies... (More)

I've been meaning to write an update; I've even gotten started on one (labelled day +90: it's now day +97.) Overall, things have been going well, Grace's numbers coming back satisfactorily. But then she got a cold.  Just runny nose and sneezing.  But after her nap, she had a mild... (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)

Once again, it was good for me to visit home. This time, I brought Joy back with me. We left later than I meant to, for various reasons (one being the second batch of Victory tshirts came in!) so we had a bit more traffic in Boston than I have yet driven in. It was stressful for Joy, I think,... (More)

Grace has been in pain and sleeping a lot. These are the hardest days when her counts are low before Faith's cells take hold. I've been home and that's been good. It's hard to be away from Grace when she's suffering, but I know she's in good hands with Daddy. And it's been good to be with the... (More)

The last long update ended February 3 in the evening. In the wee hours of February 4 (Sunday) she got a blood transfusion for her hemoglobin level, which was expected. (They’re killing off her bone marrow, so her own body is not making as much blood.) Sunday morning, she got a dressing... (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)

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)

There are, of course, many examples of why Jon is a great Dad, but this is a particular one I'd like to record. One evening, Jon and I were resting together in our bed.  Suddenly, from the other room, we heard a panicked cry, "Someone help me!!  AAA-AAA-AA-AAAAA!!"  Jon jumped... (More)

4/3 - I said to Jeremiah, "Your shoes are on the wrong feet, sweetie."  He replied, "I not 'sweetie'.  Joy is 'sweetie'." 4/10 - Joy and I spent a grueling but satisfactory three hours earning our yellow and orange belts, respectively. 4/14 - Jeremiah, "It will be so so so fun if... (More)

1/25 - Joy, about ready to dance, "Mommy, if you don't see this show, you won't see it again, EVER!" A good reminder to be present in the moment!  I turned away from the  computer and gave her my attention and I watched her beautiful solo dance show. 1/29 - Reading with Noah... (More)

Got a bunch of spam comments and then when I was looking at posts, the boys pointed out that my last post was a month ago and I said "trip to DC goes in a separate post"...  So here we go. When we went into downtown to see the sights, we split up into smaller groups.  Jonathan,... (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)

Faith had a blast at Star Island with Grammy and Papa. 7/25 - JDD, explaining why he likes to use a certain spoon for his breakfast cereal, "That spoon is special to me, because Grammy gave it to me for Christmas last year." 7/28 or 29 - Joy had a cold and I gave her 1 or 2 nebulizer... (More)