Daley Ponderings

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)

I get daily emails from GodTube.com, and they are often worth reading.  Today's devotional  was good. While I don't ever feel (well, not since just after the bone marrow transplant) that "life is over", it is sometimes hard to think about what Grace's life will be like, and the... (More)

Heather is better at writing the updates than I am, though I've been intending to write a few since we've been back in the hospital. She has been doing quite well the last few days and much more cheery.  Nothing like a colonoscopy to cheer you up I guess.  I hadn't been paying... (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'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've had some full days since our last post, so I'll try to catch you all up. On Friday night, Jon and the girls went to Camp Maranatha for the annual father-daughter retreat and the boys went to Boston to stay in the apartment. We went to Target to get some maternity shirts for Heather... (More)

Grace has been steadily improving.  She is not throwing up as much, she's had a few messy diapers that look more normal than she's had in months, or even ever. She had an ultrasound which she slept right through.    Her drain has not been putting out much, so... (More)

Grace had a great day today, despite staying up until after midnight (I went to sleep, but I asked the nurse in the morning, and she stayed up reading her new book and trying to not let the nurses check her oxygen levels since that would involve taking away her light...) She came to rounds in... (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)

In addition to the drain being installed yesterday, yesterday was moving day.  They have all patients move every month to allow for the room to be completely cleaned.  From the few examples I've seen, that generally means moving to a nicer room, since they can pick the day when 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)

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)

(this was written January 2024, referring to Grace's first two years of life) When Grace was about six weeks old, right at the beginning of December 2021 , I noticed that she had “ café au lait spots .” I looked it up on the internet, and discovered that these... (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)

5/1 - Joy playing with even/odd dot cards.  Didn't quite get the concept but sometimes was lucky, so I praised the correct answers.  Then 6/2 - much more consistently correct. 5/1 - Jeremiah, watching the kids in karate class, copying them - doing punches from the "en guarde"... (More)