Daley Ponderings

Grace had a great day today. She went out for a walk, wasn't even too upset when Heather left for Hillsboro, waved at everyone as we walked down the hallway.  (She was especially adorable today because she brought a toy vacuum cleaner instead of her normal shopping cart, which is useful for... (More)

My place beside you, My blood for yours, Till the Green Ember rises, Or the end of the world! One of our favorite series is The Green Ember, by S. D. Smith . Rabbits with swords, new stories with old soul, heroes and villains, joy and grief, hope and longing, with love and... (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)

Grace is not feeling so great today. I approved for them to give her another anti-nausea med in the hope that she will feel like eating. She has mostly only nibbled so far today, though she did eat a reasonable amount of eggs. She is painting right now, but definitely not her cheerful self. (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)

Based on the number of supportive messages we got yesterday, I know you are all eagerly awaiting an update. We arrived at the Dana Farber Jimmy Fund Clinic for lab draws and "here's what's happening" meetings. We sucessfully ordered Grace some food, and then we had to pop across the street... (More)

Joy has designed a tshirt for Grace's cancer journey. We are selling them as a fundraiser for David's House . They cost us $20 each,  but we're selling them for $10 minimum and any amount you give over $10  will be donated to  David's House , the free housing we... (More)

Monday, Grace had pre-transplant bone marrow aspiration and bone biopsy. That's kind of boring. The interesting surgery came right after that procedure. Fertility preservation is something I had vaguely heard of. I know it's rather personal, but so is all this health information. We won't be... (More)

Warning: I'm feeling better now, but the following post pretty accurately how I felt for most of today. After a good appointment in Hillsboro, they still wanted us to go to a pediatric dentist who was familiar with chemo/transplant issues, so Heather headed up to Dartmouth this morning in the... (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)

The pathology report indicated no parasites, and no bacterial infection, but confirmed the swollen lymph nodes. The doctor said, “I do not like the look of her paleness, and that spleen is really big. We need to see inside; go downstairs and get to imaging right away.” Grace had an... (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)

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)

I am posting my backlog of pocket notes. Sometimes details are sparse. 11/10 - Nathaniel was a messenger to me from Joy: "mum" [come], held my hand to bring me to her. 11/22 - Jeremiah singing while playing, "I love you God, 'cause you make me happy..." 12/4 - Joy pinworms ~12/10 -... (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)