Daley Ponderings

As of April 8th, we will be home and the information in this post is out of date. Click here (or see below) for instructions to visit or send us mail. Hospital Mailing Address Grace Daley, 6 West Boston Children's 300 Longwood Ave Boston, MA 02115 Hospital Visiting... (More)

Jon wrote today: When I said it was a "bad day" the other day, a nurse corrected me and said "good moments and bad moments". This morning was good and she played in the playroom for quite a while. She did throw up after eating. But has continued to ask for food, and hasn't... (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)

I walked home late Monday night, because there was supposed to be this big snowstorm. Jeremiah was already asleep, sprawled all over the bed. In the morning, it was only raining Jeremiah and I had leftover pizza for breakfast, and we walked to the hospital in the rain. The nurses and child... (More)

Days +2 and +3 have been full of desire for eating but not the ability to keep it down. Also, bare bottom and oxygen blowing has been keeping the diaper rash from getting worse, and it might even be a bit better.  She has lots of diarrhea.  She has been sleeping a lot. She had a... (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)

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)

Faith's surgery went well. Her vitals stayed stable the whole time and they are all happy with how it went. She said coming out of anesthesia was just like waking up in the morning only she couldn't lift her head at first. Jon went down to be with her and I stayed with Grace. Grace threw up... (More)

Faith's surgery is scheduled for 7:30 this morning.  We don't know how long it will take for the lab to process her marrow and then get it to Grace yet. Here are some pictures from yesterday. (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)

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)

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)