Guess What?!

Today we went in for Julia's weekly labs at our pediatrician's office. The actual appointment was unnecessarily long and confusing (we were passed off to a different team of nurses/PA/doctor) who weren't familiar with our situation, but after an hour we were out. Unfortunately in all the confusion, I didn't receive my copy of her results, so we had to wait to see the latest results.

Daddy went by to pick it up tonight and I am happy to say Julia's white blood count is in the lowest range of normal right now!! We actually had several categories of normal on her lab report. Every week for months we have seen nothing but a column full of lows. So normal is HUGE progress. Praise God for His great healing! Her red blood count is holding strong, too.

It is such an encouraging sign to see that her body has been able to recover during this two week break. It makes me feel like my stint as her 24 hour short order cook is paying off :) She has also avoided catching the flu Carter had last week. This says so much about the increasing strength of her immune system. We realize it will likely drop again after her next dose of Doxirubicin in August, but she is going into it strong and her body is able to recover on its own.

It is so encouraging to see even a flash of her normal self. I think every parent in this situation wonders deep down what will be left of the child they used to know at the end of all of these treatments. Which of the changes will be permanent? Which of the side effects will we see? What long term effects will crop up in the future? In the same way we can't visualize her with hair anymore, it is hard to visualize what her new normal will be when we reach a plateau in all of this. Little shining lights like this one help me to imagine areturn to good health one day.

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The kids had a fun day today. Lily and Claire came over to play for the day and they swam, colored, pretended, laughed, ate, and sang. The house was full of happy sounds as the kids were filling their love tanks with the joy of their friends.

It still amazes me how much Julia enjoys playing doctor. The past few visits she has been increasingly resistant to going and participating, but its still her favorite thing to play.

Carter was so excited to finally get a chance to meet baby Ava. He has been eagerly waiting for many weeks. This little boy loves babies and is so good with them. It melts my heart to see him hold and love her. On one hand he looks so big and I realize he's growing up, but on the other I see the same fresh innocence in each of their faces and it makes my love for him grow deeper.
Julia is a little jealous of the new arrival. Annmarie holds a very special place in this little girl's heart and life. I think she senses some competition...