Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Christmas and New Year's at Motown

The Monday before Christmas Jordan and I spent the entire day at the clinic getting blood and platelet transfusions. I was looking forward to the next two days at home with no appointments...only to have Jordan wake up at 2:00 am on Tuesday with a fever of 102. Since her counts were low, this meant another hospital admission to ensure she didn't have a serious infection. Our only request for Jordan is that next time she spike a fever she do so while we are already at the hospital or at least at a decent time in the evening...we just don't function well at 2:00 am and it took forever to get us dressed and packed because we couldn't think straight!

I was hopeful that because we were admitted to the hospital early in the week we would be out before Christmas but unfortunately that didn't work out. Jordan was feeling well and had no additional fevers, but her counts were low (ANC back at 0) so we had to wait for her to grow some neutrophils.

It was definitely difficult spending Christmas in the hospital and we missed getting to celebrate with our traditions. Craig brought in finger paints for a special Christmas day activity, but we were way more interested than Jordan. I kept reminding myself that despite being in the hospital we were very lucky to have Jordan with us and in such good spirits...plus, she's not old enough to really be into Christmas so this was not any harder on her than a regular hospital stay.

Jordan's counts suprisingly jumped up on Saturday so Dr. Gregory discharged us home. Going home was even more fantastic than usual since it was unexpected, and we celebrated Christmas by opening presents and sharing a turkey dinner with Craig's parents. It took forever to open presents because Jordan wanted to thoroughly inspect each gift and had to take a break for a nap but it made for a relaxing and enjoyable afternoon. We also watched a video my sister-in-law Valerie made for Jordan...it was a compilation of pictures from Jordan's first year and included well wishes from our family in Texas...we laughed, we cried...it was a wonderful present!

This week we had appointments at Memorial Sloan-Kettering (SK). Monday's appointment was primarily for us to meet Dr. Kushner and for SK to meet/examine Jordan...both of them were unable to make it to our first visit. :) Tuesday's appointment was for bone marrow biopsies so that we can monitor the progress of Jordan's treatment. We will likely have to wait until early next week to get results. We are praying and hoping the biopsies do show regression of disease.

Today we got a call from Dr. Miller at our oncology clinic who advised Jordan's labs looked good and we would be admitted New Year's Eve for round three of chemotherapy. So it looks like the Plauschinat's will be completing the holiday season at Morristown. After Thanksgiving and Christmas in the hospital, New Year's is no big deal....plus we have a day of notice and are celebrating tonight. Dr. Miller explained the side effects of the drugs in round three and the one I'm most worried about right now is the hearing loss associated with cisplatin, especially since Jordan already has mild hearing loss from the fluid in her ears. We would appreciate you keeping our sweet daughter in your prayers.

We hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season....here's to a happy and healthy 2010!!

A little maraca music while getting changed into the Christmas outfit

Christmas Eve

Merry Christmas!

Not too interested in the Christmas day art project...but the paint brushes are pretty neat

Christmas at home!

Opening and inspecting presents


Playing maracas in a Christmas sing-a-long

Not quite getting the hang of the cymbals

Standing solo and playing in her cabinet

4 comments:

Erin said...

So many smiles...maybe she is just a late bloomer when it comes to photogenicity! :-) Happy New Year's! May 2010 be filled with thte blessing of miracles, love, joy and health.

Valerie said...

I can look at these pictures all day long! She looks so great and happy. Oh, I just want to give her a big squeeze. Thanks again for the update and Here's to a healthy and joyful New Year. Love you guys.

Allena said...

Man - her smiles are infectious. I laughed out loud at the one with the cymbal in her mouth. :) Will definitely be praying for a successful Round 3 of chemo and GREAT test results!!

Unknown said...

Love her smiles!!!She is so adorable. Wishing the family a Very Happy and Healthy 2010! Many thanks for the updates. Wishing you the very best.