Still on good form

Sorry for the delay since the last post...nothing has really happened!

Today Ciara had a bone marrow aspiration to check the progress of the chemo which involves a general anaesthetic. About the time she was due out of theatre Yvonne and I went up to the recovery area. She was rolled out a few minutes later, sitting up on the trolley shouting "Mummy! Daddy!". This was about 15 minutes after a general anaesthetic! She then chatted all the way back to the ward and proceeded to wolf down a plate of sausage and chips. Incredible.

Ciara straight after her bone marrow aspiration.

The last week has been pretty uneventful and for once we've spent more time at home than we have in the hospital. Last Friday Ciara was due to have a blood transfusion in Portlaoise but in the end this wasn't necessary and was home in a short time. The weekend was lovely. Really sunny and we managed to do lots of normal family things. We went shopping on Saturday just for an excuse to go to McDonald's. Ciara was laughing and running about like you wouldn't believe. On Sunday her Grandad and Auntie came to visit and we spent the afternoon playing with radio controlled cars and flying kites. There were a few tears when Ciara's kite disappeared into the blue but her super-hero Dad managed to rescue it a few hours later. It involved wading out 150m into a rapeseed field, getting drenched, stained yellow, and risking being electrocuted, but I did it.

Monday involved a couple of trips to Portlaoise. The first for a full blood count, and the second, for a transfusion as a result of the ealier FBC. Luckily Portlaoise is only 15mins away but she was still home way past her bed time and had to be up at the crack of dawn to go up to Our Lady's.

Tomorrow is a busy day. First thing will be an abdominal ultrasound to see how the primary tumour is getting on, or isn't getting on as we hope is the case. After that she'll be getting a platelet transfusion. She's bruising easily and it takes ages for her to stop bleeding when we give her the "zappy pen", her name for the injector we use for the GCSF white blood cell stimulator. Finally it will be the start of chemo session number 5. For the first time she will be treated as an outpatient and will be going home in the evening to return the following day. This is great news. There's nothing like your own bed and not be constantly prodded by nurses. Erm...well...