Tough Chemo and Other Adventures

Yes, those are gloves on her feet. It is her newest thing. When the doctor is supposed to be telling me very important information, Hannah usually manages to interject. I made the mistake of really laughing, so, it's a staple now. That pretty much sums up how things have been. Rotten chemo, funny girl.

She has had a very up and down week. Lots of pain, lots of nausea, some constipation issues, and when not in pain; a great mood. The hard part is that there is so much more chemo in this phase. She is going to the hospital for chemo almost every single day and then getting a chemo pill every evening. It is too much to keep away all of the side effects.

Nights in a row this week she has been crying in her sleep. Pools of tears in the bridge of her nose. Friday night I was trying to help her with tummy pain. I had just given her two types of pain medicine and was getting her the warm blanket she likes, when she started yelling "It is going EVERYWHERE!". Confused, I asked what was, and through sobs she said, "The pain".

The good part is that she seems to be handling DI 2 far better than DI 1. She has a great appetite, even if she is super specific about what she will eat.



My friend Janelle came by Children's on Saturday. She brought Hannah two of her favorite treats from Starbucks. It was cute how excited Hannah was to see she was getting a cake pop and a red velvet whoopie pie.

She still has ample amounts of energy and seems to really enjoy any variance to the routine we can provide her. Here is a picture of her at physical therapy. She loves it! They do a great job making it all seem like a game.



It has seriously rained, no, downpoured, with the exception of maybe two days for the last month. Gray or cold, on those days we have to get out! One of those days we trekked up to Fort Nisqually. It was a fur trading and farming post in the 19th century and now it is a living history museum. I didn't expect it to be as big of a hit as it was. They had a great time!





Today was the other gray and cold day. We decided to make it a hiking day. Hannah still had chemo at around lunch time. We grabbed sub sandwiches and made it our pitstop for a picnic. Which, would have worked better without cable. How can you fight the power of cartoons?



After our "picnic" we hiked along the waterfront trail near the Arboretum. The pathways were very muddy but with rain boots, no one cared. Hannah did the first half of the hike on her own and rode in the backpack for the second half. The floating bridge was the coolest part. It is a fairly long foot path bridge that moves with the waves. Good to know, as the first time I stepped on it, I thought I was having some wicked vertigo!





We finished the day at a new place in Fremont called, quite simply, Pie. They serve little individual pies that can fit in the palm of your hand. True to form, Hannah tried and denied two different pies before deciding on ice cream. The rest of us, however, we were in love. Aaron's lemon meringue was amazing.



Tomorrow, Hannah has another back poke. After that she gets a break from Children's until Friday. Yay!