The Little Warrior ....

In 17 hours and 43 minutes, but who's counting, Zoey will be disconnected from her 3rd round of chemotherapy. Although the days have had their ups and downs, for the most part Zoey has weathered the storm triumphantly. I don't think I have ever taken the time to explain Zoey's protocol since we began this journey, so now might be a good time. First of all, Zoey is on a treatment plan that is very specific to children with Down syndrome. And very specific to children with Down syndrome who have AML M7. It has been through trial and error and tragically, through the loss of others before her, that medical advancements have come up with a course of treatment to give these children the best chance at survival. Sadly, 20 to 25 years ago, the medical field did not even attempt to treat children with Down syndrome who were diagnosed with leukemia. What they were finding at the time, was that the treatment alone was killing these children, not the leukemia. Somewhere along the way someone decided to try treating these children with less toxic amounts and what was soon found, was that not only was it working, it was working better than when typical children were being treated who had a similar diagnosis of leukemia. Zoey's chemo is still very, very intense. AML is nasty and requires it to be hit extremely hard over and over and over again. 6 times. Each time she is hooked up for 96 hours. During which she has two drugs, ARA-C and Daunomycin, given intravenously over that time period and another, 6-TG, given through her g-tube once a day. Now, the 5th and 6th time is a bit different. It involves ARA-C and an injected chemo drug and that combined round is going to be the hardest of all on her little body.Each time we are admitted we will be in approximately 3-6 weeks all dependent on side effects and more importantly,the presence or hopefully the lack of presence,of infections.So,for people wondering and asking,we have 2 hospitals stays remaining after we arrive home from this one.A long,hard road still ahead and hardest,most of all, on Zoey. So, when Miss Zoey is cranky and irritable and has no smiles to give freely, you know why. With that said, she was full of smiles today. For everyone .... except me. She was just down right mad at me and .... her doll. As seen in one of the pictures as she is literally kicking it away. When Mark bought this doll for her we thought she would love it. Not so much. Zoey loves real little people but not this doll. I keep pushing the issue but the more I give her the doll or place it near her, well, the result is the picture. And today,totally magnified,as noted by the angry cross eyes. Zoey definitely has acquired some spunk over the last two months. Courtesy I believe of chemo. Zoey was so excited every time our door opened and a new face appeared. In fact most of those faces were pretty much medical personnel but she didn't care who it was as long as it wasn't me. She had smiles aplenty and wanted to be held by every single person. Again ... everyone but me. I think today she had grown tired of seeing my face and by evening, when her daddy walked in, she was about to leap out of my arms. Tomorrow at 3:00, the bottle containing her orangey/pinky miracle, will come down and the wait begins. Numbers will need to bottom out once again and numbers will need to rise once again. During that time we pray that her little body will fend off fevers and infections and if she is blessed and lucky enough, we might find our way home within the next three weeks. Her strength and resiliency astounds me. Seriously astounds me. All the kids up there do. There are so many children that I see daily, that allow me to see the beauty even while walking this uncertain path. Everyday I over hear some amazing, funny, insightful and sometimes, heartbreaking words, come from the mouths of someone far too young, enduring something far too unfair but somehow I stop in my tracks, stand in awe and am still somehow grateful to God for placing us on this journey. Little love is finding her way once again. Enjoy the pictures. Some are self explanatory while others,like the one with her BIGmack recorder, need some background. She loves that button. We usually record little songs for her and it is about the only "toy" type thing she really likes. Well, Zoey will not, not ever,use her hand to activate it. Only her face and as of late ... her foot. Her sleeping picture,I loved it because she only recently started sleeping on her tummy like a big girl and I really thought she looked HUGE in this shot. Not at all deceiving because she has grown so much since chemotherapy began. That is all I suppose. We were humbled once again by all the comments and emails. Please keep your faithful prayers coming. They lift us and carry us ... as always.