Saturday Happenings .....

Exhaustion seems to have the upper hand.Everyone seems to be feeling the effects of a long 4th round.Actually it has only been about a three week stay so far but it feels more like ten.By this time in the previous rounds, we were home already or just about there.RSV and pneumonia bought us some additional time in.If that sounds a bit like a prison sentence ... it kind of is.Isolation is comparable to solitary confinement and for a social butterfly like Zoey,she is missing her people.We do have visits by nurses and other staff members and parents of other patients but everyone must garb up and Zoey is a little leery of anyone masked.Masks and gloves= procedures to Zoey.Who could blame the sweet child with all that she has gone through.Friends from the floor stop by and we will open the door and talk and wave and blow kisses from afar.It will have to do for now and chances are we will remain is isolation for the duration of this round.Speaking of which .... we have no idea how long that may be.Her ANC kicked up in order to fight infection and now that the antibiotic has taken over,Zoey's marrow is doing what it would normally do post chemo.Coming down and making a slow rise in some areas.Platelets are in recovery for sure,we are up from 30 thousand to 104,000,with no transfusion needed this round .. which is great.Last round we got down to under 5 thousand and with no active bleeding she escaped transfusion as well.It's not a big deal,the transfusion I mean but if her body can kick into recovery itself,it's better.She did have a red blood transfusion the other day and brought color back to her and will help in the fight of the latest virus and infection.Zoey continues to fight through this beautifully.Her cough is nasty and last night she had a breathing treatment which seemed to ease her constant need to clear things out.She is battling the pneumonia as well as the RSV and with the two having two different components to them, her little body is fighting in all directions.She is happy and full of smiles,kisses and hugs.She is our Zoey doing her amazing Zoey thing.We feel beyond blessed that she has weathered things the way she has.Infection and virus's on the 4th floor can go any way at any time.Once again we are fully conscious how fortunate we are,Zoey is,to be passing through this latest storm with little or no complications.Blessed and lucky for certain.Today the kids and I head to Santa Barbara .Today is Jessica's 22nd birthday.My baby.Our first born ... 22,surreal.Santa Barbara is beautiful and we could think of no better way to celebrate.Well,if Mark,Zoey and Caitlin were with us then that would be perfect.Jessica rounds out the recent birthday wave around here and the next one will be Mark's in July.God willing,we all will be together to celebrate that one.Keep the prayers coming for our tiny warrior.We are thankful for each and every one of them.