Vaction to Reality

We had a wonderful vacation. We definitely needed the week away and Addison enjoyed every minute of it. She was a ham the whole time and showed off for pretty much anyone willing to watch! She fit in with all the kids at the pirate ship pool even if they were twelve! She had absolutely NO fear! She liked the boat but she hated her life jacket so her one ride on the boat was short lived. She was fascinated by the jumping dolphins and the tricks they did and all the fish swimming around the dock. She even got to play at the pool with her friend Katie (from Vero but they just moved to Tampa same time we did and were vacationing in the Keys too).

After what should have been a 6 hour drive but took 8 we were home Wednesday evening. Addison was thrilled to be back in her home surroundings and literally took every toy of hers and piled them in the middle of her playroom. I think she was taking inventory to make sure nothing was missing! So sweet!

Addison started showing signs of petechia on her belly and legs Thursday morning so I had a CBC run at our pediatricians. I wanted to be able to order platelets for first thing Friday morning so that we wouldn't have to spend our entire Friday at the hematologist office. Her counts had risen except for her RBC which actually dropped slightly. Apparently vaca was good for Addy's body. :)
WBC 3.5 (2.9 10 days prior)
Neutraphil 1.1 (1.0 prior)
RBC 9.8 (10.0 prior)
Platelets 50 (48 prior)

We went to the hematologist Friday morning because they had to access the port. It has to be flushed once a month and as hard as it is to believe it has been a month since it was placed and has not needed to be used! They ran a CBC at their office which was nice for me to be able to compare numbers of each machine.
WBC 3.73
Neutraphil 1.11
RBC 9.9
Platelets 46

Her counts were good. I was not happy with the drop in platelets but she has been keeping them steady around 48 for about two weeks which is great. It would be wonderful if they would start to creep up but our Dr. told us that Addison is not out of the woods yet and she wouldn't be surprised if all her counts started to drop again. Her opinion is that they won't but we should mentally prepare for the possibility. UGH! Accessing the port was a miserable experience. I thought it would be better than inserting an IV but I was wrong! It was terrible and it left both Addison and myself in tears. I cried the whole way home. I know life isn't fair but after having a wonderful week away from reality it is hard to come home and face this and watch your daughter have to go through these things none of us understand. We continue to stay positive and pray for a complete recovery and we are so thankful she has improved as much as she has without the use of treatment.