First, we had our official first event for Weber's Weenies! Not only was it a huge success, it was so much fun. We never realized how rewarding it was going to be. We worked hard, and the hours were long, but at the end of the day, we still had a huge smile on our face. We worked all weekend at Danver's Days, and we could barely move by day 3. I have done desk work for so long, I forgot how rewarding physical labor could be. Plus we were in front of people all day long, how refreshing. We got to talk to people and laugh, and we worked together without any major fights. It was awesome! I am so proud of Zach. It was on his bucket list, and he was able to check it off. And it will be nice to have some extra income to pay for the kids college, or pay the house off early, or just NOT have to ask people for money anymore while we are finishing our journey. And we can now give back to the community. How wonderful it feels to be able to give back to St Jude and other organizations who have done so much for us.
Second, School...which is going to lead to the third...Fevers. Both kids started school! Yep! Read that right. Lucy started Pre-K, and Jack started 2nd grade. Jack is NOT a fan of school, so we were certain it would be a rough week, but surprisingly, he came home the first day and said he thinks he is going to love this year. Let's hope that sticks! And Lucy got on the bus for the very first time. We were so nervous to let her go. Not only because of the cancer and low immune system, but also because it was our baby going where we had no control over her. We have been with her nonstop for the past 19 months, separation anxiety for Zach and me was horrible. Zach literally was sick the entire 2.5 hours she was at school. She got off the bus and her first words were "BEST day EVER". That made it all worth it. She said she loves it. She needs school too. She needs to socialize with children her age who are "normal". She needs a break from cancer, and nurses, and talking to adults only. I hope this helps her.
However, along with school comes germs, boogers, and head lice. We know this, we prepared for this, but we didn't think she would get a fever the 2nd day of school! I was heading out the door to go to a visitation for a good friend's husband who passed away, and reached down to give her a kiss and she was warm. Got the thermometer, and sure enough 103.5. Freaked me out!! We packed a bag (I didn't even know what I threw in it), and we headed to Peoria, calling the doctor on the way. When we got there, they accessed her port, got blood, and started IV antibiotics. We had a night in the hospital. The good news, no cultures grew in the blood sample, and the antibiotics seemed to come just in time. We only had to stay one night and the most of the next day inpatient. That is record time for us. Of course, the guilt we felt was horrible. We thought it was from school, but we had been at clinic that same morning, and she had "weird" numbers. We had never seen her WBC and ANC so high before. That really started to freak us out. We were so worried about the "R" word because of what her counts were doing. The doc said she probably had something brewing for sometime, and when she started dex, it just crashed her immune system and came out. We were so relieved. He said her body was reacting exactly how it was suppose to, so that was good to see. Her WBC and ANC was reacting to whatever bug she had.
Needless to say, we kept her home from school until today. And when we did send her, we were on edge all afternoon. She was not only on dex (yikes!), she is probably has pretty low counts. Again, when she came home, she said she had the BEST time and loves school so much. I know we made the right decision.
And last, but not least....my book is published!!! I am so excited. That was a huge bucket list item for me. I am a published author. And it feels great. It's book 1 of 3 regarding our journey. Hope to have it on kindle, nook, and other e-readers by the end of the week.
whew! that was an abridged version of the past 2 weeks. I vow from here on out, not to wait so long to update!! For now you can purchase the book here if you are interested ;)
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