Daddy was on clinic duty.
It was supposed to be a quick in and out check up to see how Avery is doing after finishing her therapy last week.
The supposed to be quick visit turned into a 6 hour visit.
Avery's blood work came back showing that she needed a blood and platelet transfusion. Each takes 1-2 hours to transfuse and they can't be done at the same time in case of reactions.
Daddy and both the girls rocked it!!
They played playdoh, had a pretend birthday party, ordered some lunch, went for a walk, took a nap and just cuddled.
These days are fairly easy and routine for us. They are also exhausting! Alex came home looking like a zombie (I usually do too) and of course both girls are wired from being over tired. Although it is a lot of sitting and both girls took short naps, we all just come home sleepy after clinic days.
So, pizza for dinner it is!
It's funny because normally Alex sweetly offers to cook on the days I take the girls to the clinic (let's be honest he cooks most days anyway) but I am so exhausted that even the thought of Alex cooking is overwhelming. I know this feeling well, so when Alex's response to what do you want to do for dinner was 'let's just order pizza', I knew he was feeling the exhaustion also!
This weekend was full of flashbacks and moments of pausing to remember all that we have been through. Avery's numbers dropped so low this weekend that she would bruise if you touched her wrong. You can imagine with her being a very active toddler that she is covered in bruises. We don't mind the bruises we can attribute something to like tripping in the grass and falling over or bumping into the slide. The ones that sent us back to how this all began were the bruises that just showed up while she was napping or when Avery bit her tongue and had a black spot appeared. Alex and I caught ourselves a handful of times reaching for the others hand and just taking a second to breath after noticing a new group of bruises. Where we are now in this journey is so completely different than where we started almost 10 months ago. We are stronger. We are quieter. We speak less and pray more. We are more reflective and thankful.
Avery is healthy!! Even today when Alex explained to the nurses that it was giving him flashbacks to how things started the nurses jumped on him quickly and said 'yes, but this time it's our fault and not because she is sick. She is healthy! She just needs some help recovering from our treatment.' The nurses have become family and truly are some of Avery's biggest cheerleaders and know just what to say when we (the parents) need a quick pick me up also.
We go back to check blood counts again Friday and next Tuesday. The hope is to start phase 7 the week of August 7 as long as her blood is showing it's ready. We are excited to be in a time of waiting. We will purpose to enjoy this time and make memories!
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