Trick or Treat!

**I'm still having trouble uploading photos, but I did get a few on some of the former posts.*

Yesterday was another good day.  Kaitlyn was up and around taking a shower, putting on her own clothes (as opposed to a hospital gown, which is fine as long as nobody is walking behind you!), digging through her suitcase, eating her meals, etc.  Hillary (Child Life) tried to get her interested in dressing up--she brought in a bunch of choices for costumes--or doing some "reverse trick-or-treating" where people dress up, but come and give you candy instead of you going to them.  She dressed up a little bit, but she really wasn't into it.  She said that Halloween was only fun because of friends--I thought it was only fun because of candy, but whatever.

One fun thing that happened yesterday was that Kait received a Halloween bouquet from my cousins in Colorado.  Fresh flowers and plants are not allowed in the rooms on this floor, so they took it into the break room and I went in and snapped a photo so Kaitlyn could see it--she thought it was cool.  Today she received a balloon bouquet from the Tanners in Alaska.  They really brighten up the room.

In the afternoon the nurse came to tell us that Kaitlyn's hemoglobin was low and she would be getting a blood transfusion, which she did.  The perfect thing to do on Halloween! :)  The night nurses educated us on the necessity of keeping things as clean as possible for the upcoming weeks. Kaitlyn's blood count will be taken to zero, meaning that she won't have any white blood cells to fight off any kind of bacteria or infection, even from her own body.  Chemo plays no favorites--it kills cancer cells and healthy cells alike.  It will take several weeks for her body to build the counts back up again.  Kait felt so good after getting the transfusion that she didn't want to waste a moment and ended up staying up all night chatting with friends on Saipan, watching t.v., playing games, etc.

By morning she wasn't feeling very well (awake for 24 hours?), so the nurse gave her some meds and she's been sleeping most of the time since then.  They did tell us that Kaitlyn would be getting a platelet transfusion today--the second one since she's been here.  It gave Casey and me a chance to get out and do some shopping and laundry.  After we returned the nurse said that since Kaitlyn's vital signs have been so stable they would be checking them now every 12 hours instead of every 6 hours.  Also, she will no longer receive a medication that decreases the uric acid in her body because her levels are now right where they should be.

Little by little...

Blessings:

That I'm married to the best guy in the world.  Happy anniversary Casey!