Ring that Bell!!!

So just a few days after my last post, Ava started feeling better...in fact, she felt so much better that she was able to go home on Wednesday, yay!!!

For those of you that know Ava or have spent anytime with her, you know she is not even the least bit shy.  Maybe for about a minute of meeting someone new she is quiet but she warms up by 1 min 10 sec.  When we were asked to come out to the hallway to have a little celebration and ring the bell, Ava was all about it, especially since she had been locked up for 23 days.   As soon as everyone started cheering, she wouldn't even look at the crowd or ring the bell when it was time, so she needed a little bit of help.  =)

I've attached the video below, I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Ava had her final bone marrow test on Thursday, we will have the results back on Monday at which point they will officially diagnose her in remission!!  On Tuesday, Ava will get her broviac line out and after that heals, she can do absolutely anything she wants.  

To celebrate, we currently have a small celebration trip planned for Disneyland for mid-August.  The girls have appointments at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique to get dressed up like princesses and spend a couple of days with their favorite Disney princesses.

Here is a picture of our family having fun at the zoo last weekend after Ava got out of the hospital.  

I will post the results as soon as we have them on Monday.

Please keep you fingers crossed this weekend and send positive vibes our way for the only option of remission on Monday. 

XOXO  

Final Round of Chemo!

Ava has been so amazing during this final round of chemo.  She even received a different "cocktail" of meds for this final round and she didn't even flinch while she was getting chemo, not that I should have expected anything less from her.  She was drinking like a champ that they even took her off of her fluids during the days of chemo since she was running around this room like she would in the backyard.  

The 4th of July was our 3rd holiday spent in the hospital but the girls got to watch the fireworks from our room that overlooks the valley,  we had a fantastic view!  We also constructed a fort this time around to keep the girls occupied (not sure why we didn't do this earlier), neither are even remotely interested in the toys we have here so we've had to get creative.  Ava absolutely loves the fort, probably because it feels like she is somewhere else other than this hospital room.  We even bought some arts and crafts to occupy their time here.  The girls were able to decorate bobble head puppies (kind of creepy) that you paint and bedazzle.  However, it turns out the paint was not washable so I probably should have put something on the floor to avoid the paint mess and maybe some aprons for the girls.  I wish I could say that was the first time we had a non-washable coloring product incident in the last few months but we've also had recent incidents with permanent markers and ink pads I assumed were washable.  NOTE TO SELF:  Make sure it says washable before purchasing!

We've been so fortunate the other 3 rounds of chemo as it relates to infections, nausea, etc.  The count recovery part of this round has been a bit tougher than the others.  Ava has been very nauseous since chemo ended so we have had to continue the anti-nausea meds for a lot longer than the other rounds.  She also wound up with a fever that started a couple of days ago.  When my girls get fevers, they are never low grade, always high, pain in the butt fevers that Tylenol doesn't have a chance against.  Ava's fevers have been as high as 104.4 which is causing her respiration's to be very short and quick, her heart rate is through the roof and her oxygen is too low at times that she has to get oxygen.  Her blood cultures haven't grown anything as of yet (today is day 3 of the fever so nothing will likely grow at this point)  resulting in the docs not being able to pinpoint exactly what is causing the infection.  She now has a bit of fluid in her lungs forcing a chest x-ray to be necessary because of all of the fluids she has been getting to help with her blood pressure, etc.  She is currently on 3 different antibiotics right now just to be sure all bases are covered.  I'm really hoping she wakes up tomorrow a sweaty mess which would be a result of her fever breaking and possibly with some counts to tell me we are moving in the right direction to ring that bell and say goodbye to chemo and the lengthy hospital stays.

I'm not confident that will happen but I'm sending lots of good vibes toward that crib tonight!

Please keep sending positive thoughts Ava's way.  I would hate for her to end up in the ICU because of  this darn infection that has no name.

I'll keep everyone posted on her progress.

XOXO

Fun Times at Home

Ava had another great couple of weeks at home.  We were able to go home on July 12th and we sure made the most of it this time around!

We started off our fun week hanging out with Justin on Wednesday since he had to leave first thing Thursday to go back to CA.  It was so great to be home all together as a family!

Unfortunately we couldn't spend Fathers Day with Justin so we went to the zoo with some good friends.  Ava had a blast seeing all the animals.

Ava's aunt and uncle came out to visit while we were home, Ava had a great time with Uncle Erik and Aunt Sasha!  Ava was able to go on her first hike.  She has been hiking many times but this was her first hike actually hiking and not being carried.  She had such a blast.   She is so independent and wanted to hike all by herself.

Hiking

When Meme and Papa Vince arrived, Ava took them to Bridal Veil Falls and had a blast playing in the water at the bottom of the falls.

We were really happy that Ava was able to spend Justin's birthday at home.  She figured out how to drive the barbie jeep herself and enjoyed playing on the slip n' slide.  I think she enjoyed drinking the water more than actually going down the slide.  I guess that is best since technically she's really not supposed to be doing anything water related other than a quick bath.  =)

We finished off our time home at the movie theatre seeing Brave.  I am still in amazement that both girls sat through the entire movie!  Addison still thinks that if she is mean to me, I'll turn into a bear.  I'm not sure that is a bad thing right now.  =)

Overall our time home was well spent and she ended the 2 weeks prepared to start her 4th and FINAL round of chemo!