Day 7 & 8

Day 7 (8/24) - Today was amazing! Addie had an excellent day and the antibiotics finally started kicking in.  Her blood culture came back showing she did in fact have a bacterial infection called Streptococcus Pneumonia.  This is very common - something we all have, except her body doesn't have the means to fight it as a healthy person's would.  Its the same bacteria that causes Strep Throat, Ear Infections and Pneumonia.  Its great that they started the medication yesterday just in case, because that is what they would have given her when they saw this.  Therefore the medication had a chance to start working and today her culture was negative showing no more bacteria in her blood.  The best part for me was to see her up and about, happy and herself.  No more fevers and no more complaints about her throat hurting her!  Her appetite came back too which I was so relieved about!  Dan even brought Bentley to see his big sis since she was in such good spirits, and we knew how happy it would make her to see him. Oh - and Uncle Eric surprised all of us at night, which was a much needed surprise!  We thought he was coming in on Friday!


Day 8 (8/25) - Everyone warned us that this would be a big day for Addie so I woke up with my stomach in knots.  Spoiler Alert - despite them doing a Spinal Tap we had another great day!  Her blood cultures came back negative again (great sign!), but Addie will still need to be antibiotics for 14 days due to the infection.  The good news is that we can administer them at home, so its not something we would need to stay in the hospital for, although her infection did push back our "check-out" date.  Thankfully Addie isn't ready to leave yet.  When I asked her if she wanted to go home, she said "No, I want to stay".  After all she has been through, its amazing to me that she wouldn't want to get the F out of here!   The only part that stunk about today was that she wasn't allowed to eat since midnight the night before and her procedure wasn't until 1:30pm.  Addie was starving and became very "hangry".  All she wanted was Baby Corn (so random!!) and she literally was crying "I WANT BABY CORN NOW"....you have to find the humor these days!  Uncle Jamie and Uncle Eric promised to go get her baby corn to have as soon as she woke up from her procedure - so off they went on a mission! She was pretty upset going into her procedure because she was so hungry but once they gave her some of the medicine to sedate her she calmed down.  The medication they gave her makes her eyes kind of flutter, not completely close - which was so weird to see.  Although we were allowed to be in there with her for the procedure, her Dad and I stepped out.  It is unimaginably hard seeing your baby like that, nor did I want to watch them stick a needle in her back.  Thankfully Dan was OK staying in with her.  It was comforting to us for him to be there for both Addie when she woke up, and also to just know what was going on.  The procedure went well, the fluid was clear and the lab later confirmed that there is no leukemia cells in her Spinal Fluid (Yay!).  They also gave her chemo intrathecally during the procedure, and they drew some blood which they can check as an indicator of how the bone marrow is reacting to the medications.  We won't know those results for another week, and we won't officially know what the bone marrow shows until Day 29.  She woke up totally silly and asking when she could eat her baby corn, LOL.  They told us to have her start slow with drinking and then eating but Addie tore into her chicken nuggets and baby corn as soon as she was back in her room...I couldn't believe my eyes, haha.  I can't reiterate how nice it is to see my girl eat and have such an appetite (thank you steroids), as this is not usually the case - even before all of this.  She also got another dose of Chemo through her IV which she handled well.  The rest of the day Addie had a room full of family and more toys to open, another visit from both of her brothers and a whole lot of smiles!  Nick and I sometimes swap throughout the day being with Addie, so that we each can run home if we have to to take care of things, I can nurse Bentley, or just go get some air.  Dan and I went out for a nice dinner and got to sit outside (hello Fall weather, so nice to see you peaking in!).  It was really nice to just feel normal for a little and do normal things we are so use to doing.  Please continue to send your prayers and love and I will continue to say Thank You, thank you, THANK YOU!

With Love,