June 8 - Blood Work

June 8 - Blood Work

No line no waiting today!!! Simple in and out! The blood draw went great! As we were waiting for everything to get set up, P did mention to me that she would be on vacation next Thursday 6/15! So we may do blood work on 6/14 instead! I would rather move it by a day then have another Nurse and set Levi's progress on blood work back again. He does so well with P!

Once the blood draw was over we were off to the fountain! Levi stood for a picture for me in his super cute shirt!! He is "showing you" his new cars in the second picture!! Can't you see how pretty they are!! FYI there is a green one, a purple one, and an orange one! You'll have to use your imagination from there. :)

Levi asked for a donut and I said sure! So off we went to get his donut. He ordered it very nicely from the "donut lady" (some day I really need to learn her name to teach Levi so he will stop calling her the donut lady!) Then we were off to the car!

He ate the whole thing!!!! We got to the 99 parking lot to wait for Naomi and he was so excited to show off his chocolate hands and face. Then when I didn't immediately get out to clean him up he said "i'm yucky!!!" and shoved his hands at me!

Naomi arrived and I got him loaded into her car! It was the first time I have loaded him into a car that wasn't either mine or Jay's, a family members, or a car I would be riding in with him. It was a little weird. Definitely one of those moments where you realize that a big part of parenting is slowly letting go! It was very nice not to drive home and back to work though! Saved me an hour!!

Counts came in at 265. Not a huge increase in a week, but still an increase so I'll take it!!

Next steps: Blood work again Next Wednesday (due to P's vacation day) 6/14.

June 1 - Blood Work

June 1 - Blood Work

Blood work today was pretty quick and easy! We got to the lab and there was one person ahead of us so Levi settled in with his animal book.

We didn't get very far before it was Levi's turn and he went running in! The blood draw itself went great! Then Levi was off to the treasure box. He picked out another yellow squishy guy. He gave hugs to P and we were out the door. He had asked for a donut on the way in and I had said he could have one if he was good, but once we were out of the lab he just took off for the front door so out we went. 

We got to the car and started heading for home. In the future Levi's Nanny will meet us in Dover but since this is the first week I am driving him all the way home. God I don't miss the days of making this drive, and it used to be twice a week! No wonder I used to be exhausted all the time! 

About halfway home Levi told me he had gotten the tag of his squishy guy but that he had ripped his toes and he was really sad! I told him I could look at it when we got home. He seemed ok with that and went back to happily playing. Then about 5 minutes later he suddenly put his toy down, got all quiet, glared at me, and said "Hey! Where's my donut?!" It was hilarious!!! 

After I dropped Levi off I headed to work! Counts came in a little later at 255! A great number coming off an infusion! 

Next Plan: Blood Work again next week 6/8.

May 30 - Infusion #28

May 30 - Infusion #28

We got over to the hospital and checked in just 4 minutes late! Not bad!! We walked out back and the jungle room was full! Uh Oh! This could be the start of a very long day. A told us that the family that was in there would be leaving soon and asked if we could go in the sports room for a short time until Jungle was free. Phew! Day saved!! We set our stuff in sports and then headed to do vitals!

Ducky needed to do vitals too! 

Then Levi wanted to go play in the playroom. Since he has slept so late he hadn't gotten to play at David's House at all this morning so we were off to the playroom! It's nice for him to get a few minutes to "run free" in the playroom before he is tethered.

After only a few minutes in the playroom our Jungle room was nice and clean so we were off to it!! Nurse T was ready to start our Benadryl! He asked for a blanket and I thought for a minute he might actually zone out. But that didn't seem to be the case. We put on planes and he settled a little, but not what I thought he might!

After a few minutes he started asking for his movie to be off and for something to do. Nurse T came in and started his plasma too which kinda pulled him out of the daze he was in. I think he was afraid that he was going to fall asleep so he wanted to stay busy. He spent some time looking at his Paw Patrol Look and Find book!

Dr. V came in and took a look at Levi and talked to us for a quick minute. Levi looked good, so it was a short visit. Then Levi ping ponged from activity to activity. He colored for a little bit.

Did his whole water wow book, some of the pages he did twice.

And played on his tablet for a little bit.

Then it was lunch time! We had leftovers from Ziggy's last night so Jay only went down to the cafe to grab some fresh fruit and we reheated the leftovers. Levi ate great!

After lunch Levi asked to go to the playroom so we were off to play!

He is getting better at staying with his pole but not great at it yet. So going to the playroom while connected is still quite a production!

After a little bit in the playroom we were back to our room. Levi camped out with his tablet for the rest of the infusion time.

Finally the infusion was done. Levi had done great! They were really busy!! So it took a few minutes for Nurse T to come in to get everything situated. Counts had come in at 228. So a great number pre-infusion! We really could probably look at going 4 weeks instead of 3. We discussed it with Dr. V last time when we went 3.5 weeks post vacation, but every time we start discussing it we have a tank for no reason and can't get it up to these better numbers, so makes me really nervous to suggest it!

After he was disconnected Levi asked to go to the playroom for his five minutes of play so off he went. He had shopping cart races in the hallway! And played with the baby! He had a blast!

Then we were off to head home!!

Next plan: Blood wok on Thursday to make sure the infusion worked and infusion again in 3 weeks.

May 29-30 - David's House

May 29-30 - David's House

Happy Memorial Day! What a busy day! Levi was up very early in the morning. We spent the morning cleaning our house before Levi's new Nanny starts on Wednesday! After lunch we packed to head to David's House. It was nap time and we figured that Levi would fall asleep in the car on the drive up. Well, he did fall asleep! With 20 minutes left of the drive! And the other hour and 45 minutes in the car he was screaming and angry! Oh what a drive it was!! We got to David's House and stopped the car and Levi didn't wake up. So we set in the car for 45 minutes while he slept! And then he only woke up because the car beside us locked its doors and the horn beeped.

We got inside to check in and they had a birthday present for Levi. He ripped the paper off and was so excited!! It was his very own ice cream quilt!! David's House had asked the Ladie's Of the Lakes Quilter's Guild to make it special just for him!! He was so excited about it!!

Then they told us that they had given him the space room for his birthday!!! He has always wanted to go in the space room but it is designed for a much larger party then we are so it's not a common room for us to have! And oh boy was he excited about that. He was off and up the stairs before we could say anything! He was so excited to lay on the bed with his stuffies and new quilt and check out all the space things. He kept pointing out new things "look at the mirror" "look at the wall" "look at the ceiling" he was so excited!

He wasn't too impressed about the bed railing, kept asking me how he was supposed to get out. 

Then we were off to play downstairs. Levi wanted all of us to play together so down we went. He brought some cars from the train table down with him and we had lots of fun playing with them on the slide and on the floor. He was definitely in a good mood after his nap!

Then we headed upstairs to figure out dinner. There was nothing at David's House so we had to find dinner somewhere else. I wasn't really in a mood to sit at a restaurant with Levi and he wasn't in one to sit at one so we decided to do take out. We ended up finding a pizza place that would deliver! And ordered from them. They were really busy thought so we settled in to wait. Levi asked to go outside so we said sure. Since once again I had forgotten to bring extra shoes for him we told him he could go play in the puddles barefoot. He was excited! And out he went!! 

He wasn't out long before he told us that his feet were cold and that he was hungry! We brought him inside to change out of his wet clothes. He wanted his turtle PJ's! As you can tell they are WAY too small, but he was excited about them. Since we still had about 30 minutes until food we get in and Levi was getting crazy we let him settle on the couch with his tablet for a few! 

Once the food arrived we set in the ice cream room and ate! Levi was such a good eater and ate a ton of pizza and fries! Then he wanted to head back downstairs to play so off we went!

Before long it was bedtime! We tucked Levi into the space room! It took him a little while to go to sleep but not a crazy long time! About 20 minutes. Longer then at home, but not as long as it used to be at David's House! 

Jay sitting down the hallway waiting for Levi to fall asleep! Not sure how he can even hear him down there. 

Me sitting on the floor right outside the space door waiting for Levi to fall asleep and going in when he calls for me!

Around 9:30 Levi was asleep and I headed downstairs for a few minutes of relaxing, and to eat the chocolate cake! Around 10:45 I had the urge to go to bed. Much earlier then usual, but it just felt right, so up I went. Levi was sound asleep!

Thank goodness I went up when I did, because the 45 minutes from 10:45-11:30 were the best sleep I got all night. Levi was awake from 11:30-3:30 straight. Talking, rolling, crying, bouncing between his bed and ours, basically doing everything but sleeping. Jay came up for bed around 1:45 and moved Levi out of our bed and back into his bed. That lasted all of about 8 minutes before Levi was back in our bed and cuddled up with me. He kept stroking my head and saying "I love you Mommy" and "Mommy hold me!" Around 3:00 I took Levi back to his bed and set and rubbed on his back until 3:15. The last noise I heard from him was at 3:30. I slept awful from that point on, never getting into a deep sleep, wondering when Levi would be awake again and what had made him be awake in the first place.

I figured that Levi would wake up bright and early like usual (5:30 is not an uncommon morning at David's House!), but I was up at 7:45 and he was still sleeping. I started to get ready and let him sleep until 8:10 or so, but then we had to get up and ready. Our appointment was at 9 and we didn't want to bed late.

After we were dressed we headed downstairs to see Jaye and say thank you for the quilt and give big hugs! She was so excited to see us and especially Levi. We would have loved to stay and chat but we had to get over to the hospital!

We were back upstairs and packing up our room and then our leftover food and we were out the door!

Thank you for everything David's House! We love you guys! You are so sweet and amazing to Levi! Thank you for all that you do for him!!

May 25 - Blood Work

May 25 - Blood Work

Since it's Thursday we were off to blood work right after his well kids visit. Daddy was with us which doesn't often happen so that was a nice treat! 

We got there and there was a bit of a wait so Levi settled down with his animal book. He loves that thing! 

Once P called us in we headed in to the lab. Levi picked out his band-aid and then climbed up in the chair! 

P came over from doing paperwork and was getting ready when all of a sudden Levi had to go potty! In he rain to the bathroom. P and I set there and talked while Jay and Levi went potty, he was so proud of himself when he came out. Then we got down to business! The blood draw went great as always! 

After the draw he was off to the treasure box. He was showing daddy all the new things in the box. He settled on a green robot! Those robots were cool, the first time, I think we have 3 of them now. He loves them, but they break apart into so many pieces they are annoying! 

Then we were off to the fountain. Levi asked for a donut and I said sure, so we grabbed a donut and then headed to the car. We were off to school very late! But that's ok! It was fun to do drop off at school with Mommy and Daddy, not something he gets very often. He was being silly and showing off everything. 

After drop off Mommy and Daddy headed to a meeting with Levi's hopeful new Nanny and then we were both off to work after 11:00! At some point counts came in! His numbers were at 248. We are starting the descend, but with an infusion on Tuesday that is perfectly fine! And a count of 248 is still amazing! 

Next steps: Infusion on Tuesday!