Avery's Journey

Avery has had a great week this week! First we started with our Hearing Aid fitting on Tuesday, which went well. She seems to not be bothered by the hearing aides and we can definitely see a difference in her reactions to sounds and noises. She heard her song I think for the very first time today and I watched as she listened intently as I sang along. The hearing aides are in competition for room behind her ears with her glasses so we are constantly attempting to tuck them back behind there. Jeremy thinks her ears will get stuck sticking out since they are so loaded down! We had 2 slight snags, one of which was the settings were set very sensitive and as a result any time she was being held, in her high chair, or crawling near furniture the aides would emit a high pitched squeal! We have since shifted the settings and are doing much better. The second snag included me and a microwave.... apparently we are supposed to put them in a jar with some little contraption that draws moisture out of them at night. As the contraption collects the moisture, it turns green and then you are supposed to microwave it to dry it back out. I melted it. Whoops. Sure hope they can send me a new one.

The second excitement of the week was the start of the new chemo. This is a daily pill that is given on an empty stomach, followed by no food. We of course attempted to give this yesterday and failed miserably. I mean how do you get a 19 month old to swallow 2 pills? We attempted crushing, which is a no no with Chemo but that didn't work either. Today we tried dissolving in water, but it didn't dissolve entirely and left a ton in the bottle. At this point I'm not even sure what to do. If she'd eat, I'd totally wrap it in a piece of cheese and push it down like I do with the dogs... good thing she won't eat much. So for tomorrow I am thinking of crushing it slightly and sprinkling it on a bite of pudding. So much for not eating. This round is 28 days straight of taking the meds. Hopefully this drug (erlotinib) will have less of an effect on her counts. At this point we are sitting at 1000 ANC. This is much better than 700, but still low in terms of normal. I am really hoping that this next 28 days gives her body a chance to recoup those numbers a little higher before we start round 3 and the 2 drugs that she was on last month again.

Avery and Sharon have been working so very hard on her strength and skills. She is going up and down the stairs on her tummy great! She can color sort and shape sort her puzzles and the kids loves loves loves her baby. We picked up a doll umbrella stroller and then weighted it down with velcro weights and she pushes that bad boy all over the house. She also seems to never get bored with chasing Jersey... good exercise for both of them!

We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of Grandma Lippold. She is coming to spend some time with Avery today while Jeremy and I go out to celebrate our 4 year Anniversary....yes it's only been 4 years. I know we feel like the last 8 months have added on at least 3 more! We are spending some grown up time together while Avery and Grandma have a sleepover. She is really excited!