Cancer and all the little things

OK, I know that I have not really posted for a week. Stephanie did an excellent job of bringing you all up to speed on the latest events of this experience on the last three posts. It has been kind of crazy for us over the last little bit so I just have not taken time to post what some would call the "routine" things that Gracie gets to do now.
I have found it ironic to think of how the word, routine, gets used sometimes. For example getting an infusion of platelets and getting blood work every week are apparently routine. I know that means that those things are done frequently and much is known about how to do them, etc, etc, but they have never been part of my routine! I never really thought much about what cancer treatment really entailed before August of this year and then even after we knew that Gracie would receive treatments I thought that we would have a few days of chemotherapy infusions, then wait around with a sick little girl until the next infusions. Well I have found that it entails much more than that. For example, since the last trip to Houston for chemotherapy (we came home 2 weeks ago today), Gracie has received a shot on Sunday; medication twice a day on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays; eye drops 4 times a day for one week and twice a day for the second week; a follow-up doctor's visit on the first Wednesday; CBC (complete blood count) taken on Thursdays which can take anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour waiting your turn; the first Friday was a nerve racking day as Gracie's eye started to swell again; each day after the swelling seemed to be getting worse in the morning and then return to normal throughout the day; since Gracie's immune system is compromised we have to be careful who she comes in contact with and where she goes; Thursday (2 days ago) the swelling is so bad in the morning that she cannot open her eye so we talk to the doctors again; Thursday afternoon we find out that Gracie's blood counts are very low and a blood transfusion is required; Friday the swelling is even worse than Thursday and we spend all day in a cancer clinic doing tests and getting a platelet transfusion.
I am sure I missed something in the list. I should point out that Gracie has been wonderful throughout all of this and I am happy with how things are progressing and the care she is getting. It is just amazes me that there are so many little things that crop up almost daily that need to be done because of the cancer Gracie has. Much of what needs to be done are not even that time-consuming but they take one away from other responsibilities and activities. Then even, when nothing "extra" needs to be done the cancer or Gracie's care is on my mind. Sometimes I still worry about how the treatments are affecting her and how effective they are being. I continually wonder what we should do that would be best for her and if there is something we are not doing. So sometimes when I look back over a week and think of all of the work that I wanted to get accomplished, I see how little I actually got achieved and wonder where I wasted all my time only to realize that all of those little extra things add up to more than I had anticipated. I am not trying to blame anything on Gracie or even my lack of accomplishments on her cancer but rather trying to point out how different living with cancer is than what I thought it would be like.
Suffice it to say that the last week was really quite busy, especially for an off-chemotherapy week! Most of the events were small stuff that needed to get done. Perhaps stuff that is not so worrisome for Gracie's medical team but stuff that we just need to keep doing to keep fighting off her cancer. Which fight I am confident that Gracie will win. I am so pleased with how things are going and the care we have been getting. I wake up in the morning and get ready. Not long before I leave I can guarantee that Gracie will wake up and come find me. While it is sad to see her right eye swollen so big, I am almost excited to think of those drugs killing the cancer in her eye. I do not even know if the drugs are still really in her eye or if the swelling has anything to do with battling cancer, but the swelling reminds me that we are doing everything we can to save her eye and how thankful I am that the cancer has been found.
On that note, I thought I would just mention how excited we all are for another Gracie (a little girl about 5 or 6 years old). A friend of ours has a niece named Gracie that was undergoing chemotherapy for the past few months. Her story is not really mine to tell but when the cancer was found they told her and her family that they would do 5 rounds of chemotherapy and then need to assess how advanced the cancer was before proceeding onto the next phase. Gracie recently completed her 5 rounds and the doctors did their tests. They told her that they had never seen that type of cancer respond so quickly and there would be no need for additional treatments! We met Gracie for the first time last night at a Halloween party. She was a cute little tinkerbell and came over to tell us the good news! She told our Gracie to keep fighting and "Beat that cancer." We are so happy for her and her family. We are happy to be reminded again about the resilance of little children and that miracles do happen!
As always, Grace and our family appreciate your love and support. I know that many of you have been checking the blog and apologize for the lack of posting over the past week (everything has just been routine :)). Gracie is a real trooper and a joy. Watching her in the cancer clinic as she ran aroung throwing balls and trying to bounce like a ball was so fun! She was suppose to be so tired and weak but she just had to be herself. That is just how we like her!