Out of 3 daughters Mimi is our middle child, older sister Iza by 3 minutes and a younger sister Magi by 3 years. Mimi was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) on August 12, 2009. After 2 years, 2 months and 26 days on November 6th, 2011 she took her last chemo pill and is considered OFF Treatment! This is our story of our journey through childhood cancer.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Snow Snow and more Snow...



A whole lot of snow has been piling up around here, every time it snowed the girls had a snow day or a delay. Today was the first day with snow that they had school and it was really hard to get them moving in the morning they did not believe me they really had to go. On the way home today they never made it in the house they just played outside until their noses were red.



Iza thought long and hard how to spend her Birthday Toys r Us gift card and chose a Barbie pool. While outside it is cold and snowy, all the Barbies have been having pool parties complete with slides and drinks! Mimi got a Barbie (Fake) IPod.


Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Clinic Day.

Due to the two hour snow delay we all got to sleep in today. That is always nice.

Iza went to school, Magi and I went to clinic with Mimi. Seemed like everyone had a late start, there were more people than usual in the waiting room. We didn't mind reading some books.

Her counts went down a bit her ANC was 1500 so down quite a bit from two weeks ago. No change in her medications this week. Mimi got her monthly Vincristine which made her feel "pukey" in her words, she asked to stay home and not to go back to school. It was nice to see her and Magi play nicely. They dressed up like squirrels by using blankets as tails, they drew nuts cut them out and spread them all over the house after that they were finding their nuts so they can store food for the winter. Mimi and Iza recently had lessons on hibernation, so Magi is now getting the lessons also.

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Clinic Day (January 5th)

Strange. I forgot to post.

All was well. Counts are continuing to be good so her weekly Methotrexate was increased. Mimi fell asleep while I had a conversation with her Onc. she woke up just in time to pick out stickers for herself and her sisters and go back to school for lunch.

Today's Counts:
WBC - 4.2
Hgb - 13.3
Platelets - 226
Neutrophil - 2500

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Christmas Break

On Christmas Eve we celebrated by having a traditional Polish Wigilia. Many dishes of amazing food made by my mom. Magi's favorite part was the breaking of the Oplatek, she figured out how it works this year and was eager to break pieces so she can eat some herself. I remember doing this since I was a little girl and it is nice to see the girls doing the same thing. We all ate until we could eat no more and then opened presents. The next morning Iza was the first one awake around 7:30 but climbed into our bed and waited until Magi and Mimi were awake so they can open presents together. This year Iza and Mimi bought presents at the St. Nick Shop at school, it was cute to see what they got each other and us, they put alot of thought into their little gifts.

This is the best I could get with the three of them...

Making Gingerbread House, it caved in due to the large amounts of icing and candy.




The girls had a New Year's celebration at school during the break. They enjoyed a balloon man/Magician, arts and crafts and music. They counted down and had a balloon drop at 3pm, it was loud! Most of all I think they were happy to run around with their friends and talk about what they have been up to. For the real New Year's Eve we rented movies, ate pop corn, and one by one everyone but me fell asleep before midnight. Mimi requested I wake her up so she can see the ball drop but she refused to open her eyes when I did she just stuck her tongue out so I can give her her chemo pill and she fell back to sleep.


Balloon Drop at 3pm :)

Mimi has been doing okay for the most part, for some reason this round of steroids really did a number on her. She would get very upset about silly things to the point of crying for hours and unable to catch her breath, it was so hard to watch. The thing that would set her off was/is clothes, she hates the feeling of most clothing and has only one outfit she will wear. I have picked my battles and just keep rewashing the same outfit for her. Good thing she wears a uniform to school and it does not seem to bother her. The good thing is she knows it is the pills doing it, she has learned to eventually calm down and take a rest. Thankfully Dan has been home so he was able to stay home with her so she can calm down while I took Iza and Magi to do things. I do feel bad when she misses things but the reality is she needs her chill time, we all do.


The girl and her pizza, all she wanted was pizza delivered and everything would be okay.
It was delivered and she was all smiles.



In a nutshell: It was a roller coaster week, emotions ranging from full out excitement and joy to some tantrums and tears and some lazy chill days in between. But I would not change anything for the five of us being together!