Yuck - viruses!

Well, we've just returned home after an unexpected hospital stay. Ella got some pretty full on diarrhoea on Wednesday afternoon, and when it was happening every half hour to hour, and was drinking very little I decided to bite the bullet and ring the hospital at 9:30pm. The registrar decided she would like to see us so told us to pack our bags and make our way in. After some tests, it turned out Ella has contracted Adenovirus - a common, highly contagious, virus found in children that can cause a range of symptoms, but in Ella it was the severe diarrhoea and then later Thursday night came the vomiting. We were put in isolation in the hospital and anyone who entered the room had to put on gowns, gloves and masks. Infection Control Unit at the hospital often popped their heads in to ensure everyone was partaking in the precautions posted on our door! This was a little frightening for miss Ella - she woke from her nap to a nurse standing over her all gowned up and consequencely freaked out. Can you blame her?

Anyway, after a 2 night stay, her body is starting to recooperate and our Paed was happy enough for Ella to come home. As for Chemo on Monday, we are unsure at this stage whether it will proceed. This will all depend on how things go over the weekend.

In the meantime, the house has been thoroughly sprayed with Glen 20 (Mmm it does smell pretty now!) and we are much more compliant with hand hygiene. Dont want to pass this nasty bug on to anyone else!

Getting back into the blogging groove!

Well it's been a long time since I last blogged, but thought i might get back into it and share with everyone how things are going.

We have now completed Induction therapy, consolidation, interim maintenance and now we are 1/2 way through the Intensive Therapy. Ella is being a trooper as always and has tolerated the chemo exceptionally well. We are seeing side effects in this phase, some which aren't very nice. Ella's bottom is rather 'burnt' from the chemo so we are lathering her up with nappy rash cream to soothe it for her. Her hair is falling out by the handfulls and its looking rather thin. Have decided to shave the remaining hair off today so we have some control over it - her hair can be found EVERYWHERE around the house!! She also has very little energy. She hasn't played with her toys in days and spends most of her time laying in "mummy's bed" watching Monsters Inc on DVD.

We have managed to stay out of hospital for a few months now which is a great achievement. Ella is currently neutropaenic again, so we are pretty housebound to minimise the risk of her picking up an infection. We are due in hospital this coming Monday, which may result in an overnight stay for the next part of her chemo. We are currently on a 'rest week' to try and let her blood counts recooperate after being knocked down by the last 3 weeks of treatment.

Step by step we are making it through this journey!!!