Day 14/Day 15 - HUMP DAY

It's not Wednesday, but as a good friend of Mom suggested, we ARE at the half way point of my inpatient hospital stay. They told us at the end of "induction" we could go home. For me, induction is only 28 days, so here we are at day 15 - the half way point! The doctors have discovered that kids like me, with Down Syndrome, sometimes have more trouble with chemotherapy and neutropenia (having a low white blood cell count) which is why kids with DS typically stay in the hospital for all of induction. I haven't had any trouble yet, and they think that I'll likely be able to go home on schedule, which if you know my mom, is really good news. She's crazy about staying "on schedule."
We've had a good few days. I'm still eating tons of pizza, which I call for by name, but on my day with my fabulous nanny, she tricked me into eating ravioli, carrots and peas.

Some friends of my Nannu and Nanna came by and left these cookies for me. Mom and I helped ourselves to a few of them, and boy were they delicious. I love Italian cookies! Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. C! Dad took a few home to share with Nannu and Nanna too.

I played a little bit of peek-a-boo with a blankie from my Gran that I got when I was first born

A couple of my mom's good friends came to visit for a bit today. They brought some treats, too. Bottled water, toilet paper and brownies. Essentials.  I took a really good nap while they were here and Mom got to get out of our little room to see the sun a bit and have lunch at Café West.

This afternoon I had some more IV chemotherapy. All in all the chemotherapy injection took less than a minute. I have a PICC line and the medicine gets into my body real quickly and starts to work right away. It doesn't hurt at all. I am not too fond of people holding me steady, which is why I'm not looking too happy in these pictures.

After my chemotherapy, I was ready to eat MORE Cheerios while Mom talked with the head nurse about my life after I'm released from the hospital. HAND WASHING, HAND WASHING, HAND WASHING! That's it. That and NO SICK VISITORS! I can play and eat and sleep and read, just like old times. I just have to make sure that everyone around me stays healthy and washes their hands A LOT!  They talked about some other stuff, like the stages of chemo that will follow, it got pretty boring, look at my face:

The stages are Induction, Consolidation and Maintenance - a three year journey. There's no set plan as to what days I start what or what days I get chemo. Mom's going to have to let go some of her scheduling issues, as each of the treatments depend on the outcome of the treatment before it. Basically, how well I do after each treatment, determines the  next treatment. It's a guessing game at this point, but the doctors have a whole big plan and flow chart that they will follow.

Mom signed me up for a photo shoot on Thursday! ME and a CAMERA? I think I know what to do! Mom tried using her hot rollers in my hair! And they worked. What do you think of my new bangs?

I'm ready for my close up!!!
Thank you for your prayers and support! We couldn't do it without you!!!