It was another good, but really busy day today. It started off as any other day hanging out at RMH getting prepared for tomorrows big clinic day. We got up, and had breakfast, did our daily chore, and started doing some laundry. One of the other moms here (who happens to be from PG) has had a migraine headache for the past 2 days, and had gone to the doctors office a few days ago for some new medications. It turns out that she had an adverse reaction to one of her meds, and the result was a really bad migraine. So when we realized that she was as bad off as she was, I offered to take her to the doctor in order to discuss some different medications. We were at the clinic for 2 hours before she was ready to get a new prescription. She was in a lot of pain, even having trouble walking around. We should know tomorrow if her new meds are working, because the old meds will be out of her system. We are all hoping for the best.

When that was all said and done, I came home and started making smoked salmon ravioli with one of the girls here at the house. Christine let the cat out of the bag the other day that I knew how to make it, this girls really wanted to learn how. We spent the remainder of the afternoon making dough, filling, and stuffing the ravioli. It was a little more difficult than I am used to because they don't have all of the pasta making tools that I have at home, but it was a really good way to kill the afternoon. Both Brenn and Samantha got in on the action as well, and we all sat down to a really enjoyable dinner. We had stuffed mushroom caps, ravioli, and garlic bread all made from scratch. It was great. The dough didn't turn out as good as I am used to, but I guess it won't be perfect every time.

Brenn seemed a little out of sorts today, she seemed really tired, and emotional today. It was a pretty big change from the last week or so, and hopefully it was just that she had not as much sleep last night. The skin on her feet, and some on her face is starting to peel because of the Methotrexate, and also she has developed a really dry cough from all of the chemo drugs. So her feet are really itchy, and the cough keeps her awake as well. She is uncomfortable right now, but she is still doing remarkably well.

Samantha had a pretty good day today. She fell and bumped her head 4 times today, but still seems none the worse for wear. She is a tough little kid, she crys for a few minutes, and wants to be held. After a couple of minutes though, she is wiggling to get out of your arms so that she can go back to playing with the other kids. She has so much energy it is truly remarkable, it seems as if she can play all day long without any breaks. She is really funny to watch, but she is really hard to pin down so that she will eat a meal.

All in all it was a really good day today, just watching the kids laugh and play. I was concerned all day about Brenn, and about her clinic visit tomorrow. She will be getting another lumbar Puncture again tomorrow, as well as blood work, 3 different shots of chemotherapy drugs, and of course all of her vitals, and possibly a blood transfusion depending on how her blood counts are. All of this will take from 9 am until the earliest of 2 pm. We have to get up early so that she can eat her whole breakfast before 7 am because she has to go under a type of sedation for her lumbar puncture, and she will be unable to eat any food until around 1 pm. She is also not allowed any fluids after 10 am and nothing except clear fluids from 7 am until 10. I am sure that it will be a really interesting day tomorrow, and we have all been dreading this day for a long time. There is one more hard one this round, but I think that it will be closer to the end of this round sometime in September. We are here to go through this together, and tomorrow will be one of those days that I am supper happy that we are together, because I am not sure who can get through a day like tomorrow will be without having their family around. The drugs that we give her are hard for a parent to watch. They are poisoning her, and making her feel sick, but at the same time, they are making her better, it's just sometimes hard to see that this will one day all be over, and Brenn will be relatively the same little girl that she once was what seems so long ago.

Scott