McKinley was given the green light last month since she is 6 months post treatment that she can now go to her pediatrician vs Johns Hopkins All Childrens Hospital ER or clinic if she gets a fever or sick. Well that took one full week & she woke up one night complaining of her ear. I took her in first thing in the morning & she had a ruptured ear drum. I felt terrible. She had been a little off (emotional, grouchy) but nothing crazy & never complained once about her ear. They said it was a really bad infection that ruptured her ear drum & they were shocked she hadn’t complained. We had a follow up scheduled for two weeks to make sure it was healing properly & it was (Thank God).
We spent the first weekend of Spring Break in Orlando celebrating the kids bdays. We hung at the hotel pools, had a princess dinner & character breakfast & a wonderful weekend. I am thankful for every single day & can honestly say we never take a day for granted. We truly had the best time. We got back from Orlando & McKinley was just off. Super tired, asking to nap, complaining of knee & leg pain & still had bruising on her legs. All buzz words/signs that are my worst nightmare. {I say “still” bruising because at her follow up ear appointment I pointed it out to her pediatrician. She assured me she thought it was normal bruising but did write me a lab slip in case I did want to get blood work since she knows our situation. I was so thankful for that.} So after getting back into town & her being “off” & wanting to be held & not walk through two different stores... a lot of tears were shed (by me), fear took over & I continued to pray a LOT. I took her in for blood work. It all came back (praise God) perfect. Not one
thing was flagged. If there’s one thing I can say
about this life is that I’m not sure I’ll ever breathe
easy. A bruise will never just be a bruise & I’ll take
every complaint to the extreme. It’s our life & I’ll
learn to live with it but one thing I can say is that
I’m so incredibly grateful. Thank you all for your
continued prayers & support. It means so much
to us.
xoxo, Karen
McKinley is doing really great. She's loving school, LOVING dance & enjoying being off chemo meds. It really is amazing how much she's grown, how much she's developed & how much more personality she has since she's stopped chemo. All things are looking great which is wonderful news. We've been very busy with advocating & promoting childhood cancer awareness month & attending a lot of events. We did have one scare at this months appointment but all was confirmed negative with an ultrasound. Myself, a few other "cancer moms" & McKinleys oncologist were all concerned about a vein by where her port was placed especially since she had a clot in the past. But all was confirmed ok with a quick ultrasound (Thank God). I'm not sure I'll ever be able to take a deep breath but I do try too. We are praying for a Halloween at home this year (last year we spent 8 days in the hospital fighting a nasty virus over Halloween). And although the nurses & staff came by her hospital room to trick or treat, I'm actually looking forward to sweating & fighting bugs on Halloween night this year. It's the little things 😉 Thank You as always for keeping McKinley in your thoughts & prayers.
xoxox,
Karen
MCKINLEY'S CORNER