Happy celebration

We celebrated yesterday by eating out with family and going to the chapel to give praise and thanks to God. It was the very same church I first went after Olivia's diagnosis. I still remember how I couldn't help myself from crying during mass. I kept thinking to myself how we'll survive this. Now here we are and I realize how much strength we have and sometimes I still couldn't believe we went through what we have. We feel very blessed and there's so much to be thankful for.

Within the last few days, Olivia has been complaining about stomach and leg pains again. These are her usual side effects from chemo. I would massage her and then she'd be fine. I know she's such a strong girl. She knows it will pass. She really amazes me in so many ways.

Olivia will be on a chemo break for a couple weeks before maintenance phase officially starts. It will begin with a spinal tap chemo and she will be sedated for that procedure.

Last chemo before maintenance!

And just like that, after 8 months of intense chemo,  we are on our last one and we're headed to maintenance!

Olivia is truly a fighter! Thank you for your  continued support and prayers for a complete remission!

Almost there!

One more chemo session and then we're headed to maintenance! Yeah! In the beginning of her current phase, I mentioned that she will be getting Vincristine again, the chemo medication that causes her difficulty in walking and foot drop. We usually notice it after a few doses and it has already begun. She doesn't complain too much about it though. She would trip at times and would walk awkwardly. I am going to get the physical therapist examine her again and see if she needs to go back to physical therapy. Other than that, Olivia is doing great. She doesn't eat much but she gets motivated to eat when there's other family and friends around. Thank goodness for pediasure, sometimes that's all she takes when she doesn't like to eat anything.

Here's Olivia making a difficult decision on which hat to wear for the day!

Olivia's next chemo is scheduled for this Thursday.

Enjoying the beach

Today was beach day for Olivia! The first of many for this summer. We left the house really early in order to avoid the beach crowd and too much heat. It turned out to be a great day. She had so much fun catching the waves and playing in the sand! We have so many pictures just the two of us and this one adds on to my top picks. I think with all the obstacles we've been through, I know together we can get over these 'waves' that can come our way. My cousin Arlene once reminded us to be brave and not pray for the hard thing to go away. We prayed for bravery to come and it is definitely BIGGER than the hard thing.

Tomorrow is going to be a long day for Olivia as she will be receiving a few chemo. She will be sedated for this procedure. Thanks all for your continued prayers.

My little caterpillar

Today Olivia asked me to use a pony tail on her hair. I told her that she doesn't have a lot of hair yet but that it's starting to grow again. She said nothing is happening to her hair but after explaining to her a few times, she understood it. She eventually got excited about her hair growing back.

This is her today, very fond of crawling like a caterpillar.  It made me think that even though she has gone through a lot as a toddler,  she is still like a caterpillar, waiting to get out of her cocoon and explore all the wonderful things in store for her. One day she will grow up and look back at this blog and see how brave and strong she was. She might not remember all of what she has gone through, but her courage and strength will always remain as an inspiration for all of us.

P.S. Yes, she is still wearing the same princess dress from yesterday even after bath. She really loves it so I just let her wear it.  She is a little bit sensitive nowadays and so I try to pick my battles :)

Doing great!

It has been a while since my last post. Everything is going well and we have slowly started to enjoy our weekends out with Olivia. I took her to her old swim school to watch her brother's practice and she enjoyed being there even if she was just watching.  She remembered the place and it seems like she wants to go back swimming again. I couldn't help but reminisce on the last day she was able to swim in class about 7 months ago.  She was still able to enjoy swimming 3 days before her diagnosis.

 

Her last chemo was on friday last week. She did a great job sitting by herself while getting a finger prick and getting her port accessed. And because she was feeling great, we were able to bring her swimming at a friends house the following day (with doctors permission). As long as she is still undergoing treatments, she will remain immuno-compromised, which means we still need to be careful with exposing her to potential viruses.  Private family pools are better for now.  Hopefully soon she can attend swim classes again.

                                       

Olivia has 2 more chemo sessions and then we're off to maintenance!  We are looking forward to our family vacation as part of her wish from Make a Wish foundation.  Here is our princess with her favorite princess dress,  ready to go to the happiest place on earth!

Her hair has started to grow back recently and it's growing fast! I learned though,  that even in maintenance,  some people lose some hair again depending on their chemo but it will grow back quickly. I'm excited to see her with a nice pixie do!

She is scheduled for blood counts this Friday,  and if she's ready,  she will be getting chemo on her spine and port on Monday.  It will be a sedation procedure.