On Wednesday, December 11th, Carly, Jammie and Mommy went to St.Francis Xavier Elementary School in Acushnet, MA. When we arrived and entered the gym every girl, boy and teacher had on a pink bandana. We were served cookies and punch and were royally entertained by the students. Carly got to visit the pre-school classroom and liked it so much she didn’t want to leave. The school had held a fund-raiser for Carly’s Fund and we were presented with a very large check. The students, faculty, and Russ and Susan Boulay are just the most wonderful and giving people and we thank them all very much. The only good thing to come out of this journey to wellness is the new friends that we have made along the way, and the strengthening of bonds between old friends. Bless you….
Last Thursday, the 12th, we took Carly into the Jimmy Fund for her scheduled appointment to have her blood checked to see if her counts are ok to start her Chemo. Thankfully they were, however, Children’s Hospital didn’t have a bed for her, and so we had to wait until Saturday the 14th to be admitted. This was a six-day stay for Carly but 7West had lots of good stuff planned. We saw Santa & his elves (Doctor’s) on the day we arrived and they had presents for all the kids. On Sunday Kelcie & Carly got to decorate a gingerbread house donated by a family who lost a child to cancer and kids & parents had a ball decorating them together. On Monday the Norwell Fire Dept. came in with lunch and toys galore and of course Carly picked a Barbie doll & a Barbie play set. They were just wonderful, they gave out fire hats and sat and played with the kids. In the meantime, she received 5 stuffed animals from different people. Today was the 7W Christmas party and Santa came with more presents and the kid got pizza for lunch. They never stop giving to these kids…not just with gifts but love, too.
Carly’s little friend Amber & her mommy Amy came to visit us while we were in. They has lots of fun together. Carly had a new roommate this time, her name is Isabella and she’s 6 months old and has leukemia. Carly just loved her to pieces and Isabella loved Carly, or as Carly would call her Ismabella. We had lots of fun with her and we will be putting her picture on the website soon.
Carly has a bit of cold now and is running a low-grade fever. They told us to keep a close watch on it and if the fever gets worse we will have to go back in. Lets all pray she beats this cold before her counts take a nosedive. Unfortunately this round she’s been quite nauseous. We got home today around 5:00pm and no one was happier than Kelcie. She’s about had it with this whole thing. We hope to have an uneventful and healthy holiday and we head back in on January 2nd. We look forward to Auntie Laurie, Uncle John and Lia’s visiting from St.Louis and, maybe, Uncle John & Aunt Judy Lewis from Ind. We’ll celebrate Christmas with the Tessier’s. Hartley’s, Olsson’s, Laverty’s, Corrigan’s, Langlais’, and Laurie’s and we pray Carly will be feeling good.
We are getting lots of positive feedback from the telethon and hope Carly’s story sparks an interest in some new research for her cancer. We are also getting many cards, messages, gifts and donations from our “guardian angels”. We are so very, very grateful and wish all of you a Merry Christmas and a happy, healthy, and hopeful New Year.
Last Thursday December 5th to be exact was Carly's 30th and final Proton Beam Radiation session. All the tech's gave her a diploma & a pink purse with makeup! They were very sad to see her go, they said, because they thought she was amazing for being able to complete all 30 treatments without a hitch and with no sedation! Carly gave everyone a hug goodbye and skipped down the long hallway for the last time. No one is happier than her Mommy! It was a very long seven weeks. But having Jammie & Uncle Noel drive us sure helped out a lot. We thank God that Dr. Tarbell & Dr. Liebsch chose Carly for this treament. From what we've seen the waiting list is long and they have more kids needing this radiation than slots for them. Carly was lucky to get chosen. Now we hope & pray she never has to go back again.
This Thursday we go back into the Jimmy Fund to check Carly's blood to see if she's going to have Chemo or not. If she does, Daddy will stay over Thursday & Friday and Mommy the rest of week. I personally think she won't make it, as she seems tired & doesn't look very good to us, but she still has her usual spunk. We'll keep everyone posted on what's up next. Thanks for the messages we love them.
Henni
On Friday we went into the Jimmy Fund for some routine bloodwork. After we left the clinic we headed over to the Proton Beam center for her radiation. Carly is also receiving her ritual GCSF shots now. I had to call the Jimmy Fund to find out her blood counts before we left and they instructed me to return to the clinic because Carly needed a red blood cell transfusion. Needless to say, we spent the next three hours there while she recieved her transfusion. That has really helped with her energy level and overall she's feeling pretty good.
Today Carly, Mommy, Kelcie, Mimi & Jammie all headed into Boston for a bunch of stuff. Our first stop was the Jimmy Fund for more blood work, which indicated she was neutropenic and very close to needing a platelet transfusion. (So back we go on Wednesday for that.) Our second stop was the Proton Beam center (Thursday will be last one!! Yeah!). Our final destination was WBZ TV channel 4. Mary-Ellen from Children's Hosp. asked if Carly could be photographed with Bob Lobel, the sportscaster(who dressed up as Rudolph), for the Boston Globe's TV Guide. We of course said yes, so today Carly & Kelcie got dressed up in their special Christmas dresses that Jammie made and had their pictures taken. They were just great and had a lot of fun too. This is publicity for the Children's Hosp. telethon being aired on Wednesday, December 18th @ 8:00pm, on channel 4 and Carly will be one of five children featured. We had a busy day but it was also lots of fun. The picture will be in the Sunday Globe on the 16th.
