1st Infusion under our belt . . .. .

Well, we made it! Grace and I left our house about 6:30 this morning, and got to Seattle about 7:30. We even had time for a short detour to Starbucks in U-Village!! We arrived at the hospital about 8:00 and we were both quite nervous. The nurses are fabulous, however, and we soon felt more at ease. We received the good news today that our infusions will actually take more like 2 hours (rather than the 4-6 hours we were previously told.) However, the whole process takes longer than I thought, so a two hour infusion can actually take about 4 hours by the time they get the meds from the pharmacy, apply the numbing cream, find a good vein, put in the line, hang the meds, etc. I'm sure the process will get faster once we're a little more familiar with the routine.

We're home now, and Grace is doing well. She's very irritable, and very hungry. Both of which are side effects of her meds. The appetite is something we will have to control--or at least control what foods she eats, but for today I'm being a little more lenient. The grouchiness, however, is already taking it's toll on me . . . .. ;)

I must say however, that all of this was really put into perspective for me today. As hard as it is, and as overwhelming as all this seems, it is literally NOTHING compared to what so many families are facing. We saw alot of very sick kids today, whose meds are many times stronger and have many more insidious side effects than Grace's, and whose families spend hours and hours every week at Children's Hospital. It was very humbling.

Following are a couple of pictures. One of them is of Grace's lesion to give you an idea of what it looks like, and the other is of her writing in her new journal during the infusion.



Our best to all of you,

Sabrina