November 17, 2021

 Back at the hospital for our final 4-day stay of this phase! Aurelia will finish her liquid chemo in a few hours and this morning she had the lumbar puncture, so she is feeling a little tired this afternoon. I am letting her rest a little before we get back to more school work.

Our week at home was uneventful, which is a good thing. We have to take Aurelia’s temperature and watch her for any septic shock or any illness, but thankfully she has not had any issues thus far. She goes to physio a few times a week because the chemo can really wreak havoc on her bones and ligaments, so we are trying to keep things strong and moving. Here she is at physio:

As soon as the liquid chemo stops in a few hours the medical team will make sure her body is excreting everything smoothly before we go home on Friday. They give her a saline solution and I keep her hydrated with homemade juices and smoothies that I bring in a cooler. We also try to move as much as possible with dance and exercise videos on YouTube…anything to get the toxins out of her body as quickly as possible!

A lot of kids with ALL don’t make it through this entire phase, so we are thrilled that she has made it and handled it with few issues. 

On December 1st we will be returning to Barcelona for 8 weeks. We have rented an apartment on the coast just south of the city center and it’s 15 minutes from the hospital. During the next phase Aurelia will need to stay closer to the hospital as infection is likely (so we’ve been told). During the week one of us will live down here with Aurelia and one of us will remain in Girona with Eston. School lets out for winter break in a few weeks and then we will spend 3 weeks together at the beach rental while Aurelia gets treatment in the day hospital. I wish we could spend Christmas at home with our friends, but we will make it as festive as we can at the beach. 

The doctors are really happy with her progress, so onward we go!