Vacation was amazing!

 Keira was discharged from the hospital on Monday 8/19 and we left for vacation. We visited her Aunt's farm and then headed down to Virginia Beach. It was an absolutely amazing time. We came back the next Monday and Dad went back to work on Tuesday. Mom-mom will be coming down from Sunday to Thursday for the year to care for Keira, I can't imagine what we would do without her.

 We are feeling really good about both being back to work for the first time in nine months! Brendan Jr. starts Kindergarten on Tuesday so we are all very excited for him. Keira knows that she won't be able to go and she seems to be taking it well but she does still ask occasionally why she can't go and I explain it to her but I'm not sure she really gets it. She tells me that she "won't make the other kids sick because she doesn't have a fever" and it makes me feel bad. We've told her it is because she could get sick from the other kids but I'm not sure she believes us.

 Keira has another round of chemo starting this Tuesday but it shouldn't be as intense as the last one and there are no scheduled hospital stays so hopefully we can all be home together for a while!

Counts are back down

Keira's counts went down significantly instead of coming up. I think I jinxed us by getting excited that she could come home. She is feeling good, eating well and has no fever so that is good news. Now we wait....

Pins and needles once again

Keira is feeling much better today. Her appetite and energy level are normal, and she hasn't had a fever since last night. Her counts came back up significantly but she is still neutropenic. Her Dr. believes she will be coming home on Friday if she continues to do well. There may still be a chance for vacation after all….. it would be wonderful!

Admitted

Keira was admitted last night. She is now neutropenic so she will stay in the hospital until her counts come back up. It could be days or weeks. Maybe by some miracle she will be out by Saturday and all better so we can take vacation but I'm thinking next summer is a better bet.

UGH.... the E.R. again.

Keira had a blast at her birthday party! We had so much fun and were so glad she was able to be there and enjoy it. Today we went to the clinic, her counts are up so they told us we are good to go for vacation..... we came home, she took a nap and woke up with a 102.7 fever. So, she is getting comfortable in the E.R. This is the highest fever she has ever had so we are of course very concerned. She could come home tonight and get high doses of antibiotics at the clinic or the next 3 days (since she is not neutropenic) or they will admit her. We likely won't know how they will handle this for several hours. Other than the fever she was perfectly fine, no aches, pains or any other symptoms, just a little sleepy so hopefully they will fix her right up!

On another note, below is a picture of the O'Neill family, with our lemon smiles.... getting ready for the Alex's Lemonade stand million mile run / walk..... go team Keira!!!!!

Happy Birthday to you.... Happy Birthday to you

Today the twins turn five! So very hard to believe we've been blessed with our babies for five years. Keira is doing really well. She had a rough couple of days at the beginning of this week and her counts came back down but we are looking forward to her party this weekend.. We've been on pins and needles all week hoping that she is able to stay out of the hospital and with two days left I'm hoping I'm not jinxing us by posting. She had to go the clinic today and she asked us this morning... "do I need to get a beepy machine?" (that's what she calls her pump) and we told he we didn't know and she said " A beepy machine, even on my birthday no fair".... She did end up needing a beepy machine for platelets and I agree NO FAIR but she is home now and we are getting ready for their birthday dinner (tacos of course) and to open presents so they are really excited.