Set backs

Today was the first time that Elizabeth's blood count was too low to go in for her scheduled 2 day chemo visit. She has really low platelets and so I assume that we will be heading in to the hospital for a platelet transfusion tomorrow. I'll see what the case manager says after talking to her Dr in the morning. I'm glad her white count is up though. (I worry so much about infections when her white count is close to 0...which has happened a few times.) Her walking progress is slow because her physical therapist is emphasizing the need to focus on her gait. Even though she's 'walking,' she's not using her legs or hips evenly and has to really compensate for the weakness and immobility in her left leg. He gave her lots of  strength exercises and I could tell that she was very discouraged by the end of his visit when she struggled to do many of the basic leg lifts. She doesn't get really down very often, and so it broke my heart to see her so sad about her weakness. Of course, we are so grateful for her amazing progress to this point and feel the power and blessings of all the prayers, but this process is really a marathon and is going to take tremendous hard work and patience. It really wares her out too, so I feel like for every good walking day she has, she lays low for a day or two after. On a happy note, she stared music therapy through the hospital and is learning to play the guitar.  Her teacher does video chat lessons when she feels good. This has been a fun thing for her to do. She also has been doing little canvas paintings and they always turn out great! I love adding them to my home decor. This past week I also took her to an appointment with a nurse practitioner that her vaulting coach referred me to. He focuses on supportive care for oncology patients. It was a great experience! He was so knowledgeable and talked about what we can do to strengthen Elizabeth's body throughout chemo treatment. My biggest concern was her weight loss and he addressed the issue that people with her treatment regimen have with absorbing calories and nutrients from foods. She's taking digestive enzymes, some specialized protein powder, and a few other nutrients to assist with this now. Hopefully her body responds well. He also gave me carb, fats, and protein goals and she's doing a pretty good job meeting these each day. (The protein goal is pretty high and it's the biggest challenge.) Overall,  it's been a pretty good week home.