High Spirits and Low Counts

Esther turned 2 years old today and things are going well here at the house. All three kids are happy and smiling, currently playing with Mommy on the floor of the living room while I try to catch up on emails and other computer stuff. Anya still fights side effects (tired spells, increased fussiness, body aches, bowel trouble, and headaches) and is taking a couple oral meds each night that she's not crazy about (a chemo pill and a pill to keep her from being nauesous from the chemo) but overall is doing well and cheerful most the time. Today will be our third clinic visit of the week with one more tomorrow. At each visit they take blood and give her chemo through her port which has remained accessed all week (they'll take the exterior contraption off at the end of her visit tomorrow).
The CBC (Complete Blood Count) from Tuesday of this week showed that her hemoglobin and ANC (Absolute Neutrophil Count) had both plummeted from the latest chemo round. Throughout Anya's treatment her counts have stayed fairly high and the doctors have been very pleased with how well they recover after big chemo doses. They are not troubled by how low these two counts are currently, however the low ANC puts Anya at a very high risk of infection. We are doing our best to keep everyone in the family away from germs and limiting our trips out of the house. We are hopeful that Anya's counts will recover quickly and she'll be cleared to leave the house again soon. She was so happy to get to go to church several times, visit the library and run some errands with me the other day, including a trip to the pet store where we picked up a few more fish for Anya's aquarium (her B-Day gift from Anna and me). At our clinic visit on Tuesday Anya's doctor said that she looked very good and was doing well. I asked how Anya was doing relative to other patients at her stage of treatment and her doctor said she was doing extremely well. She is active, energetic, experiencing a minimal amount of side effects and resonding well to the chemo.
Anna and I are doing well but need your continued prayer for us to have patience, tenderness and strength. In close quarters with a lot of exhaustion, stress, and strange, new circumstances things can get tense. Pray that we'll both learn to demonstrate our love to one another and our children in a greater way during this trial. Thanks again for your love, prayers and support.