P.J. Day at Home

It is 1am & my alarm is set for 8am (eeek ... too early for me!!) to get Hannah to the clinic for her follow up transfusions. I know she is going to be pretty low on platelets since her "plates", as we call them, were at 29 Wednesday morning. She seems to be dropping between 11 - 15 per day.

Today was a total kick back day at home. Hannah & I never got out of our pj's!!! Lily did but only to walk around the house for hours in just her diaper. She was so funny - literally throwing the clothes away from me that I was trying to put on her. She was just not interested in being clothed today. :-)

Tonight, we had some of the food that I had purchased for our Chinese New Year's dinner ... it was a mini-belated Chinese New Year celebration for us Eriksen's. Our first Chinese New Year with miss sweet Lily .. she is soo sweet & such a treasure!

Hannah is doing well -- she is still getting a shot once a day at 6pm. My mom gives it to her even though I did get trained on it. Hannah prefers Nurse Grandma to give it to her ... yes! We pay $1.00 for each shot ..one dollar. The actual cost if we had to pay out of pocket is $217 per shot!!!!! Thank you, Lord, for this insurance!!! Hannah is doing OK with the pills. She just has to put her mind to it & she can take them fine. Tonight took over 40 minutes to take 3 pills (6 swallows because the pills were cut). 40 minutes is way too long for me but by the end she really seemed to have conquered things & took the last one without a problem. Yes, Kimberly - I'd like to know how Rebekah does it without problem. We did the Hershey's syrup tonight ... I can't remember whose suggestion that was, but thank you! It did help -- ironically 40 minutes is an improvement!

I feel like I have been in a perpetual state of "I need to unpack that suitcase" since we got home from our wonderful trip over Thanksgiving to the mid-west. Literally, one of the suitcases from that trip went with Lily over the Slazas' & I just saw that in the inside pocket is a ton of stuff I brought back from the Indy trip. Oh my ... it is the end of stinking January!?! Jim & I both feel like the past 2 months have just flown past us. As a matter of a fact, one of my calendars here in my mini-office is still set to November!?!

We finally got a teacher arranged for Hannah!!! Yes, my daughter has been completely uneducated these past 2 months. Of course, not in Hannah's eyes -- she told me today that she knows all the lines to the Indiana Jones movie - now if that isn't something to be proud of, I don't know what is? :-) She might not know "this week's spelling words" from 1st grade but she can spell a lot of medical terms & her knowledge of blood cells, disease, germs, etc is off the charts. I know she will be just fine from missing the past 60 days of school -- she has learned a lot of science stuff (and Indiana Jones but we won't mention that to her teacher!).

Thank you to everyone that keeps sending Hannah cards & pictures -- it is soooo appreciated!!! You really have no idea how much it means to all of us & to Hannah. Also, thank you to long time friends that just sent some awesome pj's from Land's End to Hannah ... thank you, thank you!

And, to my sister in Philly, that reads this blog every morning after coffee -- I love you, Rach! I wish we lived closer. I know if you were here you'd be doing everything you could to help with every little thing -- even though you have lots & lots of major things you juggle in your own life. How did you, Miriam & I ever end up living in different states spread a part by miles & miles? I have no idea. We really would do well to just pick a place & all live near each other ... oh, and make room for Kim - she says if I move, she is coming too!

I better get some sleep. That 24 hour nap will only last me so long .... I am feeling better just still sneezing & coughing into my sleeve ... and washing my hands like crazy!

Please keep praying that Hannah's blood count numbers will improve & the vacation will end for mr. bone marrow!

All God's best from "Ranch Hannah" --