8.31.10

[DADA POSTING]

This morning started off with us finding out that a second of Evy's cultures (they draw blood for them every morning) was positive for the strain of yeast, which means that the first day or two of antibiotics didn't clear it up. The doctors are a bit worried, since they don't want to give the yeast a chance to start growing in her blood stream (it's still in her line, according to the cultures). So, first thing tomorrow morning we will be getting this line taken out. It will only have been about 3 weeks since we had this one put in, but what can you do? We'll use a regular IV for a couple of days to make sure that she's getting clear cultures, and then have a PICC line placed. A PICC line is a more substantial IV line, which will travel up her arm to her heart. We spoke with the doctor about whether we wanted to put in the same style central line she has now, or switch to a port, which lies beneath the skin and thus requires less upkeep and has less chance of infection (we originally needed her current type so that she could get two types of hi-dose chemo at once, but we no longer get those doses). We decided to try and see if the PICC line can hold up for the 10 or so weeks we have left of chemo, so that we don't have to worry about wearing out her central line spots, more scars on her chest, etc. Fingers crossed.

So that means we'll have 3 more days or so in here, as long as the yeast was in her line and doesn't show up again and she remains fever free. One big disappointment in that we won't be able to all go to the second bake and craft sale that our friends at the Lab are holding for us tomorrow. The first one, way back in the winter, was held when we were still in one of our original inpatient stays. We were hoping to be able to all go to this one (we even thought ahead and schedule during one of her good weeks; oh well...) to thank everyone in person and so that some of my coworkers could meet Jill and the girls. The last one was a huge success and it was amazing how generous people were. It was a true blessing and helped us through some tough times. We'll be there in spirit.!

The rest of today was really fun. In the morning Evy and I wandered around and did our usual routine. Then, when Mama and Stella arrived we had lunch and Evy was able to grab a much needed nap. Stella and I played in the atrium (outside play area) for a while, until I accidentally hit her in the head with a basketball and made her scrape her knee and spill all of her bubbles. Figure I should toughen her up a bit. Later in the afternoon, Evy and Stella suddenly entered hyper crazy mode, and were running all over the place screaming and invading the nurses station and laughing their heads off. Evy was just in a diaper most of the time, since she had spilled water on her shirt. It wasn't long before we looked over and Stella had her pants around her ankles and had thrown off her diaper. Of course, Evy followed her lead and ripped off her diaper and started bolting down the hall. In one of those "only in a cancer ward" moments, there was bald little Evy, naked, with her nose tube and central line bobbing away, and her leg braces and sneakers still on, shrieking and laughing with delight. Everyone around was just eating it up.

After Mama and Stella headed home, we found our friend Brooke and her big sis Caitlin in the helicopter bridge (which is kind of windowed walkway that overlooks the helicopter landing area for medivac, and that a family designed with lots of helicopter decor in honor of their son). Brooke and Evy took turns sitting in one of the push cars while Caitlin would push them speeding down the hall. We all had a great time. And, of course, it just helped to tire Evy out, so bed time went nice and smoothly.

We will hopefully get into surgery first thing in the morning. This procedure should only take about 15 minutes, since they'll just be removing the old line and putting in her IV. She usually does well with the drugs, so hopefully no surprises. [EDIT] Forgot to add that I remembered that a couple of procedures ago the anesthesiologist was going to give her gas instead of IV meds. I told him that she has gotten IV meds before and done well with it. So he asked how many times (I think expecting me to say 2 or 3 or something). With proton treatment, this was a daily routine, so I told him: "oh, about 30 or 40." He looked a little shocked, then remembered the proton treatment, and just said, "OK, we'll go with that." Funny the stuff you learn around here. Wonder what kind of effect all those hours under heavy sedation from which she awakes completely stoned will have on her. Maybe that explains the running around naked while screeching? Reminds me of my college days...

Thanks again to everyone helping out with the bake sale tomorrow. Wish we could be there!

8.29.10: Ups & Downs

[DADA POSTING]

First, I would like to just say that I agree with the previous poster, and that I do, in fact, rock. I loved the slide show Jill made for Father's Day, and hope you do, too.

Today started off with a diagnosis as to why we had a fever: a yeast infection in one of Evy's lumens (on the central line). It could be that she was susceptible from her previous antibiotics or because she was neutropenic, but it's not completely uncommon but can be nasty if untreated. I figure we would pick up a tube of Monistat 7 on our way home and be good to go. But, no, we need to start a new course of anti-fungals, and see what the cultures grow and what this strain is resistant or sensitive to. Then we'll need to be fever free for 48 hours and have our counts come up.

Luckily, this morning our counts were headed upwards, which is right on schedule for when we had chemo. The day was pretty good, and mama and Stella got to spend some time here so we could all paint, go outside, be adorable, etc. After they left, Evy and I decided to mix up our normal walking/wagon lap routine, and take a wheel chair for a spin. It was pretty fun, and there was a little girl waiting for her parents to get back from the PICU who was riding a big wheel and racing us. After she left, Evy kept looking around and asking "friend?" By the end, my arms were killing me. I totally need to get one of those pimped out electric versions. Evy was then cruising in the wagon with a bandanna over her head (not like a hat, but completely covering her head like a veil), wanting our nurse Lisa to "find" her. She was also saying "Lisa" over and over, which of course made us smile. Then, we ran into the other 2-year-old on the floor, Brooke. At first, the girls were a bit shy with one another, not really wanting to interact. But then we went into Brooke's room to play with some toys, and they opened up a little bit. Brooke's dad took out his guitar and played some songs for the girls, although they just wanted him to keep playing "5 Little Monkeys Jumping On The Bed" over and over so that they could jump around and do the "No more monkeys..." line. Then they ran screaming up and down the hall a few times until they were both basically falling over with exhaustion.

We headed back to our room, and I noticed Evy was shivering. Uh-oh. The nurse came in and confirmed that she has a fever. This resets the 48 hour no fever clock, and came almost exactly 48 hours after our last fever. But we would've been here for another day or two anyway, and it's not completely surprising seeing as though we just starting treating the yeast infection this morning. Hopefully the anti-fungal we're on will clear things up and our line will be OK.

So that's where we are tonight. Fortunately, the Child Life people were able to grab me one of their computers, since our laptop is not playing nicely. Hence this nice long blog post, not composed on my iPod. I'm gonna go drown my sorrow in some Froot Loops. G'night!

Brian Rules

Just sitting at home thinking about what a great father and husband Brian is. I made this video for him for Father's Day. Just wanted to share and give him a big shout out for being the best daddy and husband in the whole wide world!

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

8.28.10

[DADA POSTING]

As Jill wrote,we are back at the hospital. Haven't had a fever since 8 last night and still waiting for cultures to come back. If no more fevers, we just wait for counts to come back up which they should be doing on their own in the next day or two. Hopefully this will just be a weekend visit, kinda like a B&B, except both B's really suck here.

Evy is finally napping after she kept nodding off in her wagon, and mama and Stella should be here soon. I'm just resting my feet from our morning laps which started at 6:30 (mama and Stella woke up around 10 this morning. Good for them. Did my sarcasm come through on that last sentence? Good) and trying to revive the laptop. I asked for the little paddle shockers but they wouldn't let me use them. Updates will be from the iPod for now, so I'm not completely disconnected.

8.27.10

Evy, Stella, and I spent the day at the Clinic getting Evy transfusions of platelets and hemoglobin. They checked her temperature throughout the day and it stayed normal. She has been neutropenic this week. We drove home and when we got here, Evy had a fever. So now Daddy and Evy just left to check in to the hospital. Our weekend plans will be a bit different than lazing around the house.

8.23.10

Today we hit a milestone we have been looking forward to - the first day of Week 40 of Evy's treatment.

We didn't do much to celebrate; it was far too bittersweet a notion.

Instead we spent the day mourning the loss of baby Declan. We had the honor of attending his funeral and witnessing the outpouring of love for this little angel.

As I witnessed a loving, close-knit, and kindhearted family say goodbye to their boy, I was overcome with emotion. They shouldn't have to make caskets that small.

We can only hope that Declan's story, which has reached so many, can inspire people into action... spreading the word on pediatric brain cancer, making our cause known, and getting the funding for finding a cure. Declan Carmical will forever be in our hearts.

8.19.10

Evy is doing very well! She kept all of her food down today and was very happy all day. The only difference was that she slept a little more than usual. The weather was cooler and the girls and I were able to play in the backyard just like we did all last summer and fall. It felt so nice to have them both at home and feeling good, enjoying the beautiful weather. Evy loves swinging on the swing set. There is a frog that hangs out by our mailbox and Stella loves hearing it jump into a nearby water pipe every time we approach. "Froggy! Jump!" in her cute little chirpy voice.

The girls love to play with the sensory table Evy's OT made her- we fill the top of it with different things at different times. We have rice, beans, cotton balls, rice krispies and pasta for Evy to feel with her hand. Hopefully the sensation of touch will make her brain remember that her hand is still there. She and Stella both love the table and love to cover and uncover their hands, make it rain by dropping the items slowly, and tease mommy that they are going to make a huge mess. Devilish grins and giggles abounded today.

It's amazing how tired I get taking care of them, and I always wish I could just rest a little, but then as soon as they are asleep for the night for more than thirty minutes, I just miss the heck out of them. I always dreamed of being a mama more than anything else in this world, and I am a lucky one indeed.

8.18.10

Today Declan lost his battle with AT/RT- a battle harder than any child should have to endure. He would have turned one this month. We can't imagine his family's grief.

Evy finished her thirteenth chemo round today. The four of us spent the day at the Clinic painting at the art table, running around, and getting take-out from our favorite place. Simple pleasures of a family spending time together, in a life before cancer easily overlooked, are appreciated now more than ever.

8.16.10

When I woke up Evy this morning to get her ready to leave for chemo, she smiled and her first word of the day was "happy!" Breaks my heart to know that in a couple of hours she will be having chemo injected into her spine and brain yet again, and enduring five more days of chemo.

But knowing Evy she will still be in some version of "happy."

Stats: This is Evy's 13th round of chemo. Including this round, we have five more to go.


We spent the weekend as a family. The girls had a great time, but Brian and I were overwhelmed emotionally, constantly checking the computer for updates on our friends, the Carmicals. Their son, Declan, is losing his battle with AT/RT. He is also a twin, lives in Northern VA, and gets treated by the same group of doctors as us. Our hearts are breaking for them; no family should ever have to go through this.

When this is done, we have to work towards pediatric brain cancer getting more funding.

It's important to know that although St. Jude's has brought much publicity to pediatric cancer as well as made great strides in treating certain cancers, they have fallen behind in cancers like AT/RT. Send your money to the doctors who created Evy's protocol, the one that is giving families like ours the most hope right now:

“Cure ATRT Now” Fund
c/o Dr. Susan Chi
Pediatric Neuro-Oncology
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
44 Binney Street SW331
Boston, MA 02118

Some facts to get you all fired up:

-Childhood cancers are the #1 disease killer of children-more than asthma, cystic fibrosis, diabetes, and pediatric AIDS COMBINED.
-One in every 330 children will develop cancer before the age of 19
-National Cancer Institute's federal budget was $4.6 billion, of that, ALL twelve major pediatric cancers received LESS THAN 3%.
-Common adult cancers are extremely rare in children, yet there are many cancers that are almost exclusively found in children.
-One out of every five children diagnosed with cancer dies.
-Three out of every five children diagnosed with cancer suffer from long-term or late onset side effects.
-Common cancer symptoms in children are often suspected to be common illnesses and thus treated as such causing cancer to be found at later stages.
-Attempts to detect childhood cancers at an earlier stage when the disease would react more favorably to treatment have largely failed. Approximately 20% of adults with cancer show evidence that the disease has spread, yet almost 80% of children show that cancer has spread to distant sites.
-Cause of childhood cancers are unknown and at present, cannot be prevented.
-Nationally, childhood cancer is 20 times more prevalent than pediatric AIDS yet pediatric AIDS receives four times the funding that childhood cancer receives.
-On the average, 12,500 children in the US are diagnosed with cancer each year.
-On the average, one in ever four elementary schools has a child with cancer.
-2,300 children and teenagers will die each year from cancer.
-Several childhood cancers continue to have a very poor prognosis, including brain stem tumors, metastatic sarcomas and relapsed acute lymphoblastic leukemia and relapsed non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
-Every day 9 children in the US are diagnosed with a brain tumor.
-Brain tumors are the leading cause of cancer death from childhood cancer.
-There are more than 120 different types of brain tumors, making effective treatment very complicated.
-Because brain tumors are located at the control center for thought, emotion and movement, their effects on a child’s physical and cognitive abilities can be devastating.
-At this time, brain cancer research is underfunded and the public remains unaware of the magnitude of this disease. The cure rate for most brain cancers is significantly lower than that for many other types of cancer.
-The funding for pediatric cancer clinical trials has gone down every year since 2003, and is currently $26.4 million. By comparison, NCI funding for AIDS research was $254 million in 2006; funding for breast cancer topped $584 million the same year.
-We may spend 3-5 times the amount of research money per patient on most adult cancer cases than we do on children with cancer.
-In general, children with Central Nervous System (CNS) cancer do not share the favorable prognosis of those with many other common pediatric neoplasms.

Here are some pics from our 4th of July picnic. We went to a local park, and the lake had lots of ducks, geese, and swans for the girls to throw bread (and an apple core) to.

I couldn't figure out why the ducks I was photographing swam away all of a sudden. Then I looked up and saw Stella shooting at them with her bubble gun. Some vegan she is...

Shooting gangsta style at the swans.

Evy and Lisa, one of the great nurses at the hospital!

Evy sampling the lip balm from Holly (the Child Life specialist)

Stella puts on some lip balm...

Yum!

Evy and Jade with the art therapist

Evy and Jade

8.14.10

Trying on some items at J. Crew today...

8.11.10

Mama Posting...

Evy came home last night at 8 o' clock. She is on at-home IV antibiotics. We still don't know for sure if her line was infected. We hope to get those results tomorrow. In the meantime we have to give the antibiotics just in case.

It's great to have a hospitalization behind us. Today we hung out as a family and in the afternoon we took the girls out to "stow-ahs" aka stores. Evy gets very envious of Stella when she gets to go to stores while she gets chemo (when really Stella is just accompanying me on much-needed errands). So we chilled at Starbucks and trolled around Target and Lowe's. Evy found two huge teddy bears in the toy aisle at Target. She put them on the floor, and then jumped on top of them and just layed there for a while. She and Stella also found a body pillow and pretended to go night-night. I actually figured out that I can text my pictures on my phone to my email so here is a picture of that. I told them to give me big smiles so we got some cheesy grins.


Maybe I can actually get more pictures on here this way. Even though they're poor quality, you get to see the cuties! Night-night!

8.9.10

Evy got her new central line placed today, but not without a few hurdles. She was due to go in at 1 PM, which meant no food after 5 AM. At about 1:30 we called down, and it turned out that there was an emergency surgery to be performed. Rather then everyone being moved back a slot, we were put on the OR version of stand by. We ended up being the last pediatric surgery for the day, and we were taken down to the pre-op room at 5 PM. Evy handled it amazingly well, and only got cranky the last hour or so, when she kept asking for chips. The surgery itself went well, and Evy came out of anesthesia with no problems.

Mama and Stella hung out for the afternoon and evening, and the girls did their usual routine of charming everybody in the halls. Evy was in an especially good mood this morning, asking lots of nurses and other parents to pick her up. She's becoming known for cruising the halls in her wagon, with that damned bear singing its "Smile" song. Some love the song, but most love to hate it. You can hear us coming from a mile away. The OR staff even took us down and back in the wagon so we could ride in style.

Evy was exhausted at the end of the day, and passed out as soon as she hit the pillow. Tomorrow morning we have a hearing test (as some chemo drugs can affect hearing) which means more sedation, as they usually can't get an accurate reading with her just reacting to stimuli. Then, hopefully we'll head home so we can rest up before next week's chemo.

I tried to get pics uploaded, but the laptop couldn't handle the big files, so it will be a couple of days. You'll notice that in several pics Evy will have her tongue sticking out. Somehow, she decided recently that her two favorite things are: a) pretending to be shy towards everyone, bowing her head while peeking at them and smiling away, and b) sticking out her tongue and licking herself and others. For some reason Stella and her got on a kick of pretending they were cats and licking their hands. Evy thinks it's hilarious, and, frankly, it kind of is. I'm sure that some in the medical community would frown upon licking oneself and others while in a hospital setting, but what do they know?

8.8.10

[DADA POSTING]

Friday night at around 8, Evy went in to have her broken line removed. She was exhausted, but for a while before hand she was in a great mood, lying on the bed and playing. It took a little while to get into surgery, but she was tired enough that she just sat on my lap looking around. The procedure only takes about 15 minutes, but then it took an hour or so for her to be awake enough to go back to her room. She was on ketamine, so she was pretty dopey and looked completely stoned. She fell asleep quickly, and just had a bit of trouble in the middle of the night when her site was sore.

Yesterday was good, and the girls had a great time playing together. I'll post some pictures later, and you can see the Lawrence of Arabia style hat that we fashioned for Evy out of a hospital gown so that we could go out on the kids' patio. She was pretty tired by the time mama and Stella left, and was not too pleased when the lady had to come and do a finger stick for some blood. She has the IV line in her hand, but IV's can be tricky, in that if you use them too much for drawing blood then they can fail, which means more sticks. So the alternative means getting blood some other way, such as with a finger prick. It's really rough not having a central line for instant pain-free access to blood.

After a nap we took an evening bath, trying to keep all the parts of her dry that need to be dry. Then we were off to bed. Dada was planning on staying up and doing the blog and pics, but he dozed off. The night went well, and Evy got some sleep. That interrupted at 5 AM when they needed more blood. This time it was an arm stick, which we obviously did not care for. After a little more sleep we were up and in a pretty good mood. We took lots of laps in the wagon around the hall, with a bear from the nurses' station that sings this kinda creepy "Smile" song that sounds like it's from the 50's and sung by a kid. After it being on repeat for about 50 times, I felt like I was in a horror movie and it was some demented toy that was stalking me. That's what the hospital does to you, I guess.

As we stand now, Evy's counts are up a seem to be staying there. It will be another day before all the bacteria results are back, but either way, we should be heading home Tuesday, either in the clear or with antibiotics to keep taking. We're getting a new central line placed tomorrow morning, and then will need some time to recover and make sure Evy is stable before they send us home. If we get out after 5 days, that's pretty good. She hasn't been herself here completely, and is a little more clingy and not interested in running around. She keeps demanding that we walk the hallways with me carrying her, which gets heavy and old quite quickly. Dada got a bit grouchy about this last night, and voiced his complaint but kept walking. Then, Evy leaned forward so she could look me in the eye, raised her eyebrows and asked: "happy?" I reluctantly said I was, and she asked once more, nodding: "happy?" Then she had me, so I was smiling and I said: "yes, happy." To which she smiled and replied: "good."

So we all have to put up with some annoyances here, but we're trying to keep it together. To top it all off, Stella slept in this morning until 9, so mama owes me a few!

Thanks to everyone for all the good thoughts and encouragement, they really help!

8.6.10: A Long Day (and it's only 3:45...)

[DADA POSTING]

So today started out with some crankiness, mainly from our sleep schedules being thrown off. But we walked around a bit, and by late morning had fallen asleep. Shortly after Mama and Stella arrived, the nurse went in to give Evy some meds through her central line. Mama was in the room, and Stella and I were doing more speed laps with Jade. Then, we noticed the emergency light flashing above our room, and figured that Evy had pulled the cord out of the wall by accident and triggered it. No such luck. As we went in, we found the nurse applying pressure to her central line which had sprung a leak and had blood flowing out. (for those who haven't seen her line, it's a little rubber tube that comes out of the middle of her chest, and then splits into two parts. The leak was just above the fork in the lines)

Since the emergency line got pulled, lots of people came in with sterile clamps and gauze to lock off the line. As it runs straight into her blood stream, any opening is a major infection hazard. While this was going on, we had to hold Evy down, and she was not pleased to have been awoken prematurely from her nap like this. Part way through I had to suction her out (which she hates), and a minute later she threw up her afternoon feed all over herself, the bed, and Mama. The nurses were great, and took their time to make sure Evy was OK and that the line was locked down properly.

I know that a few hours previously, I was moving her pole and the lines snagged. Nothing appeared amiss, but maybe the pressure of the injection pushed it over. Or maybe we were just due, since this line had been in so long, which the nurses assured me (even if it was to make me feel less guilty about snagging her). The funny thing is that I was just talking a day or two ago with another parent about how lucky we had been not to have anything happen to the central line, after hearing about Evy's AT/RT twin buddy Declan having had his line break just a couple of days ago. We knew that they were able to patch Declan's line up, so we were hoping that they could put a new extension on Evy's and we'd be back in action.

So the central line specialist comes up, and we head into the treatment room for the patch job. The lady was a bit nutty, and kept ordering everyone around in a nice but mildly motherly way. And she talked to herself through the whole thing. But I digress. Alas, she tried twice over about 30 minutes, but could not get a solid connection. She thought it was probably due to the age of the line and that it was just wearing out. Of course, through the whole thing Evy was being pinned down, screaming and exhausted. The lady cleaned everything up, and I was able to hold Evy for a few minutes, before the IV team came in. Because she needs to have a working connection to her blood stream, she now needed to get stuck. In the past, she has had very stubborn veins, and we've been through major traumatic sessions of sticking and resticking her in order to try and get a decent vein.

Luckily, today was different, and the IV nurses got a great connection on the first try. We headed back to the room, with Evy barely able to keep her eyes open. She got some cuddling in with mama while Stella and I hit the play room and patio. Just to let you know the kind of thing cancer sibs pick up on: when Stella and I were playing, she dropped her straw, and I told her it had to go in the trash, she looked at me and said: "germs on it".

Mama and Stella headed home, even though Stella wanted to stay. She even looked at me at one point and said: "me sick," I think hoping to extend her stay. I guess it is nice, if you take away all the sickness, needles, nausea, etc. Evy is having a bit of a nap, and in a couple hours we'll be heading to a room in order to have Evy's central line removed. You would think that pulling a tube out of the major vein in your chest would be complicated, involving internal bleeding, etc. But last time she had one taken out, the doctor snipped the stitch, pulled out the tube, and stuck a piece of gauze over the hole. I looked at him and asked: "that's it?!" Yep, that's it. Apparently the body will patch up the little internal hole quickly enough.

On Monday sometime she'll get another central line placed, which will be more of an ordeal, with sedation, etc. It's always so hard to look at her when she's going through this stuff and try and soothe her. She is just wiped out and feeling like crap, and there's not a whole lot we can do about it.

We're still waiting on the bacteria cultures to grow, so that we know if it was a false positive or not. But a couple more days minimum for her counts to come back up, to get a new line, no more fevers (she had one overnight, which will always push the clock back a day or so), etc.

Just hoping tonight goes well for her...

8.5.10: Back in the saddle--er, hospital--again

[DADA POSTING]

Well, it hadn't been since January that we were inpatient here at Fairfax, but last night Evy spiked a fever. She had been tired and congested for a couple of days, and her nausea wasn't going away. We were hoping it was just the cumulative effects of the chemo, but at around 10 PM she was warm, and so we made the call and loaded her into the car. We were right back in the swing of things, packing what we needed, getting her food together, finding the phone charger, etc., just like old times. It was just like riding a bike, except way less fun. Let's say it was just like riding a bike without a seat.

We hit the ER around midnight (cause that's when all the really interesting cases start coming into the ER; you know, the kind where their clothes end up at the lab being processed by people like me...), and got some antibiotics going. It wasn't until 3 AM that were up on the oncology ward and settled in. Of course, several different people had stopped by to prod and poke and ask the same questions, and then the cycle started again at 7 AM. Great. Needless to say, Evy was NOT happy. She was exhausted, gagging on phlegm (ewwww), and feeling all around icky. She finally got some of the heavier anti-nausea drugs, and managed to take a good nap after mama and Stella came to visit.

Stella had a great time; the hallway here is a big loop and there's lots of big wheels, push cars, etc., to go rocketing around on. She and our chemo-friend Jade took many loops, and Stella was crying when it was time to go.

The initial diagnosis was that Evy has an infection in one her lumens (the two parts that go into her central line into her vein). There's a chance that there was some kind of contamination, and so the nurse is drawing some new cultures as I type. I guess there's a chance it was a false positive (which they would assume in a healthier kid), but since her counts are heading toward zero, they can't take a chance. Best case, we'll get a few days of antibiotics as her counts head upwards, and then head home. Worst case, she'll need 10-14 days of antibiotics. Ugh. But, if she does, we may be able to do some of them at home once her counts come up and she's stable. It's tricky when she has no immune action going on, since even her body's own bacteria can end up infecting her line and her blood.

For now, she's sleeping, which is much needed. Hopefully she can keep her food down tonight, and not wake herself up choking up gunk, which also led to a few seconds of wheezing/labored breathing earlier. It was a bit scary (similar to Christmas night), but after a second or two she was back on track. Basically, her airway was clogged with gunk, and she just had to work for a moment to clear it out. We now have the suction machine on stand by, to help her out. She doesn't really understand the whole idea of coughing it up and spitting it out. I keep demonstrating for her, and now the floor in our room is a mess! Oh well, that's what's housekeeping is for. [kidding, folks]

We'll keep everyone updated, and let you know how she's doing. Now I have to go and try and explain again to the food service people what "vegan" means. But at least they're willing to bring me a parent tray; in Boston, you could only get one if you were breastfeeding. My nipples still haven't recovered, just ask Stella. Seriously, can i get through one post here without mentioning my nipples?

Goodnight!