Gemma visited for 3 days last week and Mia’s blood levels were still to low to start her treatment so she got to enjoy another week at home.  Gemma and I took Harvey and Mia to the arcade, something which Harvey will always list as one of his favourite places to go.  We didn’t win any pennies that didn’t get put straight back in the slot machines but the kids really enjoyed themselves.  On Tuesday when Mia was in nursery Scott and I took Gemma to a 2nd hand bike shop where she got a very dusty/grubby bike for just £20 and over the afternoon Scott turned it into a very sleek and clean bicycle with the help of a couple of new wheels and lots of scrubbing and oiling.  It was a really exciting project and Mia and Harvey insisted that they needed bikes cleaning too!!! (more news to follow)

On tuesday afternoon I gave blood for the first time in 7 years and I will do it again every 4 months from now on, it was easy and relatively painless.  It was great that Mia saw lots of people donating blood and we talked about how important it is that people do this for children like her who need to be given blood to help them get better.  Because Mia has recieved blood transfusions and knowing how much difference donated blood can make to a person with a life threatening illness, I felt very proud of myself for being able to make that differnece for another person.  Please find out more about becoming a blood donor.

On Wednesday Gemma and I took Mia out to lunch and to a play park where we enjoyed the sunshine and the swings!

Mia continued to be well, and her blood results on Thursday showed some improvement with neutrophils of 0.2, not good enough yet but definately on the up!

Mia’s blood results from yesterday revealed that she still has no neutrophils (0.0) so she will not be starting her intensification this week!  We will recheck her levels again on Thursday and hopefully her treatment will be able to go ahead next week.  The delay is a little bitter sweet because on the one hand she is well so we are enjoying a bit of normal time but on the other hand we are all anxious for her neutrophils to come up so that she doesn’t become unwell and we can get his next block of treatment underway. 

Auntie Gemma is staying with us for a few days this week and Mia and Harvey have made lots of plans for activities including making cakes, going to the arcade, trampolining etc so we will definately keep busy. 

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Hello all,

We had a fab time at Chessington this weekend, the weather was really good to us and all the children were really well behaved so the whole weekend went really smoothly.  We travelled at lunch time on Friday and met up with Sharon and Philip, and their children Daniel and Maisie at the Holiday Inn Hotel where we had excellent rooms opposite each other and right at the end of a corridor (which became a race track for the kids!).  The hotel is excellent, it has a large bar (always important) a restaurant and most importantly a swimming pool.  We went for a swim before having diner in the restaurant then by 10pm we were all tucked up in our beds excited about our trip to the Chessington World of Adventures on Saturday.  The children all slept well and after another quick swim in the morning we set off for a busy day riding roller-coasters and eating junk.  Auntie Gemma and Daniel and Maisies Auntie Laura and boyfriend Sam added to the excitement by joining us for our funfilled day out.  Mia’s favourite ride was Berry Bouncers and Bubble Works and Harvey loved the Dragons Fury (spinning roller-coaster) he is a complete dare devil.  Everybody got to go on everything they wanted to and at 5.55 (the park closed at 6pm) Harvey came up with the idea of a last minute trip into the Sealife enclosure which ended the day really well, it was a  good exhibition in a very calming environment which made it the perfect way to end a busy day.  We returned to the hotel for diner on the terrace and were once again all in bed by 9pm after such a long and exciting day.  On Sunday morning there was time for one last swim before checking out andheading for home.  It was so lovely to spend time in the pool where the children were all very happy, Mia even managed to master a forward and backwards roll in the shallow water which is pretty impressive for a 3 and a 1/2 year old and she was really pleased with herself.

On Monday Mia’s blood results shocked us all because despite nearly a week off of her maintenance chemotherapy in preparation for her 2nd delayed intensification treatment she had once again become neutropenic (0.5).  Her treatment was therefor  postponed till Friday but her blood results today were worse, her neutrophils are down to 0.1!  The plan is to re-check her bloods on Monday with a view to commencing the delayed intensification treatment on Tuesday so we are hoping that her bone marrow gets producing some neutrophils over the weekend and she doesn’t get an infection.  Despite her blood results Mia continues to look really well …

It has been half term here so we have all been very busy!   We have had a few beach days, lots of scooting, play park visits, swimming and Harvey and Scott have had their first fishing trip of the year (no catch). 

Mia’s nursery stays open during school holidays so she has still been going in and has been involved in lots of Easter activities.  On Thursday last week she made Hot Cross Buns and Hellena one of her teachers taught her an Easter joke:  What do you get if you pour hot water down a rabbit hole?  Hot Cross Bunnies.  Mia responded by sharing her own favourite joke, What bee’s make milk?  Boobies.  She had to retell it to all the staff who thought it was a very good joke, I had to confess when I collected her that it was actually one of Harvey’s jokes, but one that I love because it reminds small children what boobies are for whilst making them laugh. 

Mia’s blood levels had dropped quite alot on Thursday and she was neutropenic again, however by Monday her neutrophils were back up to 1.7 so it was only a quick dip and she didn’t become unwell over Easter weekend which was great.  The Easter bunny visited and Harvey and Mia spent most of the day eating chocolate, painting eggs and making Easter biscuits… then we went out for a scoot along the seafront (again)! 

On Monday the weather was beautiful and we went out to Robin Hill Country Park for the day, it was the first time we had visited since the Bestival in September last year which is when we realised that something was not quite right with Mia and she was subsequently diagnosed on the Tuesday after!  We went with Sam, James Henry and Bella and had a fantastic day out.  Scott remembered to bring some more chocolate eggs so we had a good giggle throwing eggs down a big hill and getting the kids to catch them at the bottom. 

Tomorrow we are off to Chessington for the weekend, meeting up with friends from Wales, saying in a hotel for 2 nights and going to Chessington World of Adventures….  We are very excited!

I can’t believe that another week has passed, time is flying and I’m sure it is because Mia is so well and the focus has been on normal daily routines.  Mia is enjoying nursery (as always), she has been to a swimming lesson this week, we’ve been to playgroup and we have spent many hours out enjoying the early summer sunshine.  It has been a really good week!!  Mia has been sleeping so well over the last few weeks and is beginning to play by herself again which is such a good sign, we have noticed that when she is not feeling well she needs constant adult attention and feels too unsettled to “potter” around by herself.  This morning when I was getting dressed I could hear Mia in her room playing with her dolls and flinging “Flying Froggies” around, she was giggling and chatting and it felt so good to hear.  It has been so rare to get these moments since Mia was diagnosed with Leukaemia because each time she builds up her confidence again she seems to get unwell or starts more treatment which sets her back, I will relish it over the next few weeks because once again when her next intensification begins on April 21st she will most likely become clingy.

I promised some scootering pictures before we went on our holiday and have gone one better with a (click to see) mini movie.  The story behind the scooter is that Nana (my Mum) bought Mia her Mini Micro Scooter for her 3rd birthday but she was in Southampton Hospital having just been diagnosed so we were going to give it to her when we got home little did we realise that the initial treatment would make her so weak, she was not walking for over a month and I thought it would be a very long time before she would be out scooting with Harv.  However on New Years day when we went out for a walk Harvey decided to take his scooter and Mia asked if we could get her one, she was amazed when I went out to the shed and returned with a brand new pink scooter, just like Harvey’s.  We went out and Mia struggled to co-ordinate herself and got quite frustrated that she was too weak to really get the hang of it, after a few months rest in the shed again the scooter made a reappearance at the end of February and this time Mia loved it and really got the hang of speeding along.  It is now her most favourite past time and Harvey and her will often be speeding up and down the path on our road or scooting the 1mile of seafront in Ryde.