Thursday, August 13, 2020

Last Week of Chemo

Well, we have finally reached our final week of chemo. What a long journey this has been since the start of it, December 20.  We are going to miss all the staff in the hospital, the wonderful nurses, the massage therapist, the art therapist, the physical therapist and even a yoga teacher who came in and offered me lessons. Alyssa wasn’t into music but we even got a visit from the musician who played the guitar. It is a nice little community here. And to top that, the child life specialist drops by with goodies for Alyssa each time. They get a lot of toy donations so it’s been raining arts and crafts, toys, puzzles and LEGO’s and whatnot.

It’s been nice, but Alyssa will be glad not to have the smell of the hospital anytime soon. This is a huge accomplishment for her to stick it through to the end.

School starts the following week, and it will be busy for her but it is a relief knowing she will resume a somewhat normal life again. Soon to be gone are the 12-hour days of sleep and hours of playing Fortnite with Dad, nonstop. 

I have tracked a list of side effects from chemo and just so glad that things will normalize up. Alyssa will start eating more once her appetite returns, her hair will grow back, she won’t be neutropenic anymore meaning she won’t have food restrictions such eating only low-bacteria foods. Her body will heal quicker too, with chemo out of the way.

We are proud of our little girl’s courage and strength and look forward to putting this behind her, as the year she will never forget.