Hi all… We’ve learned that blogging is a bit more ‘work’ then we expected 😊 What we have figured out in the last 10 days, is that this is definitely a marathon and not a sprint.

Since we last talked, our days in Devos ended relatively well.  We had a 40^th Bday party for Aunt Melissa, we were unhooked from our I.V. tube for a good chunk of the last 2 days, and Madelyn got to visit the 10^th floor which is where all of her out-patient visits will take place.  Aunt ‘Issa’ wasn’t overly excited to turn 40 to begin with, so cupcakes and chocolate milk seemed perfect.  A lot of the last few days in Devos consisted of games, movies, slow walks and some nap time in the middle of the day.  With how crazy the first 48 hrs were, both Brad and I couldn’t believe how much and quickly the daily routine changed.  Seeing Madelyn unhooked from the I.V. was truly one of those moments you cherish.  When we finally got her to go for a walk with no I.V., it took maybe 20 feet before she skipped for the first time and you could tell she realized she was ‘free’.  We actually did 3 laps that first walk and the pace was quickly back to her norm and hard to keep up with.

The first morning she woke up without her I.V. connected, mom went to get us our daily coffee’s.  When I got back, Madelyn and dad were sitting in the reclining chair and chit-chatting.  Dad was very excited because he was able to convince Madelyn to get out of ‘the other side of bed’ (remember, no I.V.) and climb up into the recliner and snuggle.  What I learned later on is that the first thing Madelyn told dad in their talks was that she’d like a new puppy.  We’re not quite sure where the comment came from but it seems she wasn’t kidding… We didn’t say yes but how do you tell a sweet little girl who has cancer she can’t have a puppy. We will keep you posted on this. Maybe a good surprise gift down the road. Shhh…

Mostly because of Brad’s work and being in the food industry, going to the grocery story was a weekly / weekend highlight (for him).  As we now have Madelyn with an extreme low immune system for some weeks ahead, we finally went ahead and signed up for the Meijer Shipt service.  Brad quickly warmed up to this and spent most of Friday morning snuggled up with Madelyn coming up with a grocery list.  Who knew, cinnamon rolls, cheese puffs, oreo’s and the lucky charm version with frosted flakes and unicorns combined was all needed… We were told that the daily steroid that Madelyn is on would greatly increase her hunger.  Now being home for a few days, we are starting to see it and meal time is ‘as needed’ at the moment.

On Friday, Madelyn had her 2^nd surgery.  This was much simpler than the first and she only had a spinal tap, chemo into her spinal column and de-access of her port.  For this one she was maybe under for 20 mins.  Madelyn enjoyed the Frozen Band-Aids and mom and dad enjoyed the news that her test showed up again with zero blast cells in the spine / brain.  After Madelyn had her surgery on Friday, we finally convinced her to use the salon style hair wash station and clean her hair.    After 8-9 days now of not being able to wash her hair, I can’t lie it was starting to get a bit matted 😊  Friday check-out at Devos was very simple and a bit anticlimax.  As we’d come to expect with Devos, they had ALL of the paperwork in order and more or less we were free to go right after her surgery.

Home… I think I’ll save my update on how home as been till the next post.  Just know Madelyn is doing well.  Mom and Dad might be missing the nurses to give her the Med’s but overall she’s still hanging in there.