Happy New Year: Day -10

Today was a really good day for miss Tessa. She woke up bright and early and insisted that I pry myself off my fold out couch. Somehow I managed to peel my eyes open and blink away the haze. Casey showed up with two extra large coffees (love my honey). Tessa and I opened a couple of gifts from our friends, I think my gift was kinda the better of the two and wore it around the hospital all morning, but Tessa disagreed and thought her playdoh was awesome.

I got to go out for a walk in the morning. The hope is that this will be a daily occurence in a preventative mental health maintenance plan (of course allowing for the unstable nature of my normal frame of mind). Saw this beautiful knot in this tree on my walk that reminded me of the power that love can have, and how grateful I am for all of the amazing people around the world sending prayers and love to Tessa.

Nana and Poppie came up from Carmel and hung out with Tessa, making the babies talk the way only they can. Tessa was thrilled to be so well entertained! They played with her new playdoh, chatted and had a generally splendid time.

We wasted away the late afternoon on Facebook with the lovely Haley and Alyssa (beautiful, talented and funny cousins whom Tessa adores-when it comes to cousins she has the best!). They made the babies talk (always a favorite) and talked and entertained her for a good 45 minutes! Amazing girls. There are few things in this world (aside from her babies) that make Tessa happier than spending time with her family. 

On a more medical note... Tessa's hemoglobin levels dropped a whole point from 10.3 yesterday to 9.3 today. She is still totally in the safe zone, but that is a pretty big drop for her in just 24 hours. She was started on anti-seizure meds today to target a side effect from the chemo, as well as two anti-nausea meds fro the same reason. Tomorrow is a big day, first dose of chemo. She'll be starting with several days of Busolfan as part of her pre-conditioning program. Don't know how quickly the side effects will start to show up, but probably not too many more days of these beautiful smiles. 

Keep the prayers coming!