3/31

Well, I am amazed at Alyona's strength.  We could all learn from her.  Today she got a stuffed dog as a gift from her teacher Mrs. Woods.  As we were getting ready to leave for the hospital she says, "Mom, I thought of a name for my dog." I said, "What?"  Aly says, "Hope."
The more we all think about and hear about what her body has not been doing lately, we don't know how she has been able to function the way she has.  The tests they've taken in the past days show her glucose (blood sugar) being very low and her sodium levels being very high.  They said her thyroid hasn't been functioning properly and her hormone levels are off.  Not to mention the vision loss.
Aly made it through her surgeries just fine today.  All went well.  She brought her favorite monkey with her.  It is a little one (same size as a beanie baby).  Its name is Tiny.  Tiny got a hospital bracelet just like Aly.  They gave Aly some baby booties that were way too big for Tiny, so they suggested to make a hat out of one, so Tiny has blue bootie hat.  They also gave Tiny a little oxygen mask like Aly had to breathe into for the anesthetic that put her to sleep before the surgery.  Aly thought that was all great!
The semi-permanent central IV is in place up near her right collar bone.  The stomach tube is in and that is the one thing she is upset about.  The tube will be sticking out for about a month and a half.  At that point they will put a "port" on it so it will be flush against her stomach.  She was happy to hear that once that is on she will be able to swim!  We do not have the results of the spinal tap they did yet.  They started the chemotherapy treatment around 6pm.  She will have another dose tomorrow afternoon and then the third on Saturday morning.  They told us if all goes well, she can come home on Saturday evening.