I am 3

Victoria is three years old! Well, really, if you are counting, she is three years and seven days. This blog post is a week overdue! On December 31st she celebrated her third birthday. Still on a high from her passes out of the hospital and a few visits from Nanna and Gramps, we got her out on another four hour pass to celebrate with her.

My parents came to the hospital and we had a little birthday party for her in the Sen's Den at CHEO. She proudly showed off her "I am 3" shirt, opened more presents and blew out her candles on her sock monkey themed cupcakes. After her afternoon nap we took her out on a pass to continue the celebration with Jeff's family at Tina and Randy's, not far from the hospital. Once again, she was reunited with Jake and couldn't have been happier. More gifts and cupcakes followed. She has been spoiled and with everyone coming to visit her at different times for both Christmas and her birthday there has been a steady influx of gifts. Hopefully her expectation for presents wears off soon.

Medically, Victoria has been doing very well. There hasn't been much going on. She gets her antibiotics several times per day, various other medications and her chemotherapies depending on the day. The only issue was that last Thursday she had a severe allergic reaction to a chemotherapy drug. This particular drug is known to be more allergenic than others. The first time it was administered, the nurse brought in a anaphalactic kit and watched her the whole time it was running. Everything went well. The thing is, you usually don't developed an allergy until after at least one exposure. This second time, within seconds of starting the IV, her face swelled severely and she immediately vomited and started crying. Thankfully, it was noticed right away and she was fine. She had to take benedryll for the next 24 hours but was otherwise fine. There is an alternative chemo but it is a series of injections 3 times a week. The hospital pharmacy didn't have any on hand so we are still waiting for her to get those.   The good news is that we are coming up to the 6 week mark of being on the main antibiotic. On Friday she will be having a repeat CT scan of her lungs and if it looks good we might be taking her home on Monday. Fingers crossed!

Victoria has also recently changed her tune about being in the hospital. Since Saturday she has been asking to go home. I'm taking this as a good sign, one that she is feeling better and starting to feel the cabin fever of being in the hospital every night since November 28th. Perhaps these few passes out have also reminded her that there is still a whole world out there beyond the walls of CHEO.