|
09 March 2009
MICHAEL LAWS
LUCY'S DADDY
UPDATE
ON LUCY – Sunday, 9 March
My last posting noted that
sometimes we forget that
Lucy has leukaemia.
No such observation this week: Lucy
is neutropenic again (no immunity) and is on a course of
steroids to help rebuild
her strength.
As well her white blood cell count
is right down, and she is pale and weepy. As Leo says: “we’re
not out of the woods yet”. Children who get relapses
have survival rates of less than 50%.
Her daily chemo doses
have got stronger in the past month, and that may have
something to do with it. But she does
not have the same strength or persistence as her younger,
two year old sister Zoe and nor, sometimes, the same strength.
Although, dear God, she is prodigiously articulate and
assertive. No matter how badly behaved she gets under the
steroid regime, there are a multitude of opportunities
for laughter. This morning I was told that she was “keeping
my eye on you, buster” after I had mistakenly mixed
a juice drink without her favourite apple juice.
The girls
are still sleeping with me: while Mum looks after baby
Theo. Baby? Five months but the size of a 15 month
old … a very cruisy, happy boy who adores/and is
adored by Lucy. Unfortunately, we had inoculations this
week for both Theo and Zoe and both reacted badly. It’s
taken 72 hours to get them comfortable again, and both
our youngest have painful swelling where the needle has
been. It’s getting better, but slowly.
Apart from
that we had the drama of the drongo who smashed one of
our front windows: a very brave individual who threw
a rock at Ella’s bedroom at five in the morning.
The big controversy here is the letter ‘h’ issue – and
I’m amazed at the ignorance and false passion that
fuels the debate.
The little girls took it all in their
stride and treated the incident and subsequent Police
visit as something of an adventure. And that’s about it.
Noah has started the guitar so I’ve gifted him his
first – the strategy
being that he will become a future rock god and keep his
stepfather in grateful luxury. Ella is preparing for her
trip to Poland and Israel and Leo is keeping extra busy
with Plunket. One day … one day, we’ll have
a holiday. But not this year.
Best wishes
Michael Laws |
