No Fever, but...

we've got a cold and an awful rash. See, I've got to start with the optimistic first. We're not really worried b/c she doesn't have a fever, but the rash is little red bumps all over her entire body. The funny thing is that it bothers me more than it does her. The doctors asked if she was itching...well, no, but she's a baby, and she doesn't itch anything, not even bug bites. So this afternoon when it looked like it was spreading, brighter red and even more raised, the nurse agreed we should call the resident. She ordered some benedryl, so hopefully that will do a double duty tonight...help the rash and get her a good night of sleep! I just can't even describe how awful her skin looks. When I bathed her I just felt awful for her, b/c if it were me I think it would be extremely painful. Sometimes I wish I were as tough as her! The resident doctor did tell me tonight that the chemo makes her skin more sensitive. I wish they would have come out and told me that a week ago when I first began to notice a rash! So now I'm going to try and wash all of her clothing and bedding in baby detergent. Hopefully it is gentle enough to help get this cleared up!

As for this week, we're just trying to keep her loaded with fluids. If we get her to drink enough during the day, they don't have to put her on fluids at night, which means they won't be bugging her (or me) in the middle of the night. She started a zinc supplement yesterday. The nutritionist noticed it was low and that is very common for children with Down syndrome. The doctor said that that she didn't mind either way whether we added a supplement, but the resident explained that one side effect of having low zinc would be that it is more difficult for her body to recover if she has an open wound...I think that's what he said, something about an open wound...but anyways we know she's constantly falling so we decided giving her the supplement really can't hurt! She also started a mouth paste. It's bubble gum flavored and we use a swab to wipe it all along her cheeks, gums, roof of her mouth and her tongue. It's used for mouth sores. I suspect she has some in the back of her tongue, but we're not sure, so at the very least we'll use this as a preventative measure. We'll draw labs on Thursday morning and hopefully we'll be able to tell if she's "bottomed out" yet. The sooner she bottoms out, the sooner her numbers will go back up and we can go home! On Friday we've got another bone marrow biopsy which will require a sedative and once again they'll take the marrow from her hip bone (which actually is on her bottom).

We had a few visitors tonight and Chelsea and I were just loving it! Thanks to Micah and her mom for visiting and bringing us such special gifts from our amazing friends online! We got more pictures, some onesies from Mina, and the most unique hand made gifts from Becky! I'm going to hang the pictures and hopefully I can take some pictures to share. (A special thanks for that chili!!! Micah I know where you get your cooking skills now, it was soooo yummy!) I have to also thank all my friends at Hillcrest. Do you know how much I miss you!!!??? I don't think I could ever get a job with a greater group of people, thank you all for your generous gifts. I promise as soon as Chelsea gets over this bump we'll come visit you at school and Chelsea will be running the halls waving to you all like she does the nurses here!