Wonderful Weekend and our new journey.......

We wanted to make sure that Bella had a great weekend before she started her Methotrexate (chemotherapy) because we were not sure which side effects she would get from it.
Friday night she got to go visit her friend Emilia, who is in the hospital recovering from a surgery she had to remove cancer in her leg. Emilia was diagnosed over the summer with Ewing's Sarcoma, a rare bone cancer. So, it really meant a lot to Bella to finally get to see her because she has been in the hospital for a couple of weeks now and wasn't well enough to have visitors. Keep on fighting Emilia, we are thinking of you everyday, and can't wait until you come back home!!!! <3<3<3

Saturday we had a relaxing start to our day and then we went to root on her friend, Anthony at his final baseball game of the season. In the last inning he hit a double which was really awesome to see his excitement. Bella thinks he will be a famous baseball player when he grows up.


 

Anthony & Bella

 Later that evening we got to spend time with friends/family carving pumpkins and sitting by a bonfire. Which was a great distraction for all of us.

Sunday, Bella got to participate in her friend Noelle's walk for Diabetes and go to Hershey Park with a bunch of her friends that also did the walk with Noelle. Bella's friend Noelle was just diagnosed this past year with Type 1 Diabetes and has worked hard at raising almost $11,000 to help fund research for Diabetes. AWESOME job Noelle, we are so proud of you!!!!!

 

So after a weekend full of fun we had to slide back into reality and begin our next step in our journey with her Juvenile Arthritis and Psoriasis. We had to begin our first round of Methotrexate (chemo drug). As soon as we pulled up to our house Bella was in tears telling me she was wanted to go hang out with her friends more and it wasn't fair that we had to come home. I really knew that Bella was nervous about beginning her new medicine (we all were quite nervous to be honest) and she even tried to convince me to post-pone her first dose. NO CAN DO, Miss Bella.

She took her 5 pills like a champ and asked to go hang out at her friend Anthony's house for a bit before bedtime, how could I say no!?!?! =) We also noticed a new rash developed yesterday on Bella's legs and stomach. More than likely it is the Psoriasis.

So, how will the chemotherapy effect Bella????.......the question that had me awake numerous times last night and even got Bella a special bed in Mom & Dad's room so that we could keep a watchful eye over her. It is almost lunch time and Bella is sound asleep beside me snuggled up to one of our dogs. Her complaints are stomach ache, headache, fatigue, and hot/cold flashes. These are all normal side effects to the medicine. She has changed her outfit three times already this AM to adapt to the changing body temperatures, took a hot bath, and turned on/off the fan. We were told to expect this and a few other side effects. The thing is with this type of medicine, no one reacts exactly the same so we had to wait to see how her body will react. She is also in a lot of pain today from all the walking she did yesterday, which reminds us why Methotrexate is needed.

I have planned my day to hang at home to work on the upcoming classroom Halloween parties, get last minute details worked out for our Helping Hands for Emilia 5K this weekend, and begin planning my holiday open house for my own business.

Bella has just woke up and asked me to paint her nails......so I need to go pamper my princess. Thanks for checking in on Bella! <3