Jul 29, 2016 1027pm

Despite a 6+ hour drive home on Thursday, I’m happy to say the Oakland trip went as smoothly as we could have hoped. Despite some traffic Wednesday morning, we made it to Oakland Children’s Hospital about 830am. The initial checkup was fine, Maya was as strong and calm as could be with no crying during her port access (3/4″ needle to the chest) for the 7th time in a row! Sara and I got all our questions answered to our satisfaction through the day, and all went very close to the schedule we had planned on.

Maya’s LP at 10am was uneventful, and she woke up calm and hungry. We shared a room with our new friend Bella and her family for one night and visited with some old friends around the 5th floor–Maya made quite an impact on a fairly long list of people there during her initial stay, and it was nice to catch up. Special thanks to Bella’s family for sharing space, and a special shout out to Stella and her mom, Jessica, who we met as we all explored on Wednesday–strong, calm, and patient, you’ll be in our thoughts and prayers for consistent improvement.

The OCH staff was gracious enough to get us checked out in the early afternoon. As we wrapped things up, Sara and I were given our final, practical exam on chemo infusion, IV flushing, and port deaccessing–Friday, Saturday, and next week we’ll be taking care of in-home chemo treatments and needle removal. Below you’ll see a picture of our first such undertaking–Maya’s face is priceless… exactly the look you should have on your face just before your parents give you a chemo infusion!

We’re so thankful to be blessed with a professional, caring medical team at OCH and the Reno Clinic. And we’re forever grateful for family, friends, and community who create the supportive environment that allows our little family to persevere.

Thank you.