We had planned to go to Mt Gambier to spend Christmas and Isla’s 1st Birthday with family. However, since we didn’t really know whether the IAC would affect her immunity, we had blood tests done in Adelaide to monitor her white blood cell count (immunity cells).
Isla got her first cold during this time and had a fever for the first time. This was quite scary, because the hospital always stressed the danger of a fever during chemo and we knew to call or bring her in if she had a high temperature (as she may not be able to fight it herself). However, at this stage we didn’t really know what her white cells were up to and didn’t know whether we needed to be concerned about a fever or not. I called the Women’s and Children’s Hospital in Adelaide to be safe, but they didn’t really know anything about IAC or it’s side effects, so it was quite stressful.
Isla’s white blood cells did drop a little, but she was still in the safe zone. We had a second lot of blood tests and we were going to decide whether or not to go to Mt Gambier following the result of this test. It all became a bit too rushed and stressful with her getting sick, so we decided we were just going to stay put and lay low for Christmas, whether her second lot of bloods were ok or not. We ended up having a lovely Christmas at home, just the three of us, and it was really nice and relaxing. To top it off, Isla started walking on Boxing Day!
Isla turned 1 in December. Unfortunately her birthday party in Mt Gambier was cancelled, but we had also planned to have a little party at home on the 29th if her bloods were ok. We had a third blood test on the 28th, as we didn’t want to risk having her around a lot of people and children if she had low immunity. We only got the go ahead the afternoon before her party, so planning a 1st Birthday in a couple hours wasn’t ideal, but we had a lovely day. Isla enjoyed her party and got VERY SPOILT!
© Alison Davey 2021