Getting the head shaving party started

Thanks to those of you who commiserated with our insurance woes. I think our friend George said it best: "If our insurance industry would stop spending a large fraction of our premiums figuring out how not to provide coverage, we'd not have these problems."
AMEN, George! If I get up the energy and this continues to enrage me as it does, I can guarantee that I will be contacting my legislators to tell my story.
As I left for work this morning, Charlotte was all about Daddy! She woke up with a poopie diaper and only daddy could fix it (I was really sad about that, let me tell you). She is hopefully going to stop by a Romp n' Roll birthday party this afternoon for one of her friends and one of our best customers! It will be her first experience in a "structured" time at RnR. We'll see how it goes.
Roger was an exceptional parent last night. She has decided that she doesn't like the taste of her antibiotic. They tried to flavor it but this is one of those where the flavoring doesn't really work. She has been fighting taking it for the last few days. Anyway, Daddy's great idea last night was to fill another syringe with milk (the medicine is thick and white) and he took the "medicine" right alongside Charlotte. Genius! He also stayed up with her (she had a long early evening nap so she was up late) so I could get some sleep so THANKS, Rog!
Thanks for all the ideas about what to do regarding Charlotte's hair loss. We have been thinking about a few ideas. Definitely going to try to do something with the head shaving idea but no concrete plans yet. Also, someone came up with what I think is a GREAT idea for Charlotte once she starts to lose her hair. We are going to plan a hat/scarf shower for her, possibly after this first round of chemotherapy. I think it will be a fun dress up tea party for some of her friends and we'll probably have it at Romp n' Roll. Of course, adults will be welcome but I think this might be a fun way to get some of the kids involved as well. The purpose will be to "shower" her with fun and creative hats, scarves, and other headwear that she can use once she loses those curly locks. We'll see how that goes since she's never really been a "hat" kid. That may change once she doesn't have any hair to keep her head warm! We'll let you know when we set a date.
I'm off to teach classes and run some birthday parties. Don't forget that Spring session starts March 9th at Romp n' Roll! (That was my shameless commercial plug) Enjoy the weekend.
Rachel

More PT/OT

The newborn analogy keeps coming back but it's like she's developing at an accelerated pace.Last night, Charlotte didn't want to go to bed but we knew she had an 8:00am therapy appointment so she HAD to go to bed at a decent time. The drama was intense and very typical. She screamed and cried saying she wanted to watch something, she wasn' tired, she wanted to get out of bed...yadda yadda yadda. She tried the "My head hurts" gambit but we countered with a well timed dosage of Tylenol so her argument was nullified. (sounds like results of a debate team competition)So anyway, she huffed and puffed and made us both go away so she could scream in private and low and behold, she drifted off to sleep.She got up fine this morning and walked to the door (after walking into my arms for a big hug) to go to her therapy session.People keep asking us if we'll ever have another baby. It seems we already have. The same one twice.Note to Devon: Her Sarah Lawrence sweatshirt you gave her is now her outerwear of choice (demand) whenever she goes anywhere. Kind of a lovie you can wear.IDEA!!! I would like to make the hair-loss thing a little more "fun" for Charlotte so I was thinking we could have a party where some brave volunteers come forward to have their heads shaved. We could even do some kind of contest where the winner gets (now THIS is funny) a free haircut. I'll bet the haircut place a couple doors down would get involved. This wouldn't be until after she loses her hair...maybe the end of March? April. All depends on how CJ feels.Anyone wanna spearhead something like that?Gotta go do RNR2Go at Primrose

We had an early morning, as Roger mentioned, but she didn't fight getting up too badly. Her therapy session went well and she worked HARD. They are having trouble scheduling our PT and OT together since they are trying to get us in as much as possible on very short notice, but her PT had a last minute cancellation at 8 AM this morning so the OT and PT co-treated! Gotta love the interdisciplinary model!
They had her working on her hands and knees on a puzzle (requires extra balance and strength), working over a bolster, standing and sitting on a platform swing, walking, and (of course..her favorite) riding that trike. She also worked on using that left hand. We had to seriously hold down the right but she did it with only a few tears and whines.
She had a somewhat relaxing morning after that with some movies but we got up and walked before and after lunch.
When Roger got home, we changed her dressing on her central line. She didn't like that much but a necessary evil, I guess. After that, I left them to their devices and scuttled off to work. (Shhh...don't tell my boss I'm writing this while on the clock!).
She has a speech eval this afternoon and then we go see Dr. Tye at MCV tomorrow for a follow up.
I love the "Easter Egg" idea someone proposed about shaving heads and losing hair. I'm still not sure if I'm up for that but I know we've already had a few people volunteer their scalps! I guess my child who never really liked having her hair combed let alone having it "styled" with barettes or bows will somehow get a reprieve from the hair routine...gonna miss those curly curls, though!
Gotta go get some work done. It's quiet in Open Gym right now but we're hoping our Parent's Seminar tonight at 5:30 will be busy (Kid's Health and Obesity...come on out!)
Rachel