Oh, how I loved today...let me count the ways!

1. I signed the consent form for Clara's Hickman to be surgically removed.  We should hear from General Surgery soon regarding when she is scheduled and are hoping it will be within the next couple of weeks.
2. Her White Blood Cell count continues to be steady.  She is at 4.7.  up from 4.6 last week and in the 2.X range the 3 weeks previous.  Associated with this increase in her labs is her ANC @ 1500 and her lymphocytes which are now in the 2,500 range.  Lymphocytes are the sophisticated stuff that respond to things like immunizations! :-)  We like to see that number so close to the normal range (which I hear begins at 3,000).
3. Her chemistry was all in the normal range and Dr. Kharbanda commented on how great she looked.  Her kidneys have had slightly elevated numbers for a long time.  Nothing they were worried about but were just watching.  Those numbers are now all in the normal range and her low end of normal blood pressure is an example of that.  She is still being supported by high blood pressure meds, but we hope to see those go away soon as well.
4. Her Prograf level was a little bit on the low side but they let us taper her MMF anyway.  She is now getting the lowest amount of MMF ever!  Hopefully, her skin will continue to look good.  We discovered in this past week that the red, raw, itchy, dry skin she was having on her face was actually a result of me putting hydrocortisone on her face.  The stuff I was trying to use to heal her face was actually making it worse!  We switched to Aveeno lotion only, and she looks beautiful!
5. Her weight was up from 7.6kg to 7.7kg!  She had a really skinny point this past week and I added "Duocal" to her oatmeal one morning and to her pasta one afternoon.  It is basically just carbs and fat. But she ate like a champ the next day so I hadn't given her anymore.  Alan and I both noticed the pudge come back in her hands and feet and forearms and cheeks on Sunday, so I was glad the scale confirmed she was doing okay!
6. The ONLY thing that didn't go perfectly today was that her prograf level being on the low side meant they did not decide to change our clinic visit frequency.  If it had been in the target range, we were going to be granted visits only once every TWO WEEKS!  I don't mind once a week so I wasn't too disheartened by this.  All the other progress was so fabulous!
7. On a really fun note: Clara repeated the words "red" and "blue" to me today when I asked her what colors her hospital armbands were.  If two hospital staff hadn't been there to confirm "it was clear as day," I would have thought I had made it up.  She still doesn't say "Mama" but she will say "reyh" and "beu"?  We were not able to get her to do it again this evening for Alan. 
8. Also fun: she is officially walking.  She spent most of the day (after our full morning at the hospital) walking in circles around the couch.  Over and Over and Over and Over again.  Or walking around the living room - switching direction randomly just for the heck of doing it.  It was fabulous to watch her just smile as she would accomplish maneuvering around the room, or stepping on a torn out piece of magazine on purpose and then stepping off of it as she continued on her quest to walk.  She was a bit pissed at us at bedtime because she had been having so much fun going from our room to hers down our miniature "hallway" and opening and closing each door as she would walk in and then out.

Such a happy, big (dare I say, healthy!) girl!