Back Down to Earth

Since returning from Hawaii I feel like a person who had a near death experience and saw heaven
only to be taken back down to earth. It was a hard, cold return back to reality. All of us are still adjusting to normal life again but trying to keep happy Aloha feelings in our hearts with Hawaiian music and our fun Hawaiian bedroom theme. This week our photos from Sweet Delight Photography arrived. They are so beautiful and make us so happy!

It is only Wednesday but it feels like the week should be over already! Daddy took Emma to her chemo appointment on Monday giving her sisters and I a much needed break. Then yesterday we had an exhausting experience I would like to share. Emma and her sisters were in the "Monster Hour" time of the day, that point at the end of a day when kids go nuts with energy but it is too late to throw them outside in the backyard. She was running around the house playing tickle monster with her sisters for about half an hour then came up to me and said her tummy hurt. This has happened before, ever since starting chemo if she runs around she get nauseated. So I bundled her up on the couch with a blanket, her lovey and some apple juice and told her to relax for a little. I went to check on her 15 minutes later and she was warm to the touch, I got the thermometer and sure enough she was running hot. Daddy came home and we continued to monitor. Her fever slowly climbed but she remained happy and ate dinner with seconds and thirds. Then she got so high that she was borderline to take her to the ER based on Oncology protocol. We had to make a choice. The ER is a frightening place for an immune compromised child right now. The local hospital posted on their Facebook the other day that they are receiving 400 cases of the flu a day! Plus the Measles made it's way into our area. We decided that if she was hot from over doing it with play the fever would come down, if she was sick then the fever would climb. A friend of ours who recently passed away from cancer told us that when he was on chemo he had a hard time regulating his body temperature. If he went outside on a hot day to garden he would get a fever and have to take a cold shower to come down. Only monitoring would tell which one. I grabbed my essential oils, Frankincense, Balance and Serenity. Oils that would center her but not create a false "cold" in her body. Every 15 minutes I took her temperature and rubbed Frankincense with Balance down her spine and Serenity on her feet and legs. After 90 minutes she was back to her warm range that she usually sits in the day after chemo. We put her to bed diffusing the same oils and continued to sneak in to monitor her, by morning she was a normal 98.6 and begging for Mickey Mouse waffles! It amazes me how powerful these oils are and I am so grateful that our careful thinking and essential oils kept Emma out of the ER last night. (Side note: If Emma had been lethargic or clearly over the

Emma with her surf board craft

danger zone with her temperature we would have taken her in right away.)

So what is on the agenda for the rest of the week? Warm weather brought on gardening season so we are going to continue planting for Spring today. The girls have their own child sized tools to help me plant our rainbow carrots, bell peppers, raspberries and flowers. We also have some baking lessons and painting to do!

Today is World Cancer Day, share publicly to create awareness and policy change!