Taxol Round 1, Ava's 4 week B-day, Riverbend and Frat houses

Linda had her Taxol on Thursday. It went pretty good! She had no allergic reaction which was a huge relief. It was different having the infusion in the hospital instead of our favorite infusion nurses at the infusion center. We had some weird experiences with her infusion but nothing too critical. Let's just say we missed the infusion center dearly and will be glad to be back there for the next round!

Linda has had some side effects (nerve, muscle pain) which haven't been fun but she is feeling better recently. Overall, she is doing well on the Taxol but she is still very anemic (slightly worse than last time but she feels a bit better). They again offered her a transfusion but she doesn't feel bad enough to do that yet. Linda does get tired at night, though. She has an MRI tomorrow which she isn't looking forward too (darned claustrophobia isn't fun in MRI machines) but with a little help from some medication she will be fine, and it will help us nail down her surgery plan.

Ava's 4 week birthday is today! We brought in some wonderful treats that Linda's coworker Michelle made for the nurses to celebrate - it was gone in short time! The nurses are learning that Tuesday is treat day for Ava's weekly birthdays.

Ava is doing pretty good. She was doing well on her airflow of "4" so they recently dropped her to "3". She has been having a little bit more difficult time on 3 with her breathing (fast respiratory rate at times) and needing a bit more oxygen. We're hoping she will adjust in the next day or two and settle into a better pattern. --> Updated at 10pm: She was still having some problems at 3 so they bumped her back to 4 again. This is the ups and downs in the NICU (remember, a few steps forward, and a couple back!). It's tough as parents to experience even though we expect it now and it is normal for babies of Ava's gestational age. Ava is becoming quite "chunky" (well, for her anyway) - just a touch shy of 3 lbs now! She gained almost 4 ounces one day and I'd swear she was visibly bigger and longer when we came in that morning to see her. Her feedings are going well which is very nice and we hold her at least once daily (for 1-2 hours) during one of her feedings. We gave Ava her first "tubby" bath and she wasn't quite sure what to think about that! She seemed to like it, though and didn't even cry. Ava will probably be in the NICU until December so we are settling into a routine with her. Here is her "tubby" experience:

We continue to enjoy Riverbend hospital and the staff here. The lobby looks like a ski lodge with a big fireplace and wood/tile flooring. There is also a baby grand piano that people play from time to time. We had a harpist playing for Ava one night and she seemed to really enjoy that. Here is a picture of the outside of part of the hospital:

We stay at the hospital guest house when in Eugene. It has been nice and they are upgrading us today to a room with a queen bed (we've had two twin beds which has been like staying in a dorm but it had a private bathroom and ground floor access for after Linda's surgery so we couldn't complain). One interesting aspect of the guest house has been it backs up to a creek and a fraternity house. Let's just say the parties and hazing incidents we hear at night have been "entertaining"! Here is the picture out our back deck of the Beta house:

Linda's mom and grandmother visited the other day. Here is a picture of Ava with Mom, Grandma, and Great Grandma!

Here is a better picture of Ava:

Idgy the Cat has had it with us - she sticks her tongue out at us when we show up back home in Corvallis:

Rob.

PS: CONGRATULATIONS to Audrey and Kevin DeKam for their baby boy, Powell, who was born this week! We look forward to Ava and Powell playing together in the future (sorry, Powell, you have competition for Ava as the NICU nurses keep trying to set her up with some of the boys here). Audrey set up and manages this blog for us and has been a great help in many ways.