July 14... I think..

I believe it is July 14.  That is, ummm, Thursday?  Wow, vacation!

We are having a wonderful time and there is so much to tell.  I am going to wait to show you it in pictures though.  I will post images when we return next week.  For now I wanted to give you all an update on how Madelyn is doing/feeling.  

Wonderful.  She is fantastic.  We went to the Kinderspital in Zurich on Monday.  Her counts were good.  Hoooray!!!!

WBC 2.02    RBC 38.3    Platlets 231    ANC 920

The results of the CBC and the doctor's examination were sent to our Attending at Seattle Children's the same day.  We heard back from them immediately and MJs doctor was pleased with the results and saw no need to make any changes to her oral medications.

The Zurich Kinderspital did things a little differently than Madelyn is used to, but not by much and not significantly.  Anything she was uncomfortable with she told them about and they were completely accommodating without a blink of the eye.  People that work in children's hospitals, the world over, are very special people.  For example, she always sits up when being accessed at home.  Here in Switzerland they have the kids lay down.  Madelyn likes to have everything described to her (what they are doing when).  They had no problem with this.  She got a candy after she was done with her blood draw.  She like this difference.

Something I didn't make much note of at the time, but was obviously a change MJ noticed was that the needle looked different.  The top of the needle that is.  Instead of a butterfly shape it was more oval.  I am fascinated by the girls observations.

When we started up in a gondola here a couple of days ago Madelyn said to us excitedly "It's like were in space!  looking down on a planet with lots of trees."  She was so excited.  The glee was exploding from her.

Her labs came back very quickly.  Much quicker than we are used to, but it was also a much smaller department.  Switzerland has a population of not quite 8 million - for the whole country.  So you can imagine how rare pediatric cancer is.  I notice this simply with the stares MJ gets here.  That is no matter though... she and we are having a marvelous, cancer-free time.  

And my oh my.  The hair!  She has so much hair coming in.  She will have a full head of hair soon and it is a different color.  Dark.  She is also a complete peanut right now.  Tan, tan, tan.  That girl simply does not burn.  Phia and I on the otherhand are re-applying sunblock like it is going out of style.

The weather has been warm.  The last two days are the first days of cooler temperatures and rain.  We are in the mountains now just our family with Urs and Harriet.  We head back to Zurich and the extended Kuhnlein's for a couple more days on the 18th.  Then home.  I will report more on MJ and our trip on our return.  The girls and we are doing great.