Brave Emily

Annie has many happy, normal-ish parts to her days.  Then again she has some really tough parts.  While there is sorrowfully little we can do for her medically there is much we can do to enhance her emotional and spiritual journey.  One such thing is ... consumerism (always good to help the economy).

When we "evacuated" our home upon learning her body was contaminated with the pesticide chlordane we had to leave a lot of things behind.  One such thing for Annie was her American Girl doll and accessories.  Annie's pleasure in imaginative play gave her hours of fun with her doll.  That experience was interrupted but we figured she'd grown beyond dolls and never replaced it.  Maybe it's regression in times of stress, maybe we expect kids to grow up too fast, maybe it's therapy and maybe some people just love imagining but Annie is still feeling keen about having a doll.  What a gift.

During her first BMT (bone marrow transplant) she had a baby doll that she looked after and it gave her control in a situation that offers little in that direction.  Getting another doll could do the same.  Thus to congratulate her on having a good attitude about yet another transplant we took her to the American Girl store and let her pick out a new doll.  She had two weeks notice and gained much pleasure from researching the purchase.  Ultimately she settled on the one that had been left behind, Brave Emily.  Emily is a British girl circa 1944 who comes to America.  There are books about her life and lots to buy.  This is the business model in full bloom.  There are many dolls with life stories and stuff to purchase.  My thought is even if Annie looses interest in the doll-play the adult pleasure of collecting will kick in and keep the engine running.

The accessories and doll clothes are like crack for kids.  New stuff coming out all the time... pets, furniture, outfits for every event and historical period, sports equipment, instruments ... on and on.  All displayed in cases with pictures of the fun to be had upon ownership.  While this might usually get on my nerves it's a dream for my situation.  Our deal is when Annie goes through something tough we have a little stash with some AG swag that she then receives.  So far it has had its desired effect as she has expectantly asked me, "so when is my next procedure?"

So although she had a tough time with her hemoglobin transfusion on Thursday she gets to look forward to getting Emily a "pet" next Saturday.  Whatever it takes.

We've cleared the dosage issue for the Eltrombopag but are now waiting on insurance approval.  We're also almost done receiving all the necessary records to interview transplant teams.  Final issue is that while insurance covers the transplant it doesn't cover the pricey matter of the search (can't do one without the other) but one hospital has a grant for this so always much to sort through.

Annie will start school and keep up a 6th grader routine as much as and for as long as possible.