Day +339

Posted on: 02/03/2015

Last week was rather an odd one. Firstly, the lift in our building has been out of order and Ava has had to climb 8 flights/100 stairs every time we have come in or out of our apartment, on average 4-6 times a day. Ava has really struggled with this and complained a lot about having tired legs. Thankfully the combination of magnesium baths and time in the swimming pool at the weekend made her feel better. Secondly, Ava was super excited by the prospect of a trip to an art gallery with her classmates on Thursday and was then devastated when she didn't make it after all. One of the girls in her school had come in for a few hours until it was discovered that she had chicken pox... Whilst she is not in Ava's class, there is a chance that she has infected some other girls, which in turn poses a threat to Ava. 

As Ava's immune system was taken down by chemotherapy in order to prepare her body for transplant, at this stage we do not know whether she has recovered her immunity to the infectious diseases which she was previously vaccinated for. Her levels will be checked when we return to Milan at the end of April, at which point she may need to be re-vaccinated. In the meantime, we must avoid potential risks and therefore I removed Ava from school and she must stay at home until I hear Dr Biffi's opinion on how long she should be absent. After two days at home, Ava was climbing the walls as well as the stairs... Luckily her friends came to the rescue and she invited on playdates with her (chicken pox immune) friends Ruby and Luisa, both of which really cheered her up. Let's hope we have some good news from Dr Biffi and that Ava gets back to school soon... We are planting seeds and willing the start of spring whilst we wait :)