Isla with her friend Jasmine, playing for one last time in the Playroom.The nurses have a whole bunch of sayings and Isla loved “Bye Bye Butterfly” so we thought this was a good fit as a gift for the nurses.Last thing Isla did on 6 Link before leaving was to give Buddington a High 5.So damn excited to be going home.  I parked on the roof just because she loves when we park on the roof.In the evening of her last day, we attended a Peppa Pig show, she loved it.Still stuff to do at home after release.

Isla, Strong and Cancer Free.  I am so proud of her.

The 'Too Long Didn't Read' version:

After being diagnosed with an ear infection and us thinking she was sick due to that, we eventually took Isla to the hospital October 27th where she was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) Inversion 16.  She underwent 5 rounds of chemo spanning 6.5 months at the IWK in Halifax, where she remained an inpatient over the course of her treatment.  Isla had 4 surgeries, 4 different central lines put in and taken out, 2 GFR tests, an MRI, 4 CT scans, about 10 X-Rays, and 10 ultrasounds, about 50 blood and platelet transfusions, 2 bone marrow biopsies, 4 lumbar punctures, a lavage, eye drops over 100 times, social anxiety, re-learning how to walk, many reactions to drugs and blood products, Staphylococcal Scalded Skin Syndrome, renal failure, 30 dressing changes, a cast, a fungal infection called candida, coronavirus, c.diff twice, about a quarter of her time in hospital spent on isolation, and a roller coaster of emotions and feeling well and unwell.

We shaved Isla's head in round 1 when it started falling out and became difficult to deal with.  Unlike most kids her age, she was self conscious about it, but eventually got over it.  Isla was very aware of everything going on around her and doctors had to be careful what they said when in the room.  She learned a lot about her treatment and can now play a mean imaginary doctor.  We are proud of how well she faced all this adversity and came out on top.  As she gets older I am most definitely going to be referring back to this time in her life if she ever tells me she can't do something.

Robyn was the constant in Isla's life, spending the entire 6.5 months in hospital, while I was Autumn's constant at home.  I would have loved to be there to let Robyn sleep in her own bed at home, but can you blame a 3 year old for wanting her mommy?  It pained me to see Isla calling out for Robyn when she even left the room to go get water, but it hurt far more when Isla was going through something difficult, like a dressing change, and would yell "I just want to go home".  As a parent, I felt so useless at times, just hoping new complications wouldn't get out of hand, and waiting on results.  I'm not used to feeling helpless and I don't like having to sit on the sidelines, but I believe 100% that the IWK has excellent doctors and nurses who know their stuff and will do their very best.  We are so lucky to have modern medicine on our side.  The treatment for cancers have come a long way.

Isla is currently cancer free, a couple of words I find difficult to say, like I might jinx it.  We are very fortunate that the kids Isla knew best in the hospital have had good outcomes, but there are definitely others we have known who have not have had such good outcomes, or others whose outcomes are currently in limbo, and it's for those people and their families that I know I need to celebrate this victory.  Life is short and imperfect and none of us knows when it may end, so take your victory laps, enjoy them, do those things you have been putting off, hold on to the good moments and never let them go.

*Copied from the long version* It's with that in mind that we want to try to give something back and help other parents going through a similar difficult time.  Details will be up soon, but essentially we have created some shirts to celebrate children beating cancer.  It started with an idea to have a shirt for Isla to wear to ring the bell in, but with her counts coming up so quickly at the end, I simply ran out of time to get it ready in time.  I took to asking others what they thought of the design and people loved it.  My friend Ashley, whose son Jude is mid treatment for cancer informed me of the gold ribbon, and I think that was the added touch the design needed and pushed this whole idea forward.  The gold ribbon is representative of all childhood cancers and we have come up with a shirt that says Strong and Cancer free with the Gold ribbon representing the cancer part of that equation and Strong and Free representing the Canadian part of this.  Isla is Strong and Cancer Free and I want her to wear her shirt proud, with the gold ribbon like a gold medal for winning this fight, and I would love to see other little ones and their families wearing that gold medal too.  We will be selling these shirts HERE with the plan of using the profits to help families on 6 Link at the IWK.  We have been there and we know that it's not home and things such as having good meals is difficult and a little outside help would be appreciated.  I don't think we could ever give back enough to ever feel like we have given back enough.  We truly appreciate everyone who was there for us, and we have met and become friends with other families facing cancer and know they appreciate it too.