Four Hours

Our day was filled with increments of four hours for some reason. I went to bed around 11:00 last night and at 3:30am, heard Brooklyn yelling that she wanted water. I went in to check on her & felt her head and she was burning up. I went to get her some water and the thermometer and her temperature was 103. The rule for kids with Leukemia is that if they have a fever of 100.4 three times within 24 hours or if they reach 101.4,  you basically have to go to the hospital right away. They worry that the kids might not be able to fight off infection since their blood is not as strong as it should be and they could get very sick very fast. We had no idea what to expect, so both Mike and I wanted to be able to go to the hospital so we called our good friend Jesse and he came over to stay at our house with the other kids. You have to be a really good friend to come over at 4:00am! My mom came over at about 6:00 to relieve him and get Braden off to school. We went to the ER and got taken into the triage area pretty quickly. They gave her tylenol to bring her fever down and then did a chest xray to make sure her lungs were clear. She had blood tests run and everything seemed to be okay so they gave her an antiobiotic in her IV and then let us go home. So much went on that it was all kind of a blur and we were only at the hospital about four hours! My mom came to pick us up and take us back home because Mike had to go to work for a meeting. Brooklyn took a good nap once we were home because she was so exhausted from being up all morning. It is so funny because when we were in the hospital a month ago, as we were getting discharged, someone said, "We will probably see you again, most kids get admitted back into the hospital at least once during their treatment time." And although I am sure that is true, I kind of thought in the back of my head, maybe we'll be the one family that never has to come back. Maybe she will just be healthy the whole time (besides being knocked out from the chemo) and we won't have to come back. I was laughing to myself this morning as we were in the ER, thinking - well, it's only been a month and we're back - guess I was wrong! And really, how could we not be? I bet even kids that have no other siblings in the house probably get sick and have to go back to the hospital and we have 3 other kids here bringing germs and yuck in. We have been super diligent about hand washing and keeping stuff clean, but I don't know, I guess just the littlest thing can cause it to happen. None of the rest of us have had a fever, so I don't know where it came from, especially since she's been feeling so well all week. The afternoon was better and after her four hour nap, we played outside in the backyard for awhile. It was fun to see her enjoying the sunshine. Her legs are still hurting her, but she seemed to be walking a little better when we were playing outside. One awesome thing about our hospital experience was our nurse. Her godson had been diagnosed with ALL when he was about Brooklyn's age, (he is 6 now) so she was very familiar with everything that Brooklyn has already gone through - the steroids and puffiness, eating and roid rages, to what is next in her treatment process. She knew about the leg tenderness and was so amazingly comforting and helpful during a time when we were worried and unsure. It is amazing to see where God puts people to help you in times when you need it the most.