Re-induction

Brooklyn did an amazing job today. We went to my parents' yesterday, and logistically it just worked better for us to spend the night so we had a big sleepover! It was so much fun, we went fishing and both Mike and Braden caught fish so that was exciting! We hung out at the house and made s'mores over the fire pit last night. It was a great way to spend our Memorial Day all together. Brooklyn and I left about 7:30 this morning, Mike went to work and the rest of the kids stayed home with my parents. There is a lot of coordinating to do to make these days work and we definitely couldn't do it without help from our family. We got to the surgery center and got all checked in. Brookie was hungry, but I distracted her until it was time to go in. She did great. She fell asleep in my arms, the doctor did her spinal tap & gave her chemo, and she woke up in a good mood. After we left the recovery room, we went to the cafeteria for pancakes. My dad was going to make pancakes for the other kids this morning, so she wanted to be sure to get pancakes too. She was so happy to get one, but didn't finish the whole thing since it was the size of her plate! Then we went over to the infusion room. We got all hooked up there and she wanted me to lay with her to protect her from the bad guys in the scooby doo movie she watched. It was such a nice morning to just be together and snuggle. As we were leaving, I was thinking how amazing God is that He makes each person so unique and different. Have you ever just stopped to watch people walk by when you are out somewhere? They are all so physically different and their personalities are all completely individual too. It is amazing to me that God gave Brooklyn such strength and stamina to be able to endure all that she is going through right now and still be such a happy little girl. I know He has a plan for each of us and He knew she would have to endure this time in her life, so He made her with some extra feisty-ness and strength. She fell asleep in the car on the way back to my parents house, probably from a combination of exhaustion from the morning and yesterday's activities and the drugs she received. I ran a couple errands and then got the kids and drove home only to turn back around and head out for Braden's baseball game. You would never have known that Brooklyn had anything done today the way she was running around with the kids at the field for 2 hours. It is really amazing. When we got home, we had to give her her steroids. However this time, instead of liquid, they gave it to us in pill form. So, she has to take 14 pills a day - 7 in the morning and 7 at night. How many 3 year olds do you know that swallow pills? Right. I mean - do these drug manufacturers and doctors NOT have children? So, Mike crushed 7 pills on a spoon and mixed it with the chocolate protein shake like we did with a different pill she had to take another time and she drank it and immediately threw it up all over the floor. So then, he tried to convince her that she could swallow them - they are pretty small. So, he gave her one and after trying to swallow it, she threw up. I think the taste of them is really bad, like the liquid steroid was too. So then I took 7, cut them in half and tucked them all into some mint chocolate chip ice cream on a spoon and she kept it down. The pills probably crunched like the chocolate chips so she didn't notice them as much and maybe the mint flavor masked the taste. I don't know, but apparently she is going to get ice cream for breakfast and before bed for the next 7 days!! After she took it, she said "Thanks Dad for making me better." Oh my gosh, she is so sweet! I am so thankful for all the research that has been done for Leukemia to almost find a complete cure, and we, of course, want to follow every step to give her the best chance at recovery, but it sure is a lot of medication for such a little person.