New Beginnings

Today was a big day! It was Brooklyn's first day of preschool! Yesterday, we went to see our pediatrician. Brooklyn has to go in for a check up while she's getting chemo every 30 days or so and we aren't scheduled to go to the oncologist until September, so we scheduled an appointment with the pediatrician b/c he is much closer to our house. He thought Brookie looked great and we talked about her treatment and the effects that the chemo could have and how she will do great throughout the process. It is so nice to have such a good doctor that is so genuinely concerned with how she is doing. After we finished with the doctor, we went to preschool to meet Brooklyn's teachers and her classmates. The oncologist told us a couple months ago that Brooklyn could go to preschool since she is getting to the maintenance portion of her treatment soon and hopefully her counts will stay high. I was excited that she was cleared to go because I know that she will enjoy it. She has been going to preschool for drop off and pick up for her brother and sister since she was born! She knows a lot of the teachers and is very comfortable there, so I was happy when he said that she could go this year. I'm also excited for her to make some of her own little friends, since she often only gets to play with her siblings and their friends. However, just the last few days I have started to wonder if it is the best idea. I do worry about her getting germs from other kids and how she will feel on the weeks that she is getting chemo, but I know we will just take it one day at a time. Her teachers know that she needs to be careful with germs and most of the kids in her class are families that we know, so they are aware of her more fragile condition and I know they will be cautious with sending their kids to school if they are sick. Even her pediatrician said he thought it would be good for her to go, so that reassured me a little more. If there were any doubts at all, she took care of them this morning. When we got in the car to leave for school, I couldn't find her hat, so I was asking her where it was. She said, "Why Momma? Are they not gonna like my head?" I said, "No sweetie, they will like your head." So she decided that she didn't need to take one today. Then, as we were driving to school, she said, "Are you gonna stay with me today?" I told her I would stay for awhile and she promptly told me that she was fine and didn't want me to. :) I am amazed at the strength of character she has at only 3 years old. It tugs at my heart when she says some things that she shouldn't know at such a young age. On our way to the doctor's office on Monday she asked if she had to give blood and cheered when I told her she didn't have to. She said, yea! No needles! Today after I picked her up, I stayed for awhile just to talk with her teachers about her care and how she might be feeling after she has chemo, and where her port is and that it will hurt if it gets hit or bumped and how the steroids may affect her mood. They told me that they talked about germs today and how it is important to wash hands and sneeze in their arms so they don't spread germs and get sick. One of her teachers said that Brooklyn said, "yea, I'm sick." And the boy next to her looked at her and patted her on the head and said, "You're not sick. You look fine."  The strength and the innocence that God gives to kids is something that is truly amazing. We went to "Tozen Yodurt" today after school at Brookie's request - we had to celebrate her big day. It was a good one. :)