Time Flies

I am not big into cliches. I don't go around saying "live and learn" or "life's short" but I do have to say... "time flies"! Braden turned 8 on Monday and I can't believe that he is so old already! It has hit me lately when I've gone in to check in on him at night and he is getting so tall he almost reaches both ends of his bed! It is so much fun watching all of our kids get bigger. Last week when we went to preschool Tuesday morning, as soon as we got there, Brooklyn threw up in the parking lot. I wasn't sure what we should do, so I asked her if she wanted to go back home and she said, "No, I miss my 'tends'. I want to go to 'cool and play with them." I was staying at church for Mom's group that morning anyway, so I told her teachers that if she didn't seem to feel good, they could come get me. I went to check on her halfway through the morning and she was playing outside, happy as could be, but once she saw me, she wanted to hang out with me the rest of the time, so we did. Thursday she was much better and didn't get sick and was happy the whole morning. That morning was also the first time I took Kelsey to "My Gym." I have taken all the kids there when they were little and I love it. I can't believe I'm taking Kelsey now! Thursday morning is the only time that it is just the two of us hanging out together for a couple hours so I am so glad that we are getting to do something fun together. And she is such a little monkey that she just loves climbing and playing there! Saturday we had soccer games for both Braden and Kayla and then had Braden's birthday party at a Lazer Tag place. It was so much fun playing with the kids and celebrating the day together. Brooklyn even played with us. She wore the big vest that was almost bigger than she was for about half the game and then took it off because it was so heavy, but she had such a fun time. We celebrated again Sunday with my family and had another fun day. Monday we met with the oncologist. They congratulated us that we are now in the "maintenance phase" of Brooklyn's treatment. That basically means that we do the same thing over and over for the next year and a half. It was a little overwhelming to have the nurse tell us that this would be our schedule until April of 2013. I think it has been kind of a good thing to meet with the doctor every month or so to get our new schedule for treatment because it has broken up all appointments and medicines into smaller time frames so it doesn't seem too daunting. To hear that we have to do the same treatment for the next year and a half, was a lot to take in. And I also think our idea of "maintenance" was that it would be a lot easier, but it's not. She will only have to have a spinal tap once every three months, so that is good, and we will only have to go in for chemo once a month, so that is good too, but there is a lot more that we have to do at home. She had to go to the infusion room yesterday after school for chemo and then last night we started all the medication at home. Five days every month she has to take steroids again, once a week she has to take 5 pills of one type of chemo and then every night for the next year and a half she has to take another chemo pill. And she still has to take her antibiotic 3 days a week. I know that it will soon be routine, and hopefully she will learn to take them as well as she does her antibiotic every weekend, but it is a new battle once again. We crush the pills and have been mixing them with gatorade to mask the taste as much as possible. Last night she threw a fit taking the first syringe but then admitted that it wasn't that bad and she just liked to complain. :) She is a crack up sometimes. She did better today with taking them, but it still stinks that she has to do so much. They are trying to regulate her ANC level to be between 500 and 1500. It has been a lot higher the last few months which is great because it is showing that she is able to fight off infection and has been remaining pretty healthy. Now though, they want to give her as much chemo as her body can handle to ensure that the leukemia doesn't come back, but not let her immune system dip too low so that she is at risk for fighting off infections. It is crazy how much the doctors know about treating these kids. I am so appreciative of all the research that has been done to help find a cure for this cancer, and although it seems like a long haul, I know that "time flies" and we'll be through it in no time.