Back on Track

It has been so great to be home and be back to our regular life again. Brooklyn's home nurse came out on Thursday, the day after we got home from the hospital to make sure she was doing okay and again on Monday to draw her labs. Her counts all came back good, which was great news since she had been battling a virus all week. She even started back with her chemo Monday night, so that was good to get her back on track. When I asked our nurse about any fear of relapse of the leukemia since she was off her chemo for a week, she said they don't worry about it when kids are off treatment for such a short period of time and that it is not unusual for kids to have to be off chemo for up to four weeks sometimes. The older kids had a minimum day on Monday for Halloween and I got to work in Kayla's class for their party so that was fun. They all got to wear their costumes to school and had a parade and I'm sure didn't get much work done at all, but they had a great time and it was fun to see the kids all dressed up. That night we went trick-or-treating in our neighborhood for the first time (since we didn't live her last year). I was trying to teach Kelsey to say 'trick or treat' during the day and she came up with something that sounded kind of similar. :) Braden was a GI Joe Ninja, Kayla was a witch, Brooklyn was Rapunzel and Kelsey was a gnome. Brooklyn's Rapunzel wig turned out to be a bit of a mess so she finally ended up taking it off, but it didn't keep her from making sure she got to go to every house for candy! There were a lot of families out walking around and it was a really fun night. I think Mike and I were more exhausted than the kids were by the time we got back home! Needless to say it was hard for the kids to get up for school the next morning. :) Thursday Brooklyn got to go back to school. Her rash was much better and she hadn't had a fever for a week so we felt like it was fine for her to go. On our way there, she said, "I bet my 'tends' are saying 'where is brooklyn?" She did well at school and I got to take Kelsey to her gym class again so that was really fun. This weekend was filled with soccer Saturday and Sunday for Braden, but now our soccer season is over. It has been great to get to know families on both Braden and Kayla's teams and the kids have really enjoyed getting to play with new friends too. We have been truly blessed with wonderful friends everywhere we have lived and have felt so supported by our friends through this entire process. Tonight when I was getting Brooklyn ready for bed I was just looking at her thinking, why did you get cancer? How did that happen? It's not fair. She is really so sweet and loving and has such a big heart. I know that she is doing well and everything is going according to schedule and that she will come through all of this as a stronger person, completely cured and great, but until that time comes, it's still hard to see her having to battle this disease. It is hard to know if she acts feisty just because she's strong willed and she is three or if it's because she feels terrible and doesn't know how to express it. It's hard to have to always consider where we are going for the day and if it is a good idea for her to go to a certain place or not. It stinks to have to make sure that no one has a cold if they are coming over to our house. She seems like she is doing great and plays like any normal kid, but as our trip to the hospital showed us last week, we have to be so cautious all the time. And the thing is, we will probably never know where she picked up the virus so it's not like we can just say, well, we won't go there again. You think that you always want a hedge of protection around your kids to make sure they are safe and healthy, with her it's like we need a six foot fence. We know that we are going to get through this time though and that God has a plan for Brooklyn and for our family. Like it says in one of the songs we sing at church, "my faith shall be my guide."