Family Fun

We have had a great last couple weeks. Some amazing friends of ours gave us a two night stay down in Monterey, so Mike and I got to go down last week and golf and visit with friends from college and enjoy some time alone together. It was great because it seems like we have been really busy lately and haven't even gotten to talk much, so it was great to get away and have fun. My parents watched the kids and they loved spending time with Gaga and Papa. The kids had Monday off from school for Presidents Day so we went up to Tahoe on Sunday and spent the night with our good friends at their cabin. Kelsey woke up with a cold that morning so she wasn't feeling great and I think the elevation might've been bothering her ears because she wasn't diggin' the snow, but the rest of the kids loved it!! They went sledding and made snow angels and nailed me with a few snowballs. When we got back Monday, our original home nurse, Wendi, came over to draw Brooklyn's blood. Her son Zach is done with his treatment so that is great! He still has some more surgery ahead of him, but thankfully his cancer is gone! It was so great to see her again and catch up. Monday also kicked off the start of baseball season! Mike is bravely coaching both Braden and Kayla's teams this year. He is so good with the kids and really knows how to teach them the game, but it will be a busy spring for sure! Brooklyn wants to play baseball so badly too, so we got her some cleats to wear to the games and Mike gave her one of the extra hats. It's going to be hard to keep her off the fields during the games! When we saw her oncologist this month, I asked about the fact that her ANC level has been so good since she's been on maintenance (except for the two times we've been in the hospital.)  They ideally want her counts to be between 500 & 1500 and they have been higher than 1500 the whole time. I personally like it when they are high because I feel like she is "healthier" and will be better able to fight a virus should she come in contact with anyone with a cold. However, I also know that we want to make sure the leukemia stays away, so it is best for her to receive the right amount of chemo to keep her in the correct range. When the nurse called with her numbers that night, she told us that the doctor wanted us to increase the amount that we give her at home. We actually forgot to do it the first week (awesome job, I know) but we increased her pills over this last weekend. She seemed to do fine with it, but by the 3rd morning, she was feeling nauseous and not great so we let her stay home from school. It is hard to figure out exactly how to make her feel as good as possible, but we are working on it. Giving her some anti-nausea medicine on Tuesday seemed to help her feel better, so we may need to start giving her that more regularly. It makes me a little sad that we have to give her more medicine, but I also trust the doctors and know that they've done enough research to know the best way to cure our little girl. Yesterday after school, Kayla came home with a fever and said her stomach hurt. She felt pretty bad all afternoon and her fever was up to 102 so we made the spare bed in Braden's room and had her sleep in there. Of course we don't want him to get sick, but if Brookie gets a fever, we will have to head back to the hospital, and we really don't want to do that. The kids have all been hanging out together though, so there is a good chance Brooklyn will get sick too. I was thinking this morning that it's kind of like when you're watching a suspenseful movie; you are on the edge of your seat because you just know something is coming and you want to be prepared for it so you're not thrown off guard, but you don't know quite when it will happen. Hopefully our life won't be like a crazy movie this weekend, but I might pack a bag of stuff so we're ready just in case we have to go in. Mike and I were just saying the other day that it is really amazing how 'normal' our life is while going through this battle with Brooklyn. We are so thankful for all the research that has been done to help find a cure for all of the children with leukemia. Our doctors and nurses, outreach from our friends and prayers have really carried us through this time, and we are thankful.