A Good Monday

Mondays are not typically my favorite days. It is hard to get back into the swing of things with work and school after a relaxing weekend or a weekend away, but today was a good Monday! Brooklyn did great during her echocardiogram & blood tests at the lab. Then we met with the doctor and he let us know that all of Brooklyn's test results looked good - just as they expected they would. She is now considered to be in remission! It is crazy to me that they use that word already when she still has so much more treatment ahead of her. When I think of remission, I think cured/done/over. I guess I never accurately understood the word before now, but even if I didn't clearly know what it meant, it is a great word to hear, and it does mean that she is on her way to healing and being cured and done with this disease! Mike and I picked up the other kids after school and we all went to lunch with my dad. It was the first time we had all gone out together since this all started a month ago. It did remind me that it is not particularly easy to go to a restaurant with four kids, so maybe it has been okay that we've been eating at home every day! We had a great time though, and it was so fun to see everyone having fun and enjoying some time out of the house. We got a little crazy when we got home. They installed our diving board today and Mike had been saying that he was going to jump in the pool as soon as the diving board went in, so I reminded him of that at lunch. I am so nice. :) When the kids heard that he was going to go in the pool, they wanted to too. And yes, I know that it basically snowed here just 3 days ago and that it was only in the 50s today and that it wasn't the smartest thing to do, but sometimes you just have to get a little crazy. So, the kids got on their suits and Mike did a flip off the diving board! The total time that everyone was in the pool was maybe a minute and a half - combined. :) And, of course I couldn't go in - I had to be in charge of pictures and getting the towels ready - I want nothing to do with that cold water! Brooklyn gets the whole week off from taking any drugs or chemo & we are looking forward to it! Next week she starts back up and will have a spinal tap every Tuesday for the next three weeks. Ugh. But, the bright side is that we got moved to Tuesdays so she will be able to have a morning appointment and not have to wait so long to eat. I was talking to a friend tonight and she said, when Brooklyn gets to be old and writes a memoir of her life, this will be such a small part. It is kind of a cool thing to think about. It seems to be taking over our lives now, but I know we will get past it and hopefully she really won't remember much from this time. But we do know that our lives will be forever changed and we will look at cancer differently and be more compassionate and helpful to others going through this journey.