Teamwork

One of my favorite things Brooklyn does these days is quote the Wonder Pets. We haven't watched the show very often, but her favorite thing to sing is "What's gonna work? Teamwork!" She says it whenever we are working on something together, if she is helping carry groceries in from the car, unloading the dishwasher together, anything. It is so sweet, it makes us smile every time. She even sang it in the hospital when one of the nurses and I were giving her a sponge bath on this handicap chair/bed thing. It is so great to hear her singing and wanting to just play and all be together when we are so concerned with keeping her healthy and making sure she stays away from germs and getting her better. It's like she is letting us know she is fine as long as we are all together. She is such a crack up - sometimes she tries to be funny and will say "What's gonna work? NOT teamwork!" and then will laugh and laugh. It also reminds me that we can't get through a time like this without teamwork, from our family and friends. We are so busy and trying to keep life as "normal" as possible for the rest of the kids that we need help from others to be able to do everything and still keep Brooklyn away from places that we feel like she shouldn't go. Saturday Kayla had a gymnastics show at the same time that Braden and Mike had a parade with the baseball team for Little League day. It stunk that we had to split up and Mike and I each missed the other kids' event, but I know it is just the beginning of overlapping schedules as the kids are getting older. Braden had a game that afternoon so we all got to go to that and then my parents babysat for us so we could go out with some friends Saturday night. It was good for us to get to go out and relax a little after a week with so much happening with our family; we were pretty worried about Mike's mom and all the craziness she went through this week. Diane got home from the hospital today and is tired, but happy to be home. Brooklyn is still doing great and her blood counts were good today so she gets another round of chemo tomorrow morning. Thank you for your continued prayers for our family.

Crazy, crazy!

Having four kids and our crazy schedule keeps us super busy without everything else that is going on with our family health wise these days. For example, Monday night we had a baseball game and I tried to keep Kayla in the car so that she wouldn't be around the other kids since she was kind of sick still.  My aunt was nice enough to come to the field after work to take her back home, but Kayla wanted to stay and ended up running around after awhile anyway. After the game, we loaded everyone in the car and tried to go, but our battery was dead. Pretty funny. We called AAA and they came out pretty quickly and we ended up buying a new battery. No more movies during games I guess!! Tuesday was a mellow one, the girls and I just stayed home and tried to rest, we had to do showers and dressing change, all that fun stuff. Mike and I got a little bit of the bug that Kelsey and Kayla have had, so we're all a little tired. Wednesday I decided Kayla should stay home from school one more time, she tested negative for strep on Monday, but I just wanted her to be totally better before going back to school. She has been sleeping in Braden's room to try to avoid Brooklyn getting sick, but the girls all play together during the day, so we have just kind of been waiting for Brooklyn to come down with something. So far, she's still been okay. Wednesday the girls and I went to go see Brooklyn's gym teacher from My Gym. She is moving and so even though we are hoping to go back to class someday, she won't be there and we will miss her! It was great to see her and for her to get to see Brooklyn since the last time we were there was the day Brookie was diagnosed. It is crazy how much our life has changed since that day. Today we had a fun day at home, I painted the girls nails and they had fun playing with eachother. For awhile, Kayla and Brooklyn were sliding down the stairs on a cardboard box. Who needs toys? :) Everyone seems to be feeling better, except for Mike's mom. She went in yesterday for a post-op check and mentioned that she was having some chest pain so they made her stay overnight. She had four stints put in this afternoon and they are pretty sure she had a mild heard attack. She will be in the hospital through the weekend and we are all praying for a speedy recovery. In a weird way, it is blessing that she got cancer so that she was able to tell the doctor she had pain before the blockage got too bad. We are thankful for the doctors who have helped her through all of the craziness she has had to endure the last few weeks.

Brooklyn Frank Wine Social!

Hello!  Just a reminder about the Brooklyn Frank Wine Social, coming very soon!  On Saturday, May 21st, from 6 to 9pm we will be gathering in Healdsburg, CA at the Passalaqua Winery to support Mike, Kristin and Brooklyn.  All proceeds will help with the medical costs that will arise as the Franks continue treating Brooklyn's leukemia.  Cost per person is $125.  The event will also feature a small silent auction with items from the Golden State Warriors, San Francisco Giants and Oakland A's.  Everyone is welcome to attend!  It will be a wonderful evening to support a great cause.  Use the paypal link below to register.  If you cannot make it to the social, but would still like to support this cause, please make a donation through the same link.  If you have any questions, please e-mail tcpettigrew@cox.net and I will forward them onto the event coordinators.  We hope to see many of you there!  

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=UZ2HUBE8E2PRC

Mothers

Brooklyn, once again, did amazingly well on Friday. We went to the infusion lab first to get her next round of chemo. Brooklyn watched a movie and was pretty content, but wanted to eat the crackers we had brought with us. As the morning went on, and she got hungrier and hungrier, she wanted them more and more. It was so hard because she would say, "just one momma, just one cracker?" Then she got mad at me because I wouldn't give them to her, and threw a little fit, but I couldn't get upset with her because I knew how hungry she was and I hated that she couldn't eat. We had about 45 minutes between the time we left the infusion lab and went to the hospital for the surgery and she actually fell asleep in the car. The poor thing was just exhausted. And starving. I carried her into the hospital and as she woke up, she recognized the hall we were walking down and said, "Maybe the music girl will be here." She wasn't, because she got into grad school back in Chicago, so we read a book while we waited. They actually got us back into surgery before our 1:00 time, so that was great. The doctor got the needle into her spine on the first try and took the sample and gave her her chemo in just a few minutes. We wheeled out into the recovery room and when she woke up she was ready for food! The nurse gave her a popsicle and she was so happy to have it, it was just what she needed. She ate a few crackers too and then another popsicle.

All of the nurses in the surgery center are so sweet and loved Brooklyn's dress and her bright smile. She always seems to bring smiles into a room, wherever she is. She felt good enough that we all got to go to Kayla's performance at her school Friday night. Our preschool director is amazing and let us use the cry room in the back of the church so that Brookie could still go watch Kayla sing, but wouldn't be in the sanctuary with so many people and exposed to so many germs. After the program was over, the kids all ran around outside, chasing each other and playing tag. It was amazing because if you didn't know it, you would never have guessed that Brooklyn had had 3 doses of chemo and a spinal tap earlier that same day. She was running around with all the other kids, happy as could be, and that made us all happy. Yesterday we had fun going to Braden's game, and it was great because they won! Brooklyn fell asleep on the way home and slept for a few hours before we had some friends over for dinner. Today, on Mother's Day, I was once again so thankful for the mothers in my life. My mom and dad met us after they went to church and took the kids back to our house so that we could go. We let all the kids go back home because Kayla has a fever and is sick now, Brooklyn and Kelsey usually don't come, and so we said Braden could stay home too. As soon as my parents got home with the kids, Brooklyn threw up all over the floor. I am sure my mom didn't imagine she would be cleaning up puke on Mother's Day, but she was, as always, amazing and didn't mind at all and just took care of everything. My aunt and uncle came over later in the afternoon and we all got to spend the day together. The three of us moms got to spend an hour upstairs in my bathroom painting our toes and I felt so blessed to have such amazing, selfless, giving women in my life. Mike's mom spent the day with the rest of the family at home and though tired, sounds great and is happy to be home with everyone. We are so happy she is doing so well and grateful to have her as our mom/mother-in-law/grandma. Happy mother's day to all of the amazing women in our lives who keep our family in their thoughts and prayers. We truly appreciate you.

Spunky Spitfire

We had kind of a long one today. Kelsey still has a fever so I tried my best to not have her get too close to Kayla or Brooklyn, but it is hard when they all want to be together and I am trying to get stuff done in another area of the house. Kelsey didn't feel great so she wanted to be held a lot and Kayla and Brooklyn tried to help her feel better however they could. Brooklyn's nurse came over to draw her blood, and everything came back good, so that is great! We go in tomorrow morning for her chemo and then head over to the hospital for another spinal tap. I am really not looking forward to it since her surgery isn't until 1:00 and she can't eat until after it is over. It will be a long morning. I know we will get through it though because as I am writing this, we just got to see a little of Brooklyn's spunk back in action. I thought I heard something upstairs so Mike went up to check the kids and Brooklyn was soaking wet. She was "getting a drink of water" yet somehow there was an inch of water covering the entire bathroom counter and all over her nightgown. She was having quite a bit of fun up there! So, we just had to change her dressing again which we had just done an hour ago since she took a shower tonight. Even though she can exhaust us, it is good that she has that spunk. I think you have to be kind of a spitfire to fight a disease that is trying to attack your body. We are so happy that she is such a strong fighter. Mike's mom had another surgery today and it went well so she gets to go home tomorrow. I'm off to crash on the couch!! Happy Cinco de Mayo! :)

Where A Kid Can Be a Kid

That's right! We did it today - Chuck E Cheese to celebrate Kayla's birthday! Kelsey stayed home with my dad because she had a fever, so hopefully she will be better tomorrow and no one else will get sick! Of course I was nervous to take Brooklyn along but we planned it for today because all the school districts were back in school after spring break and we figured it wouldn't be too crowded. Aannnd, we were right! It was great! We were the only ones there. A few other people came in about half way through our party and it almost felt like they shouldn't be there because we had the whole place to ourselves. :) If you think about Chuck E Cheese, you of course think of germs. I know I do. But I also think of my kids faces and how it is their favorite place on earth. And Brooklyn hasn't gotten to do stuff like Chuck E Cheese for a long time, so I wanted her to be able to go and just have fun. I want her to be a kid. We all want our kids to enjoy their childhood and not grow up too fast. Sure, there are times when we look forward to the day when the kids can get dressed themselves, feed themselves, go to the bathroom themselves, not cry about every little thing - but we also want them to cherish the time when they don't have to worry about the concerns of the world, about paying bills, about what others think of them, about someone in their family getting sick. We want them to be innocent as long as possible and that is part of the reason I wanted Brookie to be able to go today. Her blood counts have been good and she's been feeling great, so we felt confident with her going. I thought it would be a little bit of a "defensive mechanism" if she would wear her gardening gloves when she played the games to protect her from germs and she was great with wearing them.

She had the best time. My mom came with us since Mike is still out of town and she followed Brooklyn around and helped her play the games. She was most excited when Chuck E came out. She chased him all around the restaurant and kept giving him high fives, just like she did with the mascot at the baseball game we went to a few weeks back. It was so good to see all the kids having so much fun. Brooklyn has been sleeping really well lately, but last night she woke up twice crying that her feet hurt. It helped her when I rubbed her legs and she eventually fell back asleep. The leg and foot pain is a side effect of the chemo, but she hasn't had any trouble with it since that time when she couldn't put her heals down a couple months ago. Hopefully it won't be a problem for her again. Mike's mom's surgery went well yesterday. She came through it with flying colors and found out that the cancer hadn't spread to her lymph nodes, so we are all so thankful for that. We so appreciate all of your prayers for our family and feel so surrounded by love and support.

Let's Eat Cake

We had a fun and pretty mellow weekend. It was Kayla's birthday on Saturday so we had a relaxing morning with pancakes, bacon and eggs and presents! We went to the park for a little while and then my parents and aunt and uncle came over to celebrate. Kayla wanted to frost her own cake, so Brooklyn and I helped her mix everything together, but then she frosted it herself - such a big 5 year old!  The kids and Mike decided to go in the pool after we got home from the park, but I decided to be the towel holder again. :) It was still pretty cold and the girls' little jaws were shivering, but they were loving it. Brooklyn's favorite part was telling her dad to do a "twity whip" - a twisty flip - off the diving board. He did quite a few, and is actually a little sore today as a result! :) We had to change Brooklyn's dressing twice yesterday because she took a bath in the morning and then she went swimming in the afternoon. I am so glad that she is doing so well, and I would do anything to make things good for her, but the whole dressing change and flushing and medicine is a lot to remember. It is kind of exhausting. I am looking forward to this summer so much and having a pool that we can play in, but I know it will be a struggle with having to keep Brooklyn out of it or changing her dressing constantly to make sure she doesn't get an infection. When the time comes for her to not get chemo quite as often and blood tests less frequently, we can have her Broviak taken out and put a port in, which is completely under the skin, so that will be nice. She is still loving to wear underwear, but has had a few accidents when we have been out running around and it is harder to remember to go to the bathroom as often. We had a great weekend enjoying the sunshine, cake, and each other.