Aye Aye Matey!

We have remembered in this last week how important our eyes are. Last Monday was Kayla's birthday. We got her off to school with cookies for her class to celebrate. Brooklyn had her monthly appointment with her oncologist so my mom came over to help watch Kelsey and get Braden to school. As I was getting Brooklyn in the car, she found her stethoscope from one of her nurses. It is a real one, and she likes playing with it, pretending to be a doctor and listening to our hearts as well as checking her stuffed animals' heart rates. However, as she grabbed it out of the back of the car, I noticed that one of the rubber ear pieces was missing so I told her she could hold it but she couldn't put it in her ears because she could get hurt. I buckled her in her seat and ran back in the house to get my keys. My mom was in the garage talking with Brooklyn and all of a sudden she started yelling. I ran out to the garage and saw the stethoscope stuck in Brookie's eye. She had had it on her head and somehow it slipped into her eye. I could see it was stuck under her eyelid so I ran to help her and she got it out right when I got there. I didn't know how bad it was but she was crying and scared and her tears had blood in them so I was worried for her. My mom got a wet washcloth and Brookie held it on her eye all the way to the doctor's office. Right when we pulled into the parking lot she said, "mom, I can open my eye all the way!" like it was the most exciting thing she'd ever done. I was so happy that we had an appointment that morning so we could get it looked at right away. The oncologist we had that morning was so nice and said she thought Brooklyn was looking really good. After her exam, she looked at her eye and put some special dye in it to see if the cornea had been scratched. We could clearly see a scratch in the white part of her eye, but couldn't tell that there was a scratch on her iris until she put the dye in. It was really cool the way it showed up, but sad that she had scratched so much of her eye. The doctor put some antibiotic ointment in it and then covered it with a patch. She said the cells in the eye multiply so fast that she expected it to be fine by the next day. As we were talking after her patch was on, I told her she was super cool, like a pirate, and she said, "like Izzy?" from Jake and the Neverland Pirates. Yes, like Izzy. Then we had to go into the infusion room to draw blood and get her chemo. That all went well and Brookie picked out a pillow case for herself and for each of her siblings. Even in her time of pain, she was thinking of them. When we got back home, we picked up Kelsey and Kayla and went to the park to have pizza and cake with her friends from school. Brookie ran and played with the rest of the kids just fine, although I was a little worried about her balance since she could only see out of one eye. It was so crazy because I kept feeling like you see shows on TV all the time where stuff like that happens to kids, but you always kind of think, that wouldn't happen to us, I'm a better parent than that. How does that happen? But it happens so quickly! The stethoscope is in the garbage now, but we will be more careful with everything I think. That night we had our family party and it was a great time to be all together. Tuesday morning we had to go to the pediatrician to have him check her eye. The scratch that had been on the blue part of her eye was already gone but I had noticed that morning that she had a scratch on the other side of her pupil as well. Her doctor said that she was really lucky that she didn't scratch the eye all the way across because she could've had vision damage if she had. He wanted us to use the ointment three times a day for a week but it was weird because when we put it in her eye, she cried and said it stung, which it wasn't supposed to. He thought it was probably just a reaction between the eye drops he had used and the ointment but he prescribed a different one for her just in case it was truly bothering her. However, when I went to the store to pick it up, they didn't have it and no other pharmacy in the area had it either. So I decided to keep the one we had and try it again to see if it was ok. She did fine with it the rest of the week although sometimes she would say, it stings! And I would say it does? And she would say - just jokin!  After a few days she started asking which eye it was that she had scratched, so I knew it was getting better. :) She was even able to do her swim lessons Wednesday and was fine. The rest of the week was pretty uneventful (thank goodness!) except for baseball games. Mike's parents came to town Friday so we got to spend the weekend with them. They got here in time to go to Mike's softball game Friday night, we had two baseball games Saturday and one last night. Baseball mania! Mike's mom is done with chemo and is on the mend and we are so thankful for that. We got to celebrate her birthday last night after Braden's game too, so that was great. Brooklyn's latest 'incident' has got me thinking about how we aren't really thankful for what we have until we don't have it anymore. For instance, we don't usually wake up thanking God for our eye sight or our ability to hear or walk, we just do it. But once one of those things is injured or hurt, it's all we can think about. When you stub your toe really bad, every step for the next hour or so hurts; if you break your foot and are in a cast, you can't wait until the day when you can walk normally again. If you had to wear a patch on your eye every day, you would count the days til you could use both eyes again. And most likely, you would pray for God to heal you quickly. We have just under a year left for Brookie's treatment. We are getting closer and closer to her being declared cancer free and I am learning to be thankful for every healthy day. One of the songs we sang in church this week said "I lift my eyes up, my help comes from the Lord." I thought it was so appropriate since eyes were our focus this week. I am thankful my eyes can look up.

Questions

Brooklyn has been feeling well the last couple weeks. She hasn't had much nausea in the mornings and when her home nurse Wendi came out last Monday to check her blood, her numbers were all right where they want them to be. We have still been struggling to get her to eat healthier food, so dinners at our house are not the most fun time of the day. She has been preferring to not eat than eat something she thinks is going to be yucky. Even things she typically likes, like mac & cheese, she will refuse if it doesn't look the right way. It is good to see that her stubborn strength is still helping her battle the cancer, it just doesn't make meal time very easy. :) Two weekends ago, Mike and I got to go to Arizona for a trip with his work. It was a really nice resort and it was good to get away together for a few days. My parents and aunt and uncle all watched the kids and they had a fun time. We were nervous to be so far away, especially because the resort didn't have cell phone service, but everyone stayed healthy, so that was a huge blessing. We haven't been away from them for that long before so it was really good to get back home on Sunday, I swear they looked like they had grown! :) Kelsey is starting to talk so much more and wanted to tell us everything she did with "Bubba, YaYa, and Bookie." :) I woke up that night with the flu, which made Monday and Tuesday hard because I wanted to stay away from the kids so they didn't get it, but they just wanted to be near me because we had been gone all weekend. Thankfully I was better by Wednesday and no one else got sick. We had a fun Saturday filled with back to back baseball games which was a little crazy for Mike, running from Braden's game straight over to Kayla's field. It was a really hot day too, so we all got some color, my color was mostly a reddish hue since I made sure to lube up the kids with sunscreen but forgot my white legs of course! We were all so hot and sweaty when we got home, the kids and Mike actually jumped in the pool! Their jaws were shivering, but it was good to cool down and clean up a little. Then we got to celebrate my uncle Jack's birthday that night which was really fun and good to see some wonderful family and friends. Sunday after church we drove to Vacaville to meet our good friends, the Mullanes at the Nut Tree. We were quite a scene getting a table for 12 (they have 4 kids too), but luckily the restaurant we went to was loud and had plenty of other kids in it, so the noise level we brought just added to the mix. :) The kids all had a fun time playing on the play area afterward and then we headed home to finish homework up before Monday morning. When we were driving one day last week, Brooklyn started to ask me questions about God and Heaven. She said, "Do God have Petaroni pizza mom?" I said yea, I think he does. She then asked if He has tables. I said, yea, He probably does. Then she asked if God has medicine. I said, "You won't need medicine when you're in Heaven Brookie because you won't be sick." She wanted to know if we are young or old in Heaven and I said I wasn't really sure but that she didn't need to worry about that because she wouldn't go to Heaven for a long time, after she grows up and gets married and has kids and she is really old. She almost started crying and said, "I don't want to be old," which made me almost start crying because one thing every mom wants is for their kids to grow up and live a full, happy life and not die until they're old. I said, "I want you to be old Brookie." But she just kept saying she didn't want to be. I know that she didn't know what she was saying and that she wasn't getting deep and philosophical on me or anything, she is 4 after all, so I just changed the subject. But this Sunday in church, we sang one of my favorite songs which always makes me cry. The chorus is talking about what life will be like in Heaven and I thought it was perfect after the conversation we had just had last week. The words say, "No weeping, no hurt or pain, no suffering, You hold me now, You hold me now. No darkness, no sick or lame, no hiding, You hold me now, You hold me now." It will be wonderful, whatever age we are.

Spring Break

Mike was laughing at me last night because I had just told him that I think this last week was the best week ever. He said, "I think you like spring break more than the kids do." It might be true! I love being on our own schedule and getting to do fun stuff together, and getting to sleep in a little bit too! Monday, Brooklyn had her monthly appointment with her oncologist, and it was the first time all of the other kids have come with us to her appointment. The doctor said she was looking good so then we headed over to to the infusion room. I wasn't sure how it would work there because they only allow one family member in while she is in there, but Mike had a lot going on at work, so he couldn't make it to the appointment, so I had all 4 kids with me. They were really great about it though and put us in one of the isolation rooms. It was so cute because Braden and Kayla were really into watching the nurse draw Brooklyn's blood and give her the chemo, and they kept saying how brave she was. Brookie was loving showing them how she could help with everything from cleaning her port to flushing it and helping shake up the blood. It was really sweet because the nurse took Brooklyn into the other room to pick a prize when she was done and she came back with a present she had picked out for each of the other kids. I took them out for frozen yogurt after we were done because they were so good during both appointments. Tuesday morning we woke up and got on the road to head to San Francisco for the day. I thought it would be fun to take the kids to the SF zoo because Mike and I had been there one other time when Braden was really young and had loved it. It was a really fun day and we loved seeing all the different animals and hanging out all together as a family. After we were done there we took the kids down to Pier 39 to see the sea lions and have dinner. The weather was perfect for us all day and it was so much fun to take a little day trip. Wednesday the kids got to play with some friends while I ran some errands to get ready for having bunco at our house that night. They really wanted to stay up and watch all of the moms roll dice, but they were all pretty tired from our big trip the day before. Thursday morning we got up and went to horse camp. We have been to this same camp a few other times, and the instructor is great with the kids and our kids love being around all the animals. I stayed with them because I wanted to make sure that Brooklyn was doing okay since she was one of the younger kids. They got to hang out with chickens, bunnies and horses and the older three all got to ride on a beautiful white horse named Stella. They also got to play on the trampoline and ride the zip line and finished the morning with an Easter egg hunt. They had a lot of fun in just three hours! Kelsey loved playing with everyone too, and even got to sit on Stella with her big brother. We had lunch and played at the park with our friends after camp and then rushed home for Kayla's t-ball practice. We were all pretty tired that night! Friday we had lunch at our favorite pizza place with some good friends and the kids spent every quarter we had in the game room. Going out to lunch and to the zoo and horse camp are new adventures for us since we haven't done a lot of that for the last year. It still freaks me out to have Brooklyn touching everything and sitting or laying on the ground, but I just try to wipe her hands with wipes as often as I can and hope that she doesn't get germs that will make her sick. She was on steroids again all week, so she had a few temper tantrums each day, which would usually end up with her crying on the floor, wherever we were. I know she wasn't feeling 100% so we tried our best to have extra patience with her during those times. Saturday, Braden's team had a scrimmage against another team so we all went out to watch. It was really fun and the team looked great! Coach Mike was really proud of them. :) After the game we ran some errands and then came home to work on a project Braden has due for school this week. Yesterday we woke up at 4:00am and 5:45am to Braden in our room wondering if it was time to go hunt for eggs yet. A little before 7:00 we all finally got up and came downstairs to find the Easter Bunny had visited our house! The kids had a wonderful time looking for eggs and we had a fun morning at home. We then went to a wonderful service at church and then headed over to my parents' house for the afternoon. My aunt and uncle were there and my parents' good friends the Shaffers came over for dinner too, so it was a wonderful day. We ended the night eating ice cream sundaes around the fire pit, two of our favorite things at Gaga and Papa's house. The kids actually had today off from school as well. We were a little more mellow today since they go back to school again tomorrow. My mom and the kids and I went to a park for a memorial picnic in honor of my friends' father. It was good to see her and spend some time with a family that I was so close with growing up. I took the kids to a playground after we left because they thought they were going to get to "play" since we were going to a park, but they didn't have much chance to while we were there. There was only one other little boy at the park, so we pretty much had it all to ourselves. I love watching the four of my kids play together, their laughter and happiness bring such joy to my heart. I pray that they will continue to be friends as they get older. When we got home I asked Brookie if she was feeling okay because she wasn't looking great and she said, "No, I don't teel good." and then ran outside to play with her brother and sister. She always seems to get a little swollen during her week on steroids, and I don't know if it's from eating more, or just from the drugs or if she holds more water, but her cheeks fill out and her belly gets a little more round. The next three weeks, she always slims back down, but then she starts them up again. I don't know if she's just not feeling great because she just finished steroids Saturday, or if her chemo is making her stomach upset or if she's just tired from our busy week. It could be a combination of the three I suppose. She still amazes me and although her moods may change as quickly as the weather lately, I know her feisty-ness and determination are what are helping her through this tough time in her life. I am so thankful for her strength.  

Spring is on the way!

We have had a fun couple weeks. The weather has been crazy, with sun one day and then rain for the next three. We've been trying to get outside whenever the weather has been nice & have been loving the sunshine. Brooklyn has gone to two swim lessons and done amazingly well! After her first lesson, the teacher told me that she thought Brookie was almost ready to move up to the next level and that Brooklyn kept asking her if she could just swim across the whole pool. :) She has no fear in the water, so it is great that she is getting some practice in now before we start swimming in our pool this summer. We have also been busy with baseball practice (on the days that it hasn't been rained out!) Mike has been amazing juggling 2 teams, organizing the schedules and teaching 25 kids ranging from 5 to 10 how to play baseball. We haven't started games yet, but it will definitely be exciting once we do! We had the kickoff pancake breakfast last weekend and Brooklyn wanted to wear a jersey just like Braden and Kayla, so they were pretty cute all together. We took the kids to see The Lorax in the afternoon and had such a fun time. The kids loved it and even Kelsey made it through the whole movie without squirming too much and having to go outside. :)  The kids all had fun weeks this week at school and Brooklyn and Kayla had parties and egg hunts in their classes before getting out for spring break. Brooklyn still seems to not be feeling great after the weekend, with the extra chemo making her stomach hurt in the mornings, but her blood counts are right where they want them to be, so it is good that her body is responding the right way. We are also super thankful that we have all stayed healthy the last couple weeks, especially after Kayla had strep throat. Brooklyn hasn't been wanting to eat much besides pizza and candy, so we are working on getting her to eat healthier food, which has been a bit of a struggle. After all, who doesn't love pizza and candy for every meal? :) It is still hard because we don't know if she's just being stubborn or if the food is really tasting bad because of her chemo. We're just trying to take it one meal at a time and explaining to her that we want her to be healthy as she's growing up, but all of that is a little much for a 4 year old to understand. :) This weekend Kayla got to spend the night at Nana & Bumpa's house and Brookie got to spend the night at Gaga and Papa's house Friday night. It was super special for each of them to get some time on their own with my parents and aunt and uncle. It was also super quiet here with just Braden and Kelsey! Braden got to go with Mike to his softball game Friday night, so he loved that too. We are pretty much all baseball all the time around here! We got some stuff done around the house this weekend which was great, and we are really looking forward to having the week off from school this week! Hopefully we will have some sunshine and everyone will stay healthy all week! I know how different spring break will be for us in 10 years, so I am going to be sure to enjoy every day with our kids while they still want to spend it with us. :)

Birthday Fun!!

Thankfully, we made it through the last couple weeks without the kids getting sick. None of the kids got the stomach bug that Kayla had, although Mike and I had a few days where we weren't feeling our best, so that wasn't fun. Last Monday kicked off a busy week for little Brookie though, so we were so glad that we were all healthy again. We went to the Oncologist Monday morning and got great reviews. :) She is growing well and is responding well to the increased chemo. Her numbers are actually back up despite the larger dosages making her feel nauseous. She is also cleared to do some "normal" stuff like swim lessons and gym class again! We were so excited because we have taken a year off from pretty much everything in order to minimize her exposure to germs. She also wasn't supposed to swim much last year because she had the broviak in which wasn't supposed to get wet. Now that she has a port, her risk of infection is lower and she is able to start up some classes again! She loved going in the pool last summer, but it was so much work trying to keep her broviak dry and cleaning the site and the tubes over and over, and she wasn't able to swim without help (although she really wanted to), so it will be great to get her started in some lessons to prepare her for a fun summer of swimming! After her appointment, she got her blood drawn and more chemo at the infusion room and then we rushed home to pick up Kayla from school. Tuesday, Brooklyn missed school because she had a spinal tap. We haven't been there for 3 months, but it was astonishing to see how "routine" it has become for us. She understood that she couldn't eat in the morning, and made sure that we remembered our 'surgery bag' full of toys and books that we always bring with us when we go. The nurses were all so happy to see her and 3 or 4 of them gathered all around her when we got there to welcome her and comment on how much she'd grown and how pretty her hair is looking. They were running a little behind, which is hard for little ones when they have to wait to eat, but Brookie started playing with another little girl in the waiting room who was waiting for the same surgery. I have seen her and her mom in the infusion room before and her hair is grown out about the same amount as Brooklyn's is, so I imagine she is at a similar stage in her treatment. She is in 1st grade and was very sweet playing with the toys in the waiting room with Brooklyn (though I still kind of cringe when we play with toys in the waiting room and I think about the germs that are probably on them!) It is crazy to think that as her mom was waiting for her daughter to go in to surgery, she was probably having all the same thoughts and feelings that I was having. Neither of these little girls deserves to have cancer, neither of us want our kids to be sick, but there we all were in the same room, bonding over our unexpected and unwanted similarities. I pray that they have the same support and devotion that we have had from friends and family throughout their journey with cancer. They've changed the rules at the surgery center, so I had to wear a full "bunny suit" - scrubs with the hair net and everything, to go into the surgery room with her. Brooklyn thought I looked pretty funny, and I'm sure I did! She woke up right after the surgery was over this time, usually she sleeps for at least a half hour, so we didn't have to stay for too long. She was tired that night but seemed to feel fine. Wednesday was her birthday!! I decorated the house Tuesday night so it was all pretty when she woke up in the morning. She said a couple times, "I tant bewieve I'm tor years old!" It was so much fun to celebrate and have her feeling good on her birthday. It was so different than last year when she had just finished a month of steroids which made her gain 10 pounds. She was barely able to walk, her whole body was so swollen and she got tired so easily. It is amazing to see how well she is doing and feeling just a year later. We went to get "tozen yodert" for lunch with some friends and then had our family over that night to celebrate. Petaronni pizza and cupcakes never tasted so good! :) Thursday she got to go to school and brought more cupcakes to celebrate with her class. They were all happy to see her and she got to wear a birthday crown all morning. Friday was her birthday party. We got to have it at My Gym this year with a bunch of her little friends. She wasn't able to really leave the house last year for her birthday, so we celebrated at home with our good friends, but she has been wanting to go back to gym class, so it was wonderful to get to have her party there. They cleaned all the equipment for us before we got there in order to minimize her exposure to germs and the two teachers that hosted the party were amazing with all the kids. Brooklyn was so happy and had the best time. She fell asleep on the couch at home before she even opened her presents, it was a big week for a 4 year old! Saturday the kids (and Mike) had baseball practice and Sunday we celebrated my mom and aunt and my birthdays. March is a busy month! This Monday during the middle of the night, Kayla came in crying that her throat hurt and we found out yesterday that she has strep throat. We have her sleeping in Braden's room again and she is doing much better after starting her antibiotics last night, but we're hoping, once again, that no one else gets sick. We had a mellow day at home today, trying to get Kayla to rest so she gets better, and keep the other three healthy at the same time. We had a contest going to see who could wash their hands the most, so hopefully all the germs went down the drain! It has been quite a year for our sweet little Brooklyn, but she continues to amaze us with her strength and bravery every day. 

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.

What a Year

It has been just over a year since our lives have changed dramatically. Yes, of course our lives changed a lot after we got married, and after we had our first child, and then the next, and then the next...but to receive the news that one of your children has cancer is never something you expect. It is almost surreal to think back to the night when our pediatrician called me at home to tell me that Brooklyn's blood tests had come back and that he was pretty sure she had Leukemia. I was floored. She had been sick back in October for a couple weeks, so our doctor ordered some blood tests, which came back pretty normal, but he just wanted us to follow up with more tests the next couple months to be sure all of her numbers were going the right way. I really hadn't wanted to go in that day in January because I knew she was fine, and I hated having to get her arm poked for nothing. She had been acting totally normal, in fact, we had just gone to her gym class and I had a little time to spare before I had to pick Kayla up from preschool. It wasn't fun but she did great and we went on with our day. When he called that night, I didn't even know what to say. I didn't know anything about Leukemia, or much about cancer in general, except that it is bad. I never even watched the St. Jude commercials because I thought it was so sad to see kids that were so sick. He told me we would have to check in to the hospital the next day and expect to be there for at least a week. He had called ahead for us and had already spoken to the Oncologist, whom he had worked with during his residency. I tried to ask questions, but didn't really know what to say. Mike was still at work so I had to call him and tell him to come home through my tears. It all seems surreal now. That week in the hospital seemed like an eternity. We learned more in 48 hours than we ever thought we would know about blood or cancer or surgeries. Our pastor called a wonderful doctor from our church and she came and met us at the hospital and helped answer our questions and even met with the oncologist with us to help get some answers. It was awesome the way that our family and friends rallied around us, stepping in wherever we needed help. We didn't have to worry about Braden and Kayla because my parents were with them and we had people taking turns driving Kelsey back and forth from the hospital 3-4 times/day so she could nurse. It was comforting to know that we didn't have to worry about the other kids during a time when we were worried so much about Brooklyn. One of the hardest parts about that week and that time was that she seemed totally fine. So, it was like we were taking a healthy kid in to the hospital and making her sick. She was so amazing throughout everything. She never questioned why we were there or why she had to do all of this stuff. It was all so confusing, trying to decide if she should have a broviak or a port, whether she should be on the "study" version of treatment, how she should take her medicine...these were all things we had never thought about before and didn't know the right answer. We learned though that because of all the research that has been done and trials and tests, the cure rate for ALL is almost 90%. That means it goes away and never comes back. I never thought I would be thankful for the kind of cancer my daughter has, but I am. We have been so incredibly blessed by so many people this year. The support from our families has been wonderful and we are so thankful for them. The way that our friends have rallied around us with prayers, time, meals and gifts as well as two amazing events in Brooklyn's honor has been more than we could've ever dreamed of.  We are so humbled by your support and thankful for your help throughout this past year. I was looking through pictures the other day and it almost brought me to tears to see how bald Brooklyn was this summer, and to see how big she got during her first month on steroids. She has been through so much this past year, but to see her now is amazing. You wouldn't even know she is still going through treatment. Sure, the steroids that she's taking again this week still stink, make her irritable and cause her to wake up all night long and we still have to be extra careful with germs and fighting infection, but overall, she is doing so well. Her sweet spirit and amazing fight are proof that God is holding her through this time, He is holding and helping all of us.