Friday, Jan. 18, 2008

School day today! It was a bit strange getting both girls ready for school. Hannah is not used to getting up early when it's not a clinic day. She only had time to drink half of her protein drink this morning (I'm sure she was SO upset about that, ha) As we were walking out, she said "well this doesn't feel normal, I'm not used to going to school." That made two of us.

Hannah did great today, and stayed in school until 2pm (at which time I had to pull she and Colby out to attend a french horn day with Colby, go figure!) She would have stayed the whole day, had we not had to leave early. I really didn't know what to expect when I took her this morning. I had the feeling that she would cling to me crying when I took her in (which was the case the last several times I took her before the holidays.) Again, surprise!! She clung to me a bit, but gave me a kiss and left with Mrs. W with no problems. Then when I got a phone call at 11am, I wasn't surprised, because I had expected her to come home early, and had discussed it with her, telling her it was ok if she wanted to come home. However, it was just an update call, saying Hannah was doing great. Again, big surprise!

When I got there to pick them up at 2pm, Hannah came out talking with friends, just like old times. She sat in the office with them, talking until Colby arrived. Talk about a difference. She said she "wasn't tired one bit like she used to be." Biggest Surprise! Now I know how badly she must have felt before when she was going to school and only making it a couple of hours a day before nearly collapsing and coming home. She still doesn't feel 100%, but so much better than before. It was a good day all around. She had a snack, half a peanut butter and jelly for lunch and then a pretty good dinner with me tonight. She did seem genuinely hungry tonight and 1 1/2 rolls and some ravioli too.


Tomorrow is horseback riding, so I hope it is fun and a little less upsetting than last week. I truly feel she is moving forward, slowly but surely. Here is a picture of horseback riding from last week.

I did want to mention another fellow brain tumor warrior who is losing his battle with medulloblastoma. Julian aka King JuJu was diagnosed with standard risk medulloblastoma after Hannah, in March of 2007. He is only 4 years old, and he does not have many more days left here with his family before he goes on with his new family. He and his family could use your prayers. You can view his webpage at www.carepages.com (then enter his page name: juliansworld). His mom is an eloquent writer, it's just a heartbreaking story. He had standard risk medulloblastoma (same as Hannah), and his cancer returned with a vengence 6 months post chemo. The reality of brain tumors is indeed a hard reality we are living.

xoxo Kim