Cancer Lists

"Cancer Dates" I'm Excited For (Mark Your Calendars!)

• 2011 in general: Although we have seen so many blessings in 2010, we've also kind of had our trash kicked - over and over and over and over again. :) Statistically speaking, 2011 has GOT to be more calm. :)
• January 1- 7, 2011: Our Make A Wish Trip to Florida!
• March 18-19, 2011: Elena's One Year Diagnosis Anniversary Party and Service Project
• July 14th, 2012: End of Maintenance a.k.a. No more chemo!
• August/September 2012: Elena's Deportation Party :)
• July/August/September/October 2012 :) : The biggest freaking party that ever was to celebrate no more chemo!

Things I'm Excited to Do Once Elena's Counts are High

• Go to church as a family
• Be able to run an errand whenever I need to without having to worry about a babysitter for Elena... mail a package at the post office, take Lily to her well baby check-ups, run and grab an ingredient I forgot for dinner, the possibilities are endless!
• Get Elena started in a dance class
• Take my kids shopping with me (I know I sound absolutely nuts on this one, but seriously! I enjoy my quiet shopping trips now, but I also watch the moms wrangling and struggling with their kids longingly. You really don't know what you've got until it's gone. I want to wrangle my kids at the grocery store if it means we can all be there together.)
• Just being able to go out into public in general

Things I'm Grateful For Now, Even When Elena's Counts Aren't High

• Being all together in our home (and not the hospital) for the holidays. Unfortunately, I can name quite a few families who are not home all together for the holidays. It is a blessing that I am more aware of this year and truly thankful for this year.
• A little break from chemo. Maintenance has been delayed for the second week in a row because of low counts. (I'm starting to get a little nervous about the timing of everything with steroids and meds and Christmas/our MAW trip.) It's so nice to have Elena smiling and energetic and under her own powers.
• Little things like getting to hold my kids, watching them run around, hearing their voices, etc. We have a cancer friend named Skyler who is fighting for his life right now. He's been in the PICU at Primary's for five months. His mom wrote the sweetest post (go to Dec 9th's post) about how she got to hold Skyler in her lap for half an hour for the first time in a long, long time. She talked about how wonderful it was and how grateful she was for that moment and how she would never take for granted little things like that again. What a wake-up call for me! Me - the one that swore after Elena was diagnosed that I would never, ever take her for granted again. And I do - every day I short change her and get frustrated and annoyed. I'm grateful for Crystal's sweet example - I'm trying hard each day to be more grateful for each precious moment with my girls.
• Having Elena here with us this Christmas. I can't imagine what life would be like now if we hadn't been given such a great prognosis nine months ago. The first day and a half in the hospital, before we had any answers and before we knew anything about ALL, our minds were swimming - wondering where our lives were headed and if we'd get to keep our precious girl with us. I'm thankful beyond measure that we got good news and that the Lord has preserved her.