Easter...one week early

This weekend has been great for Brooks and the whole family! Yesterday, he spent the day with his family and cousins at Grandpa and Grandma Palmer's. They had an Easter egg hunt and flew kites. It was so fun for everyone! Brooks even tried to play a little bit of "steal the flag" with all of the cousins. Today, he had an Easter celebration at Grandpa and Grandma Call's. He was super tired (probably from all of the running around on Saturday), but all in...it was a great weekend!
-Kristi

Home at last

Brooks was able to come home yesterday (March 22nd)!!! Yeah!!!! He should be home until next Friday as long as he keeps staying healthy. I don't think that Brooks has ever been as stir crazy as he was this round in the hospital. He was able to have a few visitors, which helped, but I know he prefers being at home and so do the rest of us. Yeah Brooks!

Special visitors

Brooks has been able to have some really friendly visitors while he has been in the hospital. This is a picture of one of the therapy dogs that Brooks likes to hang with. I think Brooks really likes this dog because it wants to cuddle and be held. I think the dog weighs more than Brooks! Brooks has done well the past few days. He started running a little fever yesterday, but his body was able to fight it off on its own, which is super cool! He is going a little stir crazy sitting in the hospital. Lisa and Greg were able to get the webcam to work so that Brooks could see and hear all of the craziness going on at home with Ethan and Nic. It has helped so much to have the webcam and the laptop! I honestly can't thank people enough for being so generous! It is such a blessing that Brooks is able to go to a hospital where so many people volunteer and bring in just a little bit of the outside world so that patients like Brooks can have a brighter day!
-Kristi

Luck O' The Irish...

Brooks has a sweet new hat, and even though he isn’t Irish…we are all hoping that a little bit o’ that Irish luck rubs off this week. Grandma Palmer is staying the weekend with him so Lisa can go home and be with Greg, Ethan and Nic. Brooks has put together so many Lego’s this round in the hospital that his room is starting to look like Lego Land. We are definitely going to need to post some pictures of the Lego mania in the room. Brooks slept a lot today. I am sure that his body needs the rest. He was able to eat a steak dinner tonight, so his stomach must be doing really well tonight. Happy St. Patrick’s Day Brooks!
-Kristi

This is definitely a day that we will be happy to be done with. I don't know about this cancer thing. I wish it could be easier. . .The good news is that time seems to be passing quickly. I can't believe it's almost St. Patrick's day already. Hopefully we will blink our eyes and this will all be behind us. Brooks counts finally hit bottom today. I'm glad they're down but will be scared until they start building back. Can we just have a redo of last round? His skin biopsies came back negative. What a relief! Brooks is really missing his brothers and friends right now. He still continues to amaze me with his strength and maturity. I have always told him that he is strong willed and I am so glad that he is. Life right now is so surreal. It's hard to relate to things or think about things beyond surviving this. I'm just so grateful for all of you. We feel so blessed that we have you to lean on. Keep praying for us! We love you!


-Lisa

Feelin' groovy

Lisa sent some pics of Brooks right before he went home after his 2nd round of chemo. They are great! I couldn't resist posting them.
: ) Love ya Brooks!

This round in the hospital has been a little harder on Brooks and the family. He misses his brothers so much and his brothers miss him. I don't think we say it nearly enough, but cancer really sucks! The doctors found a few spots on Brooks that looked like cancer, so they took some samples and they are waiting for the biopsy to come back. His blood is still looking good, no cancer cells, but the spots on his skin looked a little suspicious. We are still waiting for his counts to drop to zero. Brooks is such a strong kid! I know he hates what he is going through (I think HATE is an understatement), but he always looks at the positive experiences and the lessons he is learning. He is AMAZING! Love you Brooks! You are always in our prayers!
-Kristi

Brooks has been back in the hospital since Sunday. He is doing well and received his last dose of chemo today. Round 3 is officially over. We are waiting for his counts to hit zero. Hopefully he will do just as well as he did last time. He has been putting together lots of Legos and watching a whole lot of Discovery and History channel. He misses his brothers. They are coming up to visit him tomorrow night, and I know that all of the boys are looking forward to spending time together. Remember him in your thoughts and prayers. We love you Brooks!
-Kristi