That is joy.

Our day started at NCH at 8am.

Brady needed two bags of platelets.

That makes six bags of blood products in the past five days alone.

Then, he got his third and final immunotherapy for this round.

All of that took five hours.

We then had to head downstairs.

After two weeks of chemo into his spinal fluid, the leukemia blasts still remain. So today Brady needed another lumbar puncture with chemotherapy.

We got down there only to find out his platelet level had only gotten to 24,000 after the two bags.

So a decision had to be made.

Brady’s oncologist and the doctor preforming the procedure felt that it was safe, and necessary, to move forward even though the minimum platelet level is normally a bit higher then where he was at.

We agreed.

Eradicating the blasts from his spinal fluid is important.

So now we sit. Three hours after his procedure our sweet and brave boy is battling a headache, high blood pressure and is feeling really crummy after the day he has had.

We are waiting it out to see if we can get everything to resolve so we can finally head home.

Days like today are so long. They are so exhausting for all of us.

It is so easy to want to be anywhere but where we are.

But then there is Brady. A ten year old boy. Fighting cancer, again. Walking into the hospital on the last Friday of his summer vacation and he is says, “there are always opportunities to do good things here.”

Whew.

That is joy.

That is finding joy in whatever hand you are dealt for the day.

That is the joy I hope we can all have each and every day.

So here I rock in a rocking chair next to his bed and pray that I can be as cool as my kid is some day.

Here is to finding the joy in every situation and looking for opportunities to do good wherever we are.

Shields up.

Swords out.

Joy seeker,

Kristin

“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.”

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