… can’t believe it’s september already …

our life consists of pick ups and drop offs as of late.  i seem to be always driving here and driving there, picking up here and picking up there …

arielle is settling into high school.  she’s gone to one dance already and plans to go to another – homecoming is coming up in a few weeks. she’s getting into the swing of her classes and staying on top of her honors classes.  she has tried out for the choir and is now involved in three.  the hours for practices are before and after school depending on the director’s availability so she sometimes have to be up by 5a to be in school by 7a and sometimes home after 6p.  they are long days and i wonder if she’s overdoing it, but she has taken the initiative to participate and is driven to fulfill the commitments.  however, i have told her that her health and what we need to do to keep her healthy is more important than any of the commitments she has made and will definitely have to come first.  she makes faces at me at times when i have to remind her to take her calcium pills and that it’s time to go to bed.  she sometimes tries to bargain with me to stay up a little longer so she can finish her homework, but for the most part, listens to what i have to say.

on a medical note, her last scans showed that arielle remains “clean.”  the area in her chest that caused such concern is still there, but since we did the biopsy, we know that it is just the thymus.  she is scheduled for a doctor visit in november, just before thanksgiving.  mid-october marks the one year anniversary of her last chemotherapy and the doctor visits are becoming less frequent with every month that she stays “clean”.    since we had the port removed,  arielle was able to join her tae kwon do classes again and, just recently, put her braces back on.  she’s not too happy about the braces, but every normal teenage activity that goes on is another marker for me to see that she is better and helps me breathe a little easier.