Today was a really good day

You read so much about the tears ... how about some joy?

Today was a really good day.

We went to the hospital for LW's followup appointment. What a difference, when you already know it's good news!

So, we go in, hauling in 3 dozen cupcakes, and a giant bag of presents. We collected some in December, when Amazon was having its crazy sales, and some folks sent some for the Little Warrior project. We shared cupcakes hither and yon, with nurses, our onc, the receptionists, patients, the janitor. Put the gifts back for later. Went and got blood taken. That never gets any easier. See the Oncologist who was thrilled with the hug LW gave him. Pronounced her very healthy, blood tests, scans, and all.

Went back to the area where the kids gets chemo. Distributed toys to all the patients. Need more boy toys for next time, but the kids were cool. And appreciative. Even the trying-to-act-tough teen boy. What can I say? Toys are magic.

Back down into the parking garage to get a big box of puzzles. When we were in the hospital, going to the hospital library and picking out a puzzle to borrow was always the highlight of every day. Unfortunately, a lot of the puzzles had missing pieces. For LW's off-chemo party, all our friends brought brand spanking new puzzles to donate. We took the giant box up to the library, thrilling the librarian, who has probably thrown away all the old puzzles by this hour. Little Warrior was pretty puffed with the pride of giving by this point.

Back down into the parking garage, and back up to the hospital's oncology floor with more cupcakes. Saw many nurse friends from when LW was inpatient. They seemed thrilled to see her looking so fat and happy. The cupcakes were appreciated, too.

Very good day. But the best was yet to come.

6 weeks ago, a Wilms' friend, who is also a Real Life friend, as we share the same oncologist, had scans. Like LW, she's fought the beast twice. There were spots in her lungs. (Wilms' often relapses in the lungs.) Small. She had just gotten over a bit of a cold, so they needed to wait 6 weeks to rescan. It was hard to be hopeful. I saw a mutual friend/nurse today. She didn't want to meet my eyes. We both talked about our hopes, our prayers for the scans.

I just got the news. CANCER FREE.

So ... I am back to tears. But these are really, really happy tears.

And this is a really, really good week.