The other side of the coin

Big sigh of relief. Bianca is definitely getting over this bug. She's much more interested in things in general (she even played a game of chess with Terence tonight) and she definitely has an appetite again. Well, fussy as always, but at least very much interested in eating again. Now we must just make sure that the runny tummies are all gone and then she can go back to school (the 2 days that are left of this term). One of Terence's colleagues mentioned that you can tell whether a child is well or not by how cheeky a child is and based on that, I'd have to say that Bianca is definitely on the mend, she has regained her sense of humour and witty sayings that she amuses us with every day. (So by the way, Caitlyn's latest saying is "it's delicious!").

So at this point all is good on this side.

Last night I wrote about the more difficult side of this journey, the side that is most definitely not funny and will never be funny. Funny and child cancer - they don't belong in the same sentence. Just as easy and child cancer don't belong in the same sentence. But certainly we have found a way to make it more manageable. I remember when I sat there that first week, totally numb, shocked, heartbroken - I remember thinking that I didn't want to look back and only remember feeling sad. And so we made the decision that whatever this journey threw at us, we would find things somewhere along the line that was more positive. Caitlyn was good that way. We had to focus on her things as well. It certainly took the focus away from the cancer from time to time.

We try very hard to keep things as normal as possible for Bianca. When she couldn't go anywhere, we tried to make things fun at home, things like letting her bake things for the fairies and then they come in the night and leave special surprises:

Or planting a popcorn tree (who knew if you planted unpopped popcorn seeds that it grows into a popcorn tree where you can pick your own popcorn):


She did ballet for a little while:


She likes to dress up:


Play at the beach:


Or the park:

And just like any other kid, ride her bike:


And most of all, she loves to go to school:


We found it is possible to live life despite having cancer. But in saying that, it wouldn't have been possible if it wasn't for some people that we met along the way. Sure there are some really twisted and horrible individuals out there, but there are many many really good people too. We've only ever once had a little boy commented that Bianca had no hair to which she replied "it is growing back" and she turned around and walked away. But other than that, everybody else we came across has always treated us as normal. They never pointed (that we were aware of), they didn't say anything nasty in front of us, whether at school or at ballet (for that little while) everybody just treats Bianca like one of the other kids. She has a lot of friends and the kids don't make fun of her, they accept her. And so as a result this journey has become easier and more manageable. So I want to say thank you to all of you. You will never know how much of a difference that makes to us!