Pajama Gardening

We got the backyard gardens all pruned and planted. The strawberry patch is thoroughly thinned out and promising a ton of berries, currently in the form of blossoms. I think we're going to be even more pleased than we were last year with our strawberry harvest. Garden number two was completed by Amanda and Finn. We can't wait to see Finn's excitement as the carrots, corn, and peas begin to sprout!

We took advantage of the holiday and went out early Monday morning to finish things off. The kids were in their PJs, Amanda in her work clothes, and me with the camera.

Julia had her weekly blood count taken in RF and things are good from that angle. Another week and a half off until her final chemo. It hasn't really hit me yet that the end of that stage is fast approaching. It'll be nice, but I'm also dreading the frequent scans to make sure the cancer stays in remission. For months we've been living this life as cancer patient (well, Julia directly, us vicariously) and we're about to switch partially back to our pre-cancer life. Those scans are the events that will always threaten to send us again into treatment mode, which would be scarier the second time around.

All throughout this ordeal, I've done a decent job of blocking out the worst possible outcomes. They creep in periodically and scare a person, but I know you can't live in that state. So in between the scans, I'll pretend they aren't always right around the corner and enjoy the times with Julia, Finn, and Amanda (fine, and Skippy, too) and just allow myself the day or two of internally freaking out before each one. I can't help it, I'm a worrier.

Besides just being done with the treatment, one other thing we have to look forward to is planning a party sometime after treatment is all finished. We're thinking sometime in July, probably at Glen Park. It'll be an open invitation to anyone who wants to come.