The Show Must Go On ...

When I thought about Halloween and what it was going to take to pull it off this year, given that the past week has been a week from holy hell to say the least, the Queen song 'The Show Must Go On', came to mind. And you know what? The show did go on and as I type this, I really can't believe it actually did. And the truth be told I did not do it alone. If not for the amazing support and help, both physically and emotionally, both here and at their grandfather's, from my my older girls, the entire week, would not have gotten done with one ounce of grace. My girls, are the best.

The long and short of it: My dad had major shoulder reconstruction surgery last Friday and thank God, my sister flew in from Texas, because my house got hit with a nasty stomach virus for the majority of us and some crazy, croupy, coughing thing for Joe. Last one standing is Mark so far. Caitlin, Danny and Charlotte were the first and the rest of us followed.  And Zoey, is still battling it.

 And if not for one of the THE most amazing pediatricians, we would have been put in-patient a day or so ago. There were a few moments when I wasn't so sure that that wasn't what we should be doing. As in yesterday, as we spent 8 hours gtube feeding her fluids, 25 cc's at a time, every 10-15 minutes, until we reached 1600 cc's. Crazy.

She is so weak. And it is so sad to see her this way and tonight as I go to bed, I will hope and pray, like I have the last few nights, that in the morning I will be greeted with some semblance of a smile. Because for 4 days, there have been none. And me, well, I was hit hard. Brutal. But if there is a silver lining to it, this bug hits hard and you recover surprisingly fast. And if you know me, you know I would rather have full blown pneumonia then the stomach thing. But as Caitlin reminded me, you can run but you cannot hide from vomit. Or wish it away. Or hand sanitize it away. Or Clorox it away. Trust me. I tried. Oh how I tried.

A brief glimpse of Halloween 2012.

I think Mark actually scares me more then Jake's vampire. And Joe, is he not just so cute as Mr. Fredricksen from the movie 'Up'?

Some bone bread sticks that went along with our Chicken Noodle soup. Chili is my usual Halloween deal but this year opted out. I am thinking everyone's tummy would not have appreciated it much. Pumpkins got done. At oh, 5:30 pm. Talk about last minute. Jake went for his own original 'Foo Fighters' design and Joe begrudgingly gave into a simple jack-o-lantern. At one point I think he wanted to do his favorite hockey players face. Yeah, wasn't gonna happen.

One last thing, and then it is time to head to bed. Way overdue for bed infact. But I would be remise in not mentioning that it was 4 years ago today, Halloween evening that Zoey was given her first dose of Chemo. And so began her courageous fight against leukemia. 8 long and grueling months for our girl. But tonight we feel blessed and lucky to have that precious child's cancer free body here with us. My mommy heart however, hopes, wishes and prays, that tomorrow, that same cancer free precious body will be a little more perkier and perhaps give me just a few more smiles. I miss them.

Look at that smile. Even while yucky, lifesaving chemicals were coursing through her tiny 19 month old body. Such a girl. Such a fighter.