Yorks ALL In: Hello 2018! First Half

2018 has finally arrived.

Thank you Jesus!

When Ellie was diagnosed in April 2016, this new year seemed so far off. Going through these past 20 months of treatment, we felt every step of the marathon that we were living. Of course we knew in our minds that we would eventually get to this point, but at times it seemed like it would never arrive. But it has and we couldn't be more thrilled. We can now say that Ellie will be finished with treatment THIS YEAR!

With 2017 behind us, I will catch you all up on what has been going on in our lives and specifically how Ellie has been doing. I have been finding it increasingly difficult to blog because it's either depressing and sad, or it is exciting and showy. Both emotions feel too extreme to convey, so my hope is that by including it all together in one post you will get a better representation of what our year truly encompassed. Like each of you reading this, we had good days and bad days. It just feels so much more exaggerated this year. The bad days were awful and the good days were so great, we almost could forget about Ellie's cancer treatment.

So, here we go. This was our 2017.

January

After not spending very much time together out as a family in 2016, we gently eased into the new year unsure of what Ellie would be capable of doing.

Ellie began Maintenance in December and continued with that treatment protocol throughout the entire year.

February

Little things like playing outside showed us that Ellie was regaining her strength.

We attended our first of several Lightning games and quickly became huge fans.

We visited the circus, but Ellie refused to have her picture taken and quickly fell asleep once the show began.

We visited Legoland with the Sunshine Kids Foundation, and it was easily one of the best days of the entire year. We will always look back at that day as a turning point in Ellie's treatment. After an extremely difficult year for Ellie, that day at Legoland showed us that normalcy would be returning to our family.

Outings are always scheduled around Ellie's treatments. After all of this fun, it was time for Ellie to go back to the hospital. Not to worry, there were cookies to decorate that day!

We threw potty training in at the end of the month. No more diapers! Then, Ellie got the flu and managed to keep it for three months. This led to three unexpected ER visits in the Spring. You get Tamiflu! You get Tamiflu! Everyone gets Tamiflu!

The iPad went everywhere with Ellie. Here, she is waiting at the pulmonologist.

March

The first of the unexpected ER visits.

Ellie requires breathing treatments almost daily, some more aggressive than others.

Back at the hospital for scheduled chemo, This visit included a lumbar puncture.

Due to the success we had with Legoland, in March we decided to surprise the girls with a vacation to Orlando. It's hard for me to describe how much that week healed our family. It was perfect.