Busy, busy, busy

There you go, Uncle Ricky . . . pictures of Quinn's bear just like I promised! :O}










It is crazy how busy a family can be once school starts up, isn't it? Today was a divide and conquer kind of day.

My mom and dad picked the boys up from school, brought them home so that Jake could get his soccer uniform and gear, gave them a snack and then took Quinn to the Jr. High. Johnny's 7th grade football team had a game at Ring Lardner (which they won!) so Quinn and Johnny stayed in town. Then, they took Jake to Dowagiac for his soccer game. In the mean time, I finished up at work (thanks, Dennis for doing the late case! and my bestie, Laurie Lou for covering call for a while!) and drove to Dowagiac to catch up with Jake and the rest of the spectators. Of course, once I got to the stands to watch the game it started raining. Yuck. (Thanks Mom and Dad for all of your help!)

We all finally made it home around 8 p.m. where chaos ensued until snacks were eaten (again), homework finished up, showers taken, teeth brushed, etc and the boys finally got to bed around 9:15. Pretty good for all they had to accomplish.

While they were running helter skelter around the house, I was putting the finishing touches on the raffle tickets for the many, many prizes being offered at the golf outing and fish fry. Seriously, people -- you cannot believe all the prizes. We really know a lot of great people!

Just to whet your appetite here are just some of the prizes: a 7-day Ohio bow hunt, a Lake Michigan charter for four, a Lake Erie charter for four, a 3-day spring Ohio turkey hunt, a cooler full of fresh-frozen seafood from Florida, oil changes, hair cuts, sports memorabilia, golf packages, sporting events tickets, restaurant certificates . . . and the list really goes on and on.

Our excitement is increasing by the day for the golf outing and fish fry. And! It isn't to late for you to join us on Thursday night for the Escanaba in Da Moonlight production. That is sure to be a great time, too! Please contact me if you are still interested in tickets.

So, are you wondering how the Toad is actually doing? Last week chemo was pretty rough on him, and it took him much longer to recover than what he is used to. We know that Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of chemo week are rough, and that is where we want it to end. The reality of it is that as his body weakens from the chemo, the recovery will get harder. And it is. Although he tries really hard to get up and go, I can see it in his eyes when he is tired. He gets pale, too, when his body has had enough and needs rest. For instance, our family went to the high school football game last Friday night. Johnny had already had a long day with work and 7th grade football practice. By the middle of the third quarter, he leaned over and told me, "Whenever you're ready." What that really meant was, "I'm ready." When we got home, I didn't like how pale he looked. He took some Compazine and Ativan and headed to bed. I try not to harp on him about doing too much because Dr. Ansari has told Johnny to push as much as he wants. His body really does tell him when he needs to stop. I try to allow that to happen and follow his lead on what he can and can't do. It is so hard, though. I want to protect him from everything: tiredness, nausea, obnoxious people -- and I just can't all the time.

We anxiously await our next session with Dr. Ansari. We will find out the results of the labs which will determine if the amount of chemo is going to increase. We will also be arranging the next set of scans. I think the plan is for another MRI and another PET scan, not sure about a CT. I'm anxious in both a good and bad way for that to happen. With the diagnosis of cancer, I think you are always waiting for something bad to happen, even when nothing has gone wrong. Johnny is as anxious as I am with all of this. He was even thinking about calling the office to find out the results of the labs, but then we decided that we wouldn't know what positive or negative would mean for us, so we decided to let it go until we are parked in front of Dr. Ansari.

It is interesting to experience the life we lead on a daily basis with the ever present cancer chorus playing in the background. It never leaves us, not even for a minute. I have to tell you, truly, it is getting old.