Shred of Hope

First of all, thank you thank you thank you for the enormous outpouring of support and love and sadness that came from all corners yesterday. It means so very much to us to know there are so many people out there thinking about us and praying for us and pulling for us. I have said […]

Not surprised

Oh, how I wanted to be surprised. I wanted to be shocked, disbelieving: “What?! Really? It shrunk? It disappeared? It can do that??” But no, I was not surprised. It was as we had thought. And as we had feared. This little mass has doubled in size, from 1 centimeter in diameter to 2, in […]

Fattening up, part 2

We’re fattening up again. Packing in as much Christmas as we possibly can before … well, before who knows what, but at the very least, before tomorrow. Friday afternoon, we went to visit Santa, arriving at five minutes after 5 o’clock only to discover that Santa “feeds his reindeer” between 5 and 6 (I swear, […]

Distractions

I know our current situation would not work for everyone. In fact, I’m sure the very thought of trying to sell one house, renovating another and awaiting a potential cancer recurrence probably seems like a total nightmare to many of you. But I have to say, this is just what we need right now. This […]

Next steps

Well, we have successfully moved the ultrasound up to Monday, December 7th from the 15th. I had been feeling like it was all so far away, which both made me nervous because of how close it was to Christmas but also gave me comfort because, well, because it felt so far away. And now suddenly […]

Plans

You know I’m a planner. Especially at this time of year with holiday parties and family gatherings and Braedan’s December 24th birthday, which needs to be celebrated both at school and at a party all while keeping it separate from Christmas. Add to that the fact that our house might be ready to move into […]

Happy

We had Braedan’s first official school conference yesterday and, among other glowing compliments, his teacher said he is one of the happiest children she has ever known. “Always happy and always positive,” were her words. Through my years as a classroom teacher,  I have glimpsed the inner lives of many different types of children, each […]

Uncommitted

People keep asking me and Mark how we feel and the honest answer is that we just don’t know yet. This is all so uncertain, things seem to change so drastically so quickly and until we have something more definitive than we have right now, we just aren’t committing to any particular reaction or emotion. […]

The pendulum swings

You know, you would think, after all we’ve been through, that we would learn not to get too comfortable. That we would somehow always be ready, forever on our toes, prepared for whatever comes. And yet instead, we learn to adapt so quickly that it feels almost seamless. We move fluidly from good to bad […]

The nitty-gritty

I find it sort of funny, or at least ironic, that all of us (you out there as well as me and Mark) are feeling such joy and relief after Monday’s meeting. It’s almost as if we think, “Oh thank God, that’s over with,” when in reality, whatever was inside Austin’s body last week is still there today. […]