July 2013

It's been pretty busy around here (in current time) so I apologize for only posting once a week. My goal is to get up to current time by the end of 2014! :)

We've reached July 2013, what a busy, busy month! We began by heading to Boston for Nate's first official follow-up MRI with visits with his team at Dana-Farber. To say we were incredibly anxious would be an understatement. We decided to stay overnight because we had the first appointment of the day. It's so much easier for an almost 2 year old because he wasn't allowed to eat or drink anything due to being sedated for the MRI. We arrived early to fill out paperwork. Once that was completed, we were brought back to the exam room. I ended up having to explain myself three times as to why I wanted him to be sedated for the MRI. Seriously?? He's not even 2 and they expect him to lay there for at least 90 minutes completely still so the images of his brain don't come out blurry? Once the sedation was settled, then I had to explain why he needed gas instead of the IV. The nurse insisted that they "know what they're doing" and he would be fine. We went back and forth a few times and through the tears, I begged to just give him the gas mask. The anesthesiologist agreed to it, finally. We were not going to have a re-occurrence of what happened at his 6 week follow-up at another hospital (check out May 2013). When Nate and I were called back to the MRI room, I had no idea what to expect. Well, I know now it is something I will never get used to, but I know I'll have to do it for a while. I sit on the gurney while Nate sits on my lap facing the doctors. They hold a mask up to his face for about a minute. He fights it and cries. But, he is able to breathe in the gas, and falls asleep quickly. I lay him on the gurney, give him a quick kiss, and walk out crying softly to myself. I walk back into the exam room and lose it. How the hell did we get here? And we're supposed to do this every 3 months. God help us.

Since we have a little time and they have our cell numbers, we decide to walk upstairs to get something eat. We sit across from each other, wanting to speak, but not knowing what to say. We each are thinking the same thing: begging the tumor to stay stable. Please let it be stable.

We walk back downstairs and are called back into recovery in a short time. He's still sleeping, which is normal. We sit down next to him and wait for him to wake up. Thankfully, he takes anesthesia well and wakes up ready to eat and drink. We are out of recovery in less than 30 minutes. What a trooper Nate is! We have to come back the next day for results, which is horrible for us. The waiting sucks! For the future, we will learn to make all of his appointments on the same day! We have a nice lunch with one of Stephen's former volleyball players and then head home.

No pictures!!!

The next day, we head back up to Boston to get the results. This was our first time at the Jimmy Fund Brain Tumor Clinic and the level of anxiety was rising. We will never get used to this.  We meet with several doctors over the course of several hours; all of whom are wonderful and supportive. We hear the words stable tumor. That's all we needed to hear. The size of his ventricles are also slightly smaller and may never be of a "normal" size. This is due to the amount of fluid that was built up in his brain. It was a long afternoon, and we were ready to pass along our good news and head home. 

The rest of July was full of celebrations, fun with family and friends, and lucky events! The first was our annual 4th of July picnic. We look forward to this day every year and we were hoping that it would still be festive with the pending news of Nate's scans. With the good news, we were all ready to celebrate! What a great day finished with the birth of our niece, Samantha! Such exciting things happening all at once!

watching the 4th of July parade

the boys hanging out

We were able to spend time at Seranak and Tanglewood throughout the month. If you've never been and are ever in our area, please check them out! We are so lucky to be surrounded with such beautiful scenery! I was even able to get away twice: once to Baltimore for a pro tour event. I love going to Baltimore; it's my home away from home and some of my best friends live there. I was also able to bowl in an Alumni event in Connecticut. This was another very special time as I was able to be surprised by one of my best friends (I cried like a baby!) and hang with all those who love me all weekend. What a special time. On the Sunday of this special 2nd weekend, Stephen got his first hole-in-one! I was so very proud of him! He is such a tremendous golfer. He needed this. He deserved this.

the boys playing at Tanglewood

the shirts we wore in honor of my Dad

Stephen's hole-in-one treat!

I was dreading the 25th. It was the anniversary of my Dad's sudden passing. I spent the day thinking of him and thanking him for watching over us as we navigate this new world of brain tumors. I always think of how sad he would've been to know that Nathan has a brain tumor. He was always worried about him because he cried so much as a baby and he just always seemed uncomfortable. He would've been devastated to know what we all know now. I know he's with me.

Surprise!

We finished off the month on vacation in Old Orchard. This wasn't any typical trip though. We were able to surprise my Mom not once, but twice. It was something I will never forget and will cherish always. She thought she was only going on vacation with my oldest sister's family, but we were able to surprise her by making the trip up as well as my other sister's family. But the big surprise was the my brother's family (from Louisiana) arrived to. It was such a special trip with so many great memories.

Surprise!

the 4 of us!

We're not watching and waiting; we're watching and living.