Day 54: July 30, 2019

We are definitely at the tail end of this process. I feel like a broken record of: we are hanging in there. Nothing really new to report. Things are slowly feeling like they are somewhat getting back to "normal" in terms of: Justin and I are both working, Justin is starting to pick up the house projects again (case in point: TREES!) We are not so concerned about shuffling the kids here, there and everywhere because Justin is mostly around to take care of them, as per usual, while I'm working. We haven't had any incidents of fever or needing to run to the ER for Oliver. So, kind of status quo... a new normal, but easing in to it nonetheless.


In another couple of weeks, we will likely experience another shift. An end to the treatments. An easing back in to the....next phase. Whatever and however that looks, we really don't know. We are seeing medical bills pile in which indicates that we are nearing the end of SOMETHING in terms of: we clearly have been at this long enough to start to see the after path and the impact of what we've been doing. (Also: yay? No. Actually: scary for Oliver in terms of the financial impact of healing!) I mean, it's never been about money or how much the treatment costs, but HOLY COW. It is astounding how much the cost of treatment is.


In terms of easing back in to normal life, I totally slacked on the pictures today... which means, today was by all accounts "normal." It started off Colleen getting Oliver more anti-nausea meds to keep that under control, Justin and the little boys running errands, and me working away. Again, pretty normal by all accounts.


Also, since it is day #9 of round 3, we started the shots again in Oliver's stomach. Again, totally neglected a picture. Whoops! The one phase that I think has been uttered most around here in the last few days is "OVER IT." As in we are all just over it. Utterly and completely. Obviously staying strong, and fighting until the end, but just ready to be AT THE END. The person who mostly wants to be at the end, is Oliver. He's definitely crabby, as any of us would be, just grouchy and overall snippy. I think the volume of the little boys is annoying him, as much as we try to keep them outside and away from his space. So, all of that said, he and Colleen decided to go back to Wenatchee for a few days in this recovery period. I think he needed a change of scenery and some solitude from the chaos of our house that is constant movement with two little kids and things constantly happening.


After they left: boys working on cars:

I think the little boys were excited to have some free reign as well in terms of not being constantly told to use their whisper voices and not move/jump as little boys are so inclined to do. They totally understand Oliver is not feeling well, so they've just been loud and jumping outside. Hard to totally tamper that all the time in the house, but we've tried!  They are here playing the spinning game after dinner. The decibels and laughs were....loud. But joyous. Hilarious.

Following a pretty big day of all things that are summer (IE: PLAYING!), we settled in for family movie night on the couch. Look at those profiles... I think they MIGHT be related.

We got word from Colleen that she and Oliver had made it back safe and sound to Wenatchee and Oliver was feeling a comfortable 6, which was great news on all fronts. He had settled in, was eating well, and doing great. This is SO much better than the throes of day #9 in round 1 or even round 2, both of which we were either in the hospital or just back from the hospital. A low key recovery period is just what we needed in this final round. #oliverstrong.