I've been busy...

I've officially been sucked in to the chaos of life...

Since my last blog post, we've gone to Laughlin and Flagstaff (and then Laughlin again), both have started class(es), my in-laws have been in town, my brother was declared cancer-free, my brother was re-declared to have cancer, my sister left for college, gained 5 pounds, lost a few more, and Gabriel has said a million new words...among other things.

As you can see, August was an interesting month. One of the most significant of all these happenings was my brother. I haven't really posted anything on here about him and I'm not really sure why. Partly, it has felt pretty surreal and partly because I was already talking about so much to everyone I saw, I didn't feel like word-vomitting it into the blogosphere. So I suppose, here's the short version if you're at all interested...

Anthony was diagnosed in early January with Hodgkins Lymphona. Cancer is such a scary word and everyone, as you can imagine, was in hysterics and disbelief. We depressingly all went out to dinner the night we found out, puffy-eyed and some still occasionally weeping. My mom and dad called Mikey to let him know what we had found out and he was a surprising source of strength I think for Anthony. The medical staff was extremely proactive in getting Anthony into treatment, so he began cycles of chemotherapy almost immediately. Luckily, Mountain Empire was very flexible with him in allowing a certain schedule so although he was missing every 3rd week of school, he was still doing work and somewhat keeping up. Next came radiation, which occurred everyday for about six weeks.

I knew my brother was sick, I had heard the results of his tests and been to the hospital while he was in treatment but it really didn't hit me until towards the end of chemo that he was sick. Up to that point, he had thrown up, been a little more tired and lost his hair but he still seemed to be holding up just fine. It must have been in April because my family was planning to take my sister to Flagstaff to check out NAU. Anthony had just finished a treatment and for some reason I was at Nana's that particular day. My dad had whispered to me that Ant had been having a hard time keeping his balance and at one point had even fallen to the ground. He had a hard time remembering where he was; he was completely bald and without a trace of facial hair; he was so tired that he went straight to the couch and fell asleep. It was sad.

When he finished chemotherapy and started radiation, there was an immediate change in his demeanor and physical appearance. In fact, if you see my brother now, two months removed from his last radiation treatment, you would never know that he had gone through such a traumatic experience. He has a full head of hair and his usual thick, Bert-like eyebrows (he knows it, hah!). He looks amazing and is playing football this season...at least until September 15th. Last Tuesday, the day we were leaving to take my sister to Flagstaff, his doctors met with him and my parents to let them know that there are still traces of the cancerous cells in his neck. Granted, it is no where near what it was before as it was down through his chest and belly, but it still was shocking as we had all been absolutely convinced that this was the end of our family's little nightmare.

The doctors will be re-evaluating his situation on the 15th by running myriad tests and blood work and all of that other not-exciting stuff. We all know God works miracles and the doctors told us to have hope that the cancer could potentially disappear by then because there are still traces of radiation bouncing around his body trying to kill off those cells. Please say a prayer, send good vibes, throw up some good thoughts for him. When I asked him if he was ready for school to start this year, he told me yes, because he was looking forward to having a normal year. He said, "Jess, seriously, what kid gets cancer their freshman year of high school? I'm so over this!" Personally, I know someone close to all of our MEHS C/O 2004 hearts who did, but that's a whole separate post....Anyway, keep him in your thoughts!