It takes a village to raise a child, but it takes a village, plus some, to cure cancer. We are so grateful for our village, and for all of the extras, too.[...]

The biopsy went well on Tuesday. Mike was a little surprised and nervous when he found out that he wouldn't be completely sedated for the procedure, but he handled it well.[...]

Today Mike had to get his labwork done and his PICC site bandage changed. Checked those items off the list and then went up to the 17th floor where Dr. Scalcini works in the Internal Medicine department. She sent us a card around Easter and told us that if we are ever back up there to stop and say hi to her. So we did. At first, the receptionist might have thought we were crazy. She asked, "So are you here for a medical visit, or just a friendly visit?" She seemed really hesitant when we said, "Just friendly! She told us to stop in." After an hour, she told us that our favorite doctor was running behind and maybe to come back later on, or the next day. No problem. We weren't trying to cause problems or anything, so we went and had lunch. During lunch Mike got a phone call from her office, and the woman said, "Dr. Scalcini wants to see you, so if you could come back, she gave instructions to pull her out of a room with a patient if you're here."[...]

Dr. Bennani called Mike yesterday around lunch time to give us the new game plan. She made an appointment for him to get blood work done on Monday, 4-25, and then scheduled him for a CT guided biopsy of the cancer in his chest on Tuesday. This is how fast things happen at Mayo. It always amazes me when they say they're going to do something and the next day they have everything scheduled. I can't tell you how much I love that place, and the people who work there.[...]

When you're fighting cancer, you hear a lot of clichés. You "expect the worst, and hope for the best." We are always practicing to "Expect the Unexpected."[...]

I had a feeling that things were feeling too good to be true last Tuesday. The reality and truth that I have come to finally believe is that each week gets harder. Each round is harder. I wanted so badly to believe that he might be handling it better, but the truth is that chemo is far more powerful than anyone's will to be stronger than it. I know it's a good thing, though. It's killing the cancer inside of him.[...]

I have been trying to get my thoughts together to write a post about the benefit in Seneca last Sunday. Was that for real? 2 days later and I'm still trying to wrap my head around the generosity that we have been shown. It was so great to see so many friends, family, acquaintances, and strangers come out to the dinner and auction. It felt so surreal to me. It still does. Heck, I still have days where I think, "This can't really be happening to us, right?" People say, "I don't know how you do it." But you know what? Everyone goes through something that seems impossible to everyone else, but when you are doing it, you're just doing it. What choice do we have? Support systems come into place to hold us up and help us do what we have to do. The Atchison and Seneca communities have formed the greatest support system in the world for us. We couldn't be more grateful. With that being said, let me also say, for the 1000th, but not the last time,[...]

We did it! They did it! Whoever did it, we are so grateful!

Mike finished his last bag of the chemo combination meds at 3:10, which as a little over an hour ahead of schedule. Fist Pump![...]

All things considered, it's been a pretty good week here on the Oncology Floor at NKCH. It has been nice to know that Derek (Pharmacist) really took everything we were concerned about to heart and made changes for us. They had started his chemo at 4:00pm on Tuesday, so the goal is to always keep the bag changes as close to that 12hour mark as possible. In the afternoons when they change the bag, they also have to give him a 15minute infused bag of Zofran for nausea. Usually they would hang that, then wait until it's empty before they would hang the chemo. Derek told the nurses that it was fine to hang them both at the same time since Mike has a double lumen PICC line. Those 15 minutes would always turn into 30 by the time the next chemo was hung, so this has really helped to save time.[...]

Leaving home was a lot harder this morning than all of the other times. I am pretty sure it will get worse, too. I almost thought I was going to have to drag Mike out the door. I waited patiently though, because it broke my heart to see him cuddling in bed with the girls and hearing Molly say, "Daddy, I don't want you to go to the hospital." The hospital could wait.[...]