We had a fantastic weekend that started with Kjetil having a 7 hour layover in Houston on Friday. Kjetil is Norwegian counterpart, he teaches a class here and online in Spring and then we teach together in Norway in the summer. Obviously this year I cannot make the trip so Dr. Bob McDonald has offered to fill in for me (I'm so happy he could do it, I can't think of a better person to replace me). We had a great lunch with Kjetil and Sami Sharp, our TTU student who joined us in Norway last summer.[...]

I read this article on the MDA website. This woman's story mimics my own and she is doing well so I thought some of you might also appreciate reading it. https://www.mdanderson.org/publications/cancerwise/2014/05/glioblastoma-survivor-dont-ignore-the-symptoms.html[...]

We've had a full day that started with an 8:30 AM blood draw at MDA. When I was at Chateau UMC de Lubbock for the weekend I looked like a pin cushion and although I'm still getting stuck every other day at MDA, the quality of their phlebotomists and the type of needles used makes blood draw completely painless and they haven't left a mark since the surgery, where they were using very large needles to do very complicated things. It's astounding.[...]

Anyone who knows me knows that I've never been a morning person. Yet since the pressure in my head started to be relieved, first from the steroids and then from the tumor removal, I've been waking up very early. Most mornings since February 13 I'm up for about an hour doing work on my laptop starting around 5:30 or 6:00, then I sleep for another hour, then I'm up for the day. I never knew how quiet and peaceful it is in the mornings and I'm actually really enjoying having that time either alone or with Jason before the kids wake up. This is like some aspect of life I've just never known about or have been able to enjoy. It's fantastic![...]

There were no MDA appointments today so no new medical information, but we had a lot of activity. I hired a green certified cleaning company to clean the condo and today was the "deep clean" day, now they will maintain every 2 weeks. Having someone clean was good for my soul. Jason and the kiddos went for their health assessment at the gym we joined and came back completely wiped from their workout. I stepped down on my steroids today (I finish them Friday) and I was able to eat much more healthily and reasonably. [...]

This morning we only had one quick appointment called a simulation with radiation. It was basically to get fitted for a special mask that will be used to make sure they are targeting the same spots each time with the radiation. It was a very interesting and quick process. I was fitted for a bite guard and then a weird mesh was pulled over my face and attached to the bite guard. There were a couple of CT scans so they can do lots of math to calculate, triangulate, and meticulously plan to treatments in the coming days. I've been told to expect lots of cognitive testing this week to do some pre and post side effect testing of the treatment. [...]

Today was a very long day. Kimmie met us early this morning at the condo and she and Jason played the audio of the talk the surgeon had with them immediately after the surgery. I had not really been ready to hear it, but since I knew we'd be hearing lots of new information today, I figured I needed to. After the recording we debriefed on how they were feeling at the time, what happened immediately after (I was still waking up in recovery while this had been going on), and how they felt about knowing things that I did not at the time. And then it was time to get to our first appointment of the day.[...]

Where to start? Everyone here is doing fine. We've had some time to recover & decompress from the crazy, twisted, whirlwind that was the shock of diagnosis, panic to get to MDA, immediate brain surgery, & now pending adjustments to our new normal. This week has been getting strong each day (it's kind of astounding how quickly the recovery has been) and spending time as a family. We've had some of the best food (the steroids have me eating like crazy). We saw a Rockets game, visited the aquarium, the kids are having a ball. We've been calling it the brain tumor vacation. I'm also very happy that we have a good stream of visitors not only lately but also coming soon. We have been overwhelmed by the presence of our village. However, those who were here for the most scary parts of this were experiencing their own trauma. Many of them also ended up sick themselves as often happens after a major life stressor. They have also been decompressing this week & coming down slowly from what we all went through so having reinforcements has been wonderful. I've had a steady stream of current and past students (love) from the area, colleagues, nearby family, & friends. It's been wonderful to feel so loved. At some point I will have to write out a very long story from my perspective but my brother says I should save it for my book. Monday we learn more about what we are dealing with and next steps. This is not over for us. There will be treatment, perhaps years of treatment. There may be additional surgeries. But there are some things I'm clear on. I have the best doctors, medical facility, and cutting edge technology in the world at MDA. I am also 100% confident and will do whatever is needed. I am not at all intimidated by this journey that life has just handed me. Stay tuned for more updates![...]

Hi Everyone!

I am starting to put visits down on the calendar (located under the Calendar tab above). Let's plan to have visits scheduled between now and April 30th.[...]

Hi All!

Shannon's second day home has been busy! She was up, showered and dressed by 9am. Makeup on and everything! Best of all, Graeter's ice cream was for breakfast 😉[...]