For the first time since the end of May, Jade’s energy level is back where it was before the cruise. It has been a mind battle trying to figure out what was going on.

 One thing I am sure of is that Jade knows her body and knows when something is wrong. I just have to listen and push for her. As soon as the CMV virus she has been dealing with went down to an undetectable level she was back to her baseline. 

Jade is taking chemo and she does not have as much energy as she did before she was diagnosed and I realize that is normal. But for the entire months of June and July she had about 20-40 minutes a day where she had energy and could do something. I am so thankful that they were able to catch and treat the CMV virus when they did because it can get very bad, very quickly for immunocompromised kids like Jade. 


She had to take about 3 weeks of antivirals which in very rare cases can cause liver issues. By week 3 her ALT was extremely elevated again. Because we know Jade’s liver has already been though so much and the last rounds of testing that have been done have given us some information, but not enough. Her team has ordered an MRI of the liver for next month. Jade has requested to be put to sleep for it because it scares her. Hopefully we will see minimal/ temporary effects that can be reversed when she stops chemo. 

Jade is officially enrolled in middle school. She starts on Monday. She is confident she will be fine. However, mama is having a HARD time with it all. I’m so proud of her and how strong and resilient she is, but dropping her off and just letting her go is going to be difficult, to say the least. 

Last year we had to rip Sawyer out of everything he knew. We put him in a small private school to help minimize germs. He didn’t really have a say in any of it. He just did what was best for the family. So this year we let him decide what he wanted to do. He doesn’t want to keep bouncing back and forth and he really likes his new school so he will be staying there for this year. 

I keep getting asked if I’m going back to work. The answer is, not yet. While I hope middle school works out for Jade, I don’t expect it to be seamless. She will still have appointments and procedures. Being a teacher is an amazing job, but requires a degree of sacrifice and commitment that I don’t currently have to give. All of that needs to go towards my family, my children right now. I miss and love my work family, the children in my class, and teaching. I will go back to it. Just not right now, not today. Maybe a few month down the road or maybe next year. 

I am so proud of my husband through all of this. He has done something I was unable to do for our family though all of this. He has been able to work and provide for us. His job has been good to him and when Jade was hospitalized, he was able to take almost a full month off. But since then he has worked as much as he can to provide. He has taken overtime as much as he can to keep us afloat. 

Keep praying for our girl! We are so thankful for our wonderful community of friends and family that continue to pray for Jade. We love you all!