Hello all! It's been way too long since I added an update- sorry!

We were able to go home on Wednesday, September 11th. Mason was thrilled with his new room and was welcomed home by a huge gift basket from his football team filled with his favorite drinks, snacks, gift cards, and best of all- his jersey with the #15. It was a huge boost for him (more on that later).

It turns out that being home between treatment cycles is even busier than being inpatient. We have had daily appointments for lots of different reasons, so Mason and I are getting pretty used to the commute between home and the hospital. Our longest drive time was just over 2 hours (thank you, Atlanta traffic), but typically it takes just over an hour. We've settled on the Hamilton soundtrack as our entertainment of choice on the drives- a little bit of "rap" for him but also historical/educational value for me. Win-win.

Mason is about to finish up his course of antibiotics for his Rothia infection. These antibiotics have kept his blood count recovery fairly low, so the bone marrow aspiration performed on September 13th will need to be re-done as they weren't able to get a fair sample of marrow to truly make sure the leukemia is still in remission. We have also had to go in for platelet transfusions to make sure he does not have any serious bleeding issues at home, as those numbers remain very low.

Even with all the appointments, once we get past the car/motion sickness from the daily drives, Mason is doing really well. He has connected with his home-bound teachers almost daily. He's settled into his new room. He's spent a lot of time with Pixie, our (not orange) cat who refuses to leave his bedroom.

And I need to give a huge shout out to Mason's school and this amazing community we live in. In that giant gift basket from his football team, they included a pair of orange socks with a note to "wear these on September 19." We were thrilled to get clearance from Mason's doctors- he was able to put on the socks, his jersey, and a mask and join his team on the field before their game started this past Thursday. When we arrived, we saw that the entire team was wearing orange socks in his honor. The cheerleaders had orange bows in their hair, and the Panther mascot even had an orange ribbon on his arm. It was overwhelming and such an amazing show of support! Mason had a brief few minutes to connect with his friends before the game, then climbed into our golf cart that was parked on the sidelines to watch the game. I thought he might last for one quarter, but he was so excited to be there, he lasted the entire game and got to watch his teammates ring the victory bell after they got the W! It was just a beautiful night.

As for next steps- we will go in this Tuesday for a repeat MRI and CT scan to determine if the antibiotics have fully done their job and the Rothia infection is cleared. IF the infection is cleared, we will be able to stop the antibiotics. Once we are done with the antibiotics, we will need to go in for a repeat bone marrow aspiration to determine leukemia levels. This is currently scheduled for this Thursday. We would appreciate prayers that these tests come back clear and we are able to move forward in treatment.

IF these tests come back clear, we have appointments scheduled and are on the calendar for bone marrow transplant on October 17th. I will do my best to keep you updated as our further course of treatment takes better shape throughout this week.