Oofta, so many little updates in the last month! I’m not sure how it can be possible that school is back in 2 weeks! Summer went by so quick around here but it has been a really good one. 

We were home from family camp for about a week and a half before my mom and Doyle picked up their new camper in Idaho, then picked up my nieces and nephew and headed over to us. They stayed a night here and then we went camping over in Waldport for a couple of nights. 

We had some very fun and silly moments over there. From Bryce plucking giant crabs right out of the bay with his hands (delighting all of the kids,) playing in the waves with all the kids, having s’mores, and even watching old game shows together on the rainy day, it was a good time. All the kids love Let’s Make a Deal and Supermarket Sweep now haha. We were all sad to see them head home. We’ve made up some serious cousin time in the last few months though and it warms my heart immensely after a year apart!

In the midst of our week at home before that camping trip, Bryce and I stumbled on to a house…we had been looking for a bigger place last spring before Ronan got sick. Then of course everything got put on hold. We were planning to wait another year but have just always been softly browsing. Well this house came on the market. It’s a mile away, right by the school the kids will attend and it’s bigger. Both boys could have their own room and we’d have space for a play room. It’s also less maintenance on the yard side which we actually want after having such a big yard these last several years. We decided to put in an offer. That led to us needing to list our house in a giant hurry. So we have spent the last five ish days working like crazy people to patch paint and declutter and clean and etc. to ready the house for sale. 

Our sweet neighbors have helped SO much and we will be kind of crushed to lose them as neighbors if we sell. BUT the house is ready and first showing was last night and open house is today and tomorrow and we will see what happens! If we get an offer that is good, we’ll move forward with our new house and if not, we’ll probably pause until next year. Wish us luck!

We have felt more than a little crazy this last week thinking oh sure, things have juuuusssst leveled out in the cancer universe of stress, let’s add in something new?! Haha. Maybe we are crazy. In the world of cancer, Ronan has still been doing well overall but we’ve had a few hiccups. First, Ronan is having the uncommon side effect of low blood sugars from one of his oral chemos. He said he wasn’t feeling well and lo and behold, when we checked his sugar, he was in the low 50s (70 is the very bottom of okay.) His team had us move his schedule around so he’s taking that med in the morning. This often helps, as you are presumably, eating throughout the day. It did help some but we were still getting low in the mornings after the night of sleep (a second reading in the 50s.) So, Ronan is rocking his Dexcom again and we’re giving a big bedtime snack each night before bed. It isn’t fool proof as we’ve had to wake him for a snack in the night a couple of times, and it definitely makes us a little anxious!

Ronan had also been feeling a little more puny this last week and we’d  noticed poor color, and long-lasting bruises. He had a couple mouth sores appear, he was feeling a little queasy at times, and he was periodically getting headaches. When we went in for his labs and a check up this last week, surprise, all his counts were super low and he needed a blood transfusion! It wasn’t a complete surprise on the blood, based on recent symptoms, but we were shocked how neutropenic he was. So, he got some blood and is on a chemo hold for the week. We go get labs on Monday to see how he’s doing and see if he’s going to resume his oral chemo at that point or not. This can be common early in Maintenance as they adjust dosages and stuff but it’s a little disconcerting as we head into starting school, and sick season!

Both boys are gearing up for school! Jackie is both nervous and excited for kindergarten but we think he’s going to love it! Ronan has mixed feelings about going back full time and I think it may be a bit of a hard transition but good for him overall. He will likely have to miss much if not all of his second week which is a bummer. We are due back to start cycle 2 of maintenance which means an LP, increased seizure risk, and our good pal Dexamethasone (steroid.) Perhaps it will just even out the low blood sugar issue with his chemo? One can hope! 

Grammy and Grandpa (Bryce’s parents) are due back for a visit, which we are all excited for. They should arrive in a couple of days and we are planning to to go camping up near Manzanita with them on for our final camp trip of the summer. We also need to fit in school clothes shopping, and Ronan turns 8 soon! His party is the weekend right before school starts. The theme is airplanes again, a rebirth of his 4 year old theme and one that seems to always be in his mind. 🙃 In the background of all that, we’ll see what happens with the house! 

Thank you for continuing to send us happy, healing thoughts! We hope summer has been as good to you as it has to us this year. We never take our happy days foregranted around here. We are so keenly aware of others in our shoes with less happy days happening ❤️ Sending out happy, healthy thoughts of our own to all of you!