In order to help pay for college I have decided it is time to start renting out the boys to dance at weddings for those couples that don’t have the cute and innocent youngsters willing to wear out the dance floor…minimal beer required.
These two videos are from Mason’s school dance where if we wanted to find the boys all we had to do was look for the throng of people shaking their groove thing. The boys could be found in the middle of it all.
Currently hanging with Jared in his treatment room while he receives his third round of chemotherapy. I guess I should back up and give you the latest on him. After his trip to Houston last week to visit with the surgeon and oncologists it was determined that he would go through another two rounds of chemo (6 weeks) and then back to Houston for surgery to remove the tumor and repair his left lung. After surgery he will stay in Houston for 7 weeks of proton radiation. The tumor has reduced in size a bit and the surgeon said that if it weren’t for the lung he probably wouldn’t operate but since he has two things to do he will get it done. He also thinks it will be a minimally invasive procedure so hopefully the recovery time will be minimal.
So, back to sitting in the room with Jared while he is hooked to the IV machine…while I wouldn’t wish this upon anyone I am glad it is Jared that I get to help support. His attitude is amazing and his sense of humor has not wavered during the entire process. The nurses here are incredibly friendly and fortunately the one Jared has today has a sense of humor that is capable of dealing with the two of us together at the same time.
Unfortunately, for me, this brings back many memories and for some reason it brings some melancholy to me. It must be a natural subconscious reaction as I started to feel irritable last night and I didn’t realize why. So now it is my theory that it was the trip to see his doctor that I accompanied him on yesterday mixed with the thought of coming up here with him today. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining and I am happy to be able to assist my friend anyway I can, just an observation of how the human mind reacts to certain situations especially when experienced before.
Good thing about hanging out with Jared is sitting around listening to his play list…including Convoy and watching the nurses reaction when she walks into the room with the song blaring and two of us singing away.
Below is a picture of Jared (Middle in blue), our best buddy Adam, and myself from yesterday’s appointment. Jared is now bald from chemo, Adam is bald from nature, and I am bald from choice. 🙂
I recently purchased a new camera and lens and have been having fun trying to figure everything out. So have the boys as they are my general subject of the photos. Below are a few of the funny faces they have been making for me.
Cutler finally turned three and is now eligible to start skate lessons and he was very excited to hit the ice so he can play hockey like his brother. He showed lots of promise with no fussing over falling on the ice. In fact, at times I think he thought he was supposed to fall down.
In another long line of great comments from Mason, comes this unintentional racism. On our drive home from San Antonio Mason is discussing an upcoming visit from our friends, the Doyles. Hard to tell by the last name, but they are half Chinese via Lisa’s ancestry. So while Mason is trying to explain their heritage to us he says “So, they are 50% Chinese, and 50%…normal.” 🙂
Today Cutler turns three years old and what an amazing ride it has been to get here. We are truly blessed to have a boy with such a heart to fight through everything he has been through and to have so many family members, friends, and friends of friends that have graciously prayed so diligently for him. Thanks to the power of prayer and some incredible doctors, we are in San Antonio for spring break with some awesome friends (pictures and stories to follow in time) where we will celebrate Cutler’s third birthday with a visit to the Alamo. Come to think of it, what an appropriate place to visit with someone who fought for their life the way Cutler did. Only difference is that Cutler won.
Below is a photo of the brothers from today at Sea World.
The last several days have been spent spinning and winning by the boys and my parents. For Christmas Mason got a healthy supply of Beyblades. Essentially they are tops that you spin in an “arena” and battle against the others. Last one standing is the winner. During our visit to St. Louis for Christmas it proved to be a big hit amongst the family and grandma and grandpa. Since then Mason has moved on to other items of interest until the past week which timed nicely with the arrival of my parents to join in the fun. They literally sat and spun for hours on end yesterday. Grandpa was “nice” enough to teach them the proper art of trash talking and grandma gave Mason a “science lesson” on friction that she apparently learned from a science fair a couple weeks ago. Here is a picture of the champions bladers after a long hard fought battle.
I knew it was only a matter of time given the time that my parents and Melanie’s mom spend together in our house, but I never thought they would get caught on camera. Unfortunately for Mason, he was the one to capture it. I fear he will never be the same after witnessing such a horrible occurrence. To make matters worse, Betty sat next to my dad at lunch today relegating my mom to the booth with the kids and then bought him a cookie and didn’t offer one for mom. I am hoping that years of therapy will help us get through this.
Yesterday morning was Cutler’s quarterly appointment for blood work and I am very happy to say that he continues to look great. We were fortunate to see all of the doctors minus Dr Lenarsky and Cutler was very happy to give them all hugs and impress them with how big he has gotten and how smart and charming he has become, obviously learning from me. Even more impressive was that he didn’t flinch when he was poked to give blood. The only time during the appointment that he fussed was when he got tired of waiting for the blood pressure machine to finish.
Despite Grandma Lewis’ deteriorating condition she sat up strong and enjoyed her 90th birthday and was alert and aware of everyone’s love. I only wish I could have been there for it. Despite eating seldom she continues to hang in there. Below is a picture of her proudly holding her roses given to her by my other amazing 90-year-old Grandma Fricke.
Team Fricke 