What's Ahead

Our last day in Boston, Tuesday, Nov. 22, was a busy one. We drove Matthew to Mass General for one final radiation session, then came back to the apartment, packed up the car with the four of us and all our gear, and made the long drive home.

Two days later, we hosted Thanksgiving dinner for our extended family. Thanks to the culinary generosity of various friends, each of whom prepared a delicious dish, all I needed to do was set the table and roast the turkey. It was a wonderful gift to have dinner provided for us in our own home and we especially want to thank everyone who made it happen. It was a great feeling to be all together in one place - and it did not take long at all for Matthew & me to adjust to being at home again.

I wish I could say that these feelings of peacefulness and relaxation have continued on, but unfortunately that has not been at all the case. Last week, we drove back & forth to Hopkins for three days out of five
undergoing various tests, and today we were back again. It appears that Matthew will be readmitted for high-dose chemotherapy sometime in the next 2-3 weeks - and will need to remain in the hospital receiving treatment and/or going through recovery for the better part of the next couple of months. We knew there would be additional treatment ahead, but did not realize the full extent of it, so it has been very difficult for us to accept this latest news. It certainly has been a swift and hard comedown from the fun-filled days we were having in Boston.

Against this backdrop, we are still striving to maintain some sense of normalcy. Since arriving home, Matthew has attended two big social events with his AZA youth group. We went bowling as a family this weekend and also attended our mother/son book group. Matthew is looking forward to being in school as much as possible over the next couple of weeks. In fact, snow is falling as I write this update - and Matthew's probably the only kid in his grade hoping there is NOT a snow day tomorrow!

Daniel is doing great. He's matured a lot physically and emotionally over the past couple of months. The joke in our house is that Danny grew so much because he didn't have to compete with Matthew for seconds at dinner (or, more likely, because of all the delicious meals everyone was delivering to the house).

We are gathering our collective strength for the difficult period ahead, even as we have confidence in Matthew and our family to make it through. We will need lots of help, moral and logistical, and we are comforted to know there are so many standing by to support us. We will ask for specific help in the weeks ahead both here on the blog and via our email list. For now, we just ask that you continue to hold Matthew in your thoughts and prayers.