Round Two...and a whole lot of catching up.

 Shawn started his second round of chemotherapy today...came home exhausted, but otherwise in pretty good shape. As mentioned in the previous post, the last chemo session started off okay. I pushed submit that night, and then  headed to bed to find Shawn in pitiful shape...and the following days turned quickly to the worst with extreme nausea, exhaustion and other really painful or downright strange side effects.

This chemo thing is just a boatload of fun, trust me on that.

Two weeks later, going into this next round, he's feeling good. His smile and wisdom...those have not been stolen by cancer.  He's lost his hair but not his sense of humor. Case in point...the other day I walked in on him while he was studying his new "Charlie Brown inspired" do in the bathroom mirror. He quickly shot a smile, and asked nonchalantly...  

"You think it would help if I part my hair differently?"  

Despite a couple of hard punches, round one goes to Shawn. Cancer just isn't going to win this fight.

On to other news...as it's summertime and I don't want to be a Debbie Downer all the time on a blog meant to serve as memory book for the girls...we've have lots of fun times despite being consumed by all things medical.

For starters, our little Leah had a birthday. In that first week of being a six year old, she made leaps and bounds in the growing up department.

1. She took off the training wheels and rode off into the sunset
2. Jumped off the diving board and swam across a junior size Olympic pool
3. Read her first chapter book with no help
4. She made no complaints and gave up her dream of a "friend party" in light of her Daddy starting chemo treatments.

And the way she handled that disappointment--which is everything to a little girl with a bazillion friends and who has gone to birthday parties nonstop over her first year in school--we were most touched by that over anything.

 
...And we've had some great family times...

cousins

Our birthday boy..2!

Making a box car tonight.

Life is good.

Ready to Rock n Roll...

Shawn is on day three of his very aggressive and intensive Chemotherapy treatment of five days a week for six-seven hours at a time. He will have two weeks off to recuperate and then start the treatments over again...this schedule will remain until the end of summer.

As of now, he has had little effects other than some dizziness and mild fatigue but the nurse said next week is when he will likely start feeling bad after multiple sessions of chemo start taking effect.
 

The medical team is OUTSTANDING. We are in good hands with both the Oncologist and the nurses that administer the chemo.

and...

We are in awe of the beautiful, sacrificing hearts of those around of us...to receive so many cards, letters and notes of concern, meals provided for, offers to help with the girls, the lawn...anything we might need...it's just flat taken our breath away. Thank you so much.