March 20: This Will Be a Very Good Week

Ryan’s big brother, Blaise arrived in Paris this morning!  Blaise is a Junior at Valley Forge Military Academy in our hometown of Wayne, Pennsylvania.  He boards at VFMA and visits us frequently.  In fact, he's quite the expert traveler these days.  I find it pretty incredible that he flies back and forth - solo - between France and the USA as often as he does, and of course, Ryan is super appreciative to have his brother here this week.

Blaise arrived in Paris at 6:30 this morning, looking dapper and excited to see Ryan!

Last week was tough for Ryan.  He had a full day of chemo on Monday and suffered joint, bone, and muscle pain every day until Friday night.  He wanted to go to school and be around his friends, but no amount of pills could take away the pain.  Fortunately, Ryan is a goal-oriented kid and is motivated to keep his grades up and stay current with his assignments and classwork.  This gives him something important to accomplish, and he’s doing really well.  It has also taught me that I could brush up on trigonometry, but I’m a darn good English teacher!  Having said that, Ryan did make it to school on Monday morning, and on Friday afternoon, and by our calculations, that’s one full day.  His friends were so happy to see him!  He was really glad he was able to attend, even for such a brief time.

This week will be a very good week!  Not only will Ryan enjoy the company of his brother, but also, it’s the 4th week of his second chemo cycle, which means zero IV drips.  He started feeling really good on Saturday morning and we’re looking forward to a pain-free week with no yucky side effects.

More importantly, this 4th week of the second cycle is a big milestone.  This is the week during which we determine just how many of the little Hodge buggers we’ve managed to beat down while systematically poisoning Ryan.  He’s scheduled for a cardiac ultrasound tomorrow to verify that his heart is still beating, and then CT and PET scans on Wednesday to prove that Ryan’s medical team is Cancer’s Worst Nightmare.  We’ll meet with his Top Doc on Wednesday night to map out Ryan’s next four months.

In the mean time, I expect Ryan will be back at school every chance that he can this week.  With the exception of Monday morning and all day Wednesday, I know he’ll want to be at Marymount enjoying his friends and getting caught up on his schoolwork.  And when he comes home from school, he gets to hang out with Blaise!

Ryan, Me and Blaise at Dan and Kait's Wedding, July 2015

Even better, my brother Dan and his wife Kait arrive in Paris on Saturday morning.  They’ll spend a long Easter weekend with us, so our fingers are crossed for warm, sunny weather and short lines for the Eiffel Tower.  OK, maybe not, but it will be great to see them anyway!

I want to send more shout-outs to our many friends here in Paris and at home in America who do so much to help every day.  The Marymount Moms have organized a Meal Train, and believe me on this one, when we arrive home after a long day at the hospital, or when Ryan has been down and out with chemo side effects, and we get a home-cooked meal delivered to our door by our humble and generous friends, it can be a lifesaver.  So thank you.

This week’s Special Delivery Kudos go to the Drozd Family in America, who sent sketching supplies and several boxes of TastyKakes.  Ryan really digs the art kit, thanks… but you nailed it with the Krimpets, Drozdes!

Krimpets? Yes, Please.