Things have been pretty standard here, I guess. Can you call cancer treatment standard? I don’t know! Our life is chaotic on a regular basis, so this just makes it more chaotic, right? Right. 

For the first two & half weeks of treatment, our family got hit with a pretty nasty stomach bug but thankfully I felt mostly ok to help take care of everyone which was really helpful when Mike got hit. He was in bed for five full days! 

I did end up getting the bug but only missed one day of treatment. 

The hardest part of all that was asking the helpers who were coming into our home to stay away because we didn’t want to spread that bug to anyone else! 

Yesterday was the official halfway point in my radiation treatment and the 6 weeks of driving up to the U of MN Hospital. My hair is starting to fall out on the left side, where the radiation is pinpointed. 

I’m hoping I can rock the shaved head look! 

The side effects of the chemo pills and radiation did catch up with me a bit at the very end of last week and over the weekend. Nausea, exhaustion, headaches. Mike and I were super sad to miss a Finnish sauna night with my family but did end up sending two of our kiddos in our stead and everyone had a blast! Something I think our family will make a tradition in the coming years. 

As we move forward, these are some things I’m thankful for right now: 

- a taste for coffee that hasn’t gone away

- the village of help that has surrounded us and continues to help in real & tangible ways, as well as those who have been thinking & praying for us

- the opportunity to be open to God’s plan for our family 

- remembering that He is good all the time

- a beautiful, sweet, hard working family