Wow...six months since my last update. That feels strange and okay at the same time.

Looking all the way back to December 27th, Don's tooth extraction went well. Don was off his immunosuppressants and on some heftier antibiotics for the procedure. He was able to restart his immunosuppressant, tacrolimus, on January 4th.

January Don saw his dermatologist, Dr. Spenny, several times. We always keep her apprised of any changes in Don's skin and a couple of spots concerned her enough to test, culture, and biopsy. She also put him on a short stint of valacyclovir as a preventative measure. The cultures and biopsy didn't give us any clear answers other than to tell us what the spots were not. Sometimes that's all we get. We did some topical treatments and everything seemed to resolve to her satisfaction.

The first couple months of the year we had some nasty bugs run through our house. On January 28th Don spiked a fever and by the next day his oncology team wanted him to head to the ER. Unfortunately, I was already at the other ER with our oldest. We had a day of FaceTiming and sending pics and texts back and forth. In the end, both of my boys were released. Don had tested positive for both covid and influenza b. We celebrated the fact that this was the first ER visit in over a year that didn't end in an admission. Being able to go home on antibiotics is a win!

February was a quiet month and March was follow-up appointments with the ENT for some ongoing ear issues (since 2022) and our regularly scheduled with Dr. Hazin.

In April Don's right ear became infected and swollen. We were using his RX for antibiotic ear drops at home but when the canal became completely closed and the swelling extended to his jaw line we did contact Dr. Hazin. He started Don on a 10-day course of Bactrim. That seemed to resolve the issue.

That is, until a couple of weeks into May. Don's ear again began seeping discharge and was red and warm to the touch. Another call to Dr. Hazin started Don on a 10-day course of doxycycline -- though this time he wanted Don to hold his tacrolimus as well. He also asked us to follow-up right away with ENT.

Don saw Dr. Key (ENT) on May 17th. He was able to clean and culture Don's right ear but was concerned enough he asked to follow up with him after the weekend to check his progress.

That day we also had some follow up lab work. Two weeks prior during his regularly scheduled labs Don's kidneys were not too happy so they wanted us to repeat in two weeks. By the 17th his kidneys were happier (it could have been as a result of the Bactrim) but his TSH (thyroid) remained super elevated. Dr. Hazin made the call to increase his thyroid medication.

On May 19th the culture on Don's ear came back positive for staphylococcus aureus -- or just a staph infection. Both Dr. Key and Dr. Hazin felt good about remaining on the doxycycline for treatment of that. Don will follow-up with Dr. Key on June 6th. We will also have labs on the 19th and an appointment with Dr. Hazin on the 20th.

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On the homefront there have been some big changes for the Corcoran5. In April we moved into our new home on the West end of town. Our little, yellow house in the cul de sac was such a beautiful home for our family for the last 11 1/2 years. It was the only house our children had any memories in and it was bittersweet to say 'goodbye.' But we love our new digs and have been working to settle in as we complete another year of homeschooling while navigating youth sports, illnesses, and work. We love this beautiful life we've been given.