Pam and Mark treated us to a wonderful supper when we got to Rochester this week. The weather was b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l while we were in town. 

A parable from a Mayo Clinic waiting room about the male decision-making model:

A) read the directions

B) listen to the woman who read the directions

C) ignore A + B and assume you know what’s going on

Like most men would, Kyle chose C with a little bit of “you act like I don’t know what I’m doing” mockery. So he got in extra steps and two IV pokes instead of one today. 

Friendly reminder to those traveling to Mayo’s Methodist campus - it’s a “weapon free” area. This one was on me. 

Of many, a few blessings we are thankful for this round: no new growth, some small areas they wanted to monitor on his scans stayed the same, some medication adjustments that should help Kyle feel a little more like himself, and the wonderful people we have met on this journey. 

Next, Kyle will step up (double) his chemo dose. He has six cycles to get through, alternating video and in-person visits with his oncology team during that time. Some of his blood work was a little low, but still in an acceptable range this week. At the next check, we hope his platelets will stay above 100 so there won’t have to be any delays in his chemo. 

He is doing some occupational therapy and will possibly add speech therapy. Some of his speech concerns may last throughout treatment but they don’t expect them to be permanent. The brain just needs a little extra processing time while it rebounds from surgery, radiation and chemo.