July 1st 2022

Well hello to my favorite readers,

I know its been quite a while since a post has been made, life had been a little busy. I (Kenzie) got married June 12th, Jazzy and Clark did make it up for that wonderful day. May 30th Sharon and Nate made their way into Boston for a day of tests and images following the end of Nates radiation and chemo therapy. We finally got some good news! The day of the tests Sharon and Nate said they absolutely didn't want to see the scans, a few days later they ended up changing their minds and they messaged the doctors asking to see the scans. We found out that the tumor had shrank by a good amount. The treatment plan then changed. Nate went through 5 days of a doubled dose of the chemo therapy. It was hard, this round had more side effects than the last. Nate went through a lot of fatigue, memory issues and a good amount of swelling that proved more complicated than we thought. After the five days of chemo therapy Nate ended up in the hospital after 3 days of tingling and weakness in the right side of his body. Sharon had taken him to an emergency appointment in Boston where they couldn't get an MRI at Dana Farber because it had been booked. they admitted him to Brigham and woman's for the weekend knowing that they could get him an MRI there over night. The MRI showed what we had all hoped the side effects and seizure like activity was simply caused by edema in the brain that was a side effect of lowering his dose of steroids again. Nate spent the weekend there while they got his meds under control again and back on a level playing field. Routine has become a huge part of Sharon and Nates life. Nate knows he takes what pills when, well the weekend in the hospital, obviously the staff is now in charge of this routine. That fact proved to complicate life back at home. His routine had been disrupted. As the days went on the routine came back and he found his groove again. He seems to still be in alright spirits and is usually up for a good thought provoking conversation. Silence can be deafening as we all know.  Obviously nothing has been easy but we've just been trying to take things one day at a time. I know we have let life take us away from the reality and also away from updating. I plan to now be posting updates weekly, even if nothing happens to just keep you in the know. I want everyone to know that we all sincerely appreciate you checking in with us and keeping us in your prayers. My mom is the strongest woman I know and I know she'll lead us through this. My sister is incredibly strong dealing with this so far away, and I the youngest of them all, am so grateful I have my family by my side through it all. So to Nate, Sharon, Jazzy Clark, Raylee and most of all Rich thank you for keeping me afloat when I feel like sinking. I love you. Thats all for tonight folks. More to come in the next few days. 

Signing off, 

Kenzie