The next month

We've received a medication and clinic visit schedule that outlines the next month for us, and gives us a clearer picture of what to expect when we get home. Sawyer will be out of school until at least Thanksgiving; he may get a few days in at the end of November but more likely will be back at school more regularly in early December. He'll get tutored at home as needed. Mark and I will plan on returning to work and splitting the Monday appointments in Rochester (some will be half days, others will be more full day visits).

We'll get a more extensive schedule tomorrow that will outline medications, appointments and planned hospitalizations over the next 6 months or so. Apparently there will be a few times that he'll need to be in the hospital for a few days, in addition to times that he comes down with a fever and has to go back in for a few days as well.

There are six prescriptions waiting for us in the hospital pharmacy -- kind of hard to believe that our home counter is going to switch from never having prescription meds to being covered with various bottles and medical paraphernalia, along with bottles of hand sanitizer and digital thermometers. We'll also need to be touch with the school nurse to find out the steps needed to have some medicine available at school if he needs any of the "as needed" ones for nauseous or headaches. All part of the "learning something new every day" exercise that we always expect from our kids!

He'll be able to visit friends and have friends come over, but no visits to the mall, theaters, school or any place with a concentration of people. We'll have to ask friends and family to be more vigilant with hand washing and sanitizing when he's visiting them but otherwise there shouldn't be any problems (and obviously he'll need to try to avoid contact with anyone who is sick themselves). We'll also be sure to pick up extra digital thermometers and distribute them to the few houses he visits most, just to help allay any worries about monitoring for fever.

Sawyer has been feeling well today. He went outside for a little bit in the late afternoon with a hospital volunteer (a young man attending RIT) and has had a craving for bread dipped in olive oil and pizza slices from Wegmans.

I watched a movie the other night called "You Again" starring Jamie Lee Curtis, Sigourney Weaver and Betty White (yes, it was a chick-flick) - but early in the movie one of the characters said something that I just had to write down since I think it's so true: " You can't control the things that happen to you but you can control the way you react to them" -- it's how I've been feeling the last few weeks -- reacting proactively and positively to Sawyer's diagnosis has kept my mental state uplifted and intact! And the reaction of our family, friends and community has also been so positive and helpful that it's made a huge difference in life for us as well. Thank you.