My younger sister, Katie, is a professor in the biology department at NDSU and she also runs a lab where she studies colon cancer. Katie’s research focuses on the link between diet and colon cancer. My awesome mom (who is often right, but thinks she is always right) has always thought that Katie was meant to …
Category Archives: General
Jude’s Toothbrush
This morning when Jude was brushing his teeth he said cutely, “Why does this toothbrush taste yucky? It tastes like it’s been in someone else’s mouth.”
Functional MRI followed by Fully Anesthetized MRI Tomorrow
Tomorrow is a big day for Jude. He will apparently be the first 5 year old that has ever undergone a functional MRI for this particular technican at Abbott. She was very hesitant, but somehow the neurosurgeon and oncologist must have talked her into it. I sure hope my stubborn little Jude can cooperate. I …
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Surgery Set for June 6th
Jude is scheduled for surgery to remove his cancerous brain tumor that reappeared after the earlier resection 1-1/2 years ago. The surgery will be on June 6th, with a pre-op MRI in the late afternoon on June 5th. That will be rough since Jude won’t get to eat or drink all day on the 5th. …
Tubing and Barefooting in Ice Water
Andy was busy this weekend as a delegate at a state political convention so I decided to take the boys to Litchfield for the weekend. They love visiting their Grandma and Grandpa Forbes and Uncle Mike. Jude and I went tubing in the freezing water. I was really impressed with him. He was so much …
An Almost Sleepless Night
I’m pretty stressed out about the bad news we got yesterday and, as a result, didn’t sleep much last night. I think the boys must have picked up on the stress, even though we didn’t verbalize it much. They were up all night. I was bed hopping all night long, helping the boys get back …
A Tunnel for Jude
Last night I came up with the idea of building Jude a tunnel so we could practice for the upcoming functional MRI. Jude and I gathered 2 large empty diaper boxes and taped them together and formed them into a cylinder shape. It is the boys’ favorite new toy. We practiced having Jude lay in …
Brain Cancer: Round 2
I was hoping that brain cancer was just something in Jude’s past and that it was just one really bad week a year and a half ago when he was 3-1/2. Since Jude’s littlest brother, Asher, was conceived in the brain cancer blur period, I had even convinced myself that it worked out for the best that …
Another Scan Tomorrow
Every 4 months, Jude goes in to be anesthetized for an MRI to determine if his brain cancer remains at bay. I worry constantly, but I get extra nervous leading up to the scan. The moment of truth will be tomorrow afternoon when his oncologist walks in the room and tells us hopefully something like, …
The Trilingualed Triplets
Our boys almost might as well be triplets. They are all boys. They all look similar and they act similarly. They are also all learning 3 languages at the same time. Of course they mostly hear English. But, starting when Jude was about 3 and when Levi was born, we starting introducing German. They both …