Hurricane Hodge

Light the Night is tomorrow night, and our world seems a little different than it did in August. Brendan is in the eye of the storm of his treatment, Dr. Rose promises that it will get hard again - and that it will get hard soon. His white blood cell count falls and rises. He lives as if he doesn't need to rest. We worry, some times we get scared - but we're mostly just proud of him.

I was bitten by a dog last night, shrill little puncture through the muscles that control my thumb. My hand throbs and aches - and each time I summon my voice to yelp or sharply inhale with a wince I scold myself for being selfish.

My grandmother is a photographer of sorts - thousands of pictures of mostly nothing of importance, nothing spectacular. While weeding through them my Dad found a handful that are striking - beautiful and intricate lighting. Smiling, grinning images of our past. Warming and heartbreaking pictures of our family. The one above is of Brendan and I.

The two of us drove down to Urbana last weekend to see the Illini/NIU football game. Brendan forgetting sunscreen for his majestic bald head and thus wearing my zip up hoodie over it like a cape. During the drive I finally asked him when he would be scanned next - to see how things are working. He told me they would do it after chemo was over, that they would use the next scan to dictate the next phase of his treatment. This Thursday was the 6th week - the halfway mark. Next week is going to be a hard one - two rounds of poison. The return of side effects.

Mom got a bunch of car magnets for us, and had little refrigerator ones made too. A purple ribbon and a green ribbon for the cars, and a green circle that says "My Brother is my Hero". She has enough ribbon magnets to decorate a fleet of vehicles - so if you'd like one, let us know! She got them to hand out to anyone willing to show their love.

He takes it in stride. We are getting better at taking it in stride.
We will be taking 2 miles worth of strides tomorrow night - Light the Night in Grant Park.

It's not to late to join us you know...!