October 28, 2012 we finally moved out of the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit and into the regular pediatric floor! October 28, 2015 Josiah is home, sticking carrots up his nose. He doesn’t usually smile like this for pictures… When Josiah had his surgery, doctors weren’t sure how the tumor and stroke had affected his brain. We […]
Everyday Struggles – Part 4
Going out to eat at restaurants is sometimes a challenge with Josiah. It’s definitely getting better, although when we do go out, it’s usually fast food (Chic-Fil-A where he can play or the drive through) or HyVee where we can leave and get groceries when Josiah’s done with sitting at the table. Going to a […]
Everyday Struggles – Part 3
Why church was hard: Following Josiah’s surgery, he fell back into somewhat of a newborn’s sleep pattern. If he was overstimulated (which was often) all we had to do was take him to his dark room (ok. It was our master closet-completely dark and very quiet as it’s away from the rest of the house.), […]
Everyday Struggles – Part 2
In my first Everyday Struggles post, I mentioned that Mondays (chemo days) were the easy ones. I also shared that Tuesdays were another story. Chemo days were on Monday, and our normal time to be home was anywhere from 8-10pm. Josiah had never slept the best, but Monday nights seemed to be worse. He needed […]
Much Needed Break
It’s now October 25th, and you may have noticed (or not) that I’ve skipped the last two days of blogging. I’m still going to have 31 posts – just not consecutive and all in the month of October. Allow me to explain. Wednesday night, Nathan, the kids and I headed down to Branson to spend […]
Everyday Struggles
When thinking about a brain tumor, surgery, chemotherapy, doctors appointments, and medication, you may think one of these items would be the hardest things about Josiah’s journey. They’re the obvious struggles. I’m not wanting to give the impression that any of those things are or were easy. I think I was in survival mode and did […]
Praise
Josiah’s first post-surgery MRI was in January 2013, four months after his surgery. We had left the hospital at the end of October with no sign of tumor on the MRI (even though we knew 3% was left behind.) This MRI was a standard follow-up in order to check for tumor growth. We were hoping and praying […]
Chemo Monday
I don’t want to cheat you readers by simply offering a giveaway (open until October 31st!) and a chance to ask questions, so here’s some blog content as well! I’ve written much about Josiah’s diagnosis and month long stay in the hospital, but haven’t really gotten into the 16 months of chemotherapy. Here’s a quick overview of […]
DaySpring Giveaway
Good morning blog readers! 31 days is A LOT to write! It’s been an awesome challenge, and as the month goes on, each post becomes more challenging! As a Thank You for reading my blog and supporting me as I journey through 31 days of writing, I wanted to pass along this information to you! […]
Beads of Courage
About a month into Josiah’s chemotherapy, one of the nurses asked if we had been getting beads for Josiah. I wasn’t sure what she was talking about, so the child life specialist came in with some beads and explained the Beads of Courage program to us. “The Beads of Courage program is a unique program […]