So, How's Ryan?

My mom (Grandma CC) recently bought and fixed up a small house here in Belt, and we had her housewarming party today.  So much fun to have her here!  She made sure to have enough seating for the whole family, and it was lovely!  And Ryan loved playing with her little dogs! Afterwards, he went up to the Grandparents house to spend the night and watch movies.  I think he knows that tomorrow's Monday, and if he is up there, he might be able to wake up and play before doing school work... Sly kid... All is going well with the extra Magnesium infusions, and he seems to be feeling really good! Both U of Montana and Montana State start classes tomorrow, so my 3 college kids are all getting a good night's rest, so they can have an amazing first day! Thank you all for the continued prayers and good thoughts!

Since we moved the boys to college this week, Ryan missed a day (actually 2 days) of school work during the week... Which means, in order to stick to my schedule, he needed to do school work on the weekend.  He was so not impressed.  It all started good, but spelling is not his favorite subject and he just did not want to do it.  No problem, this mean teacher just sat quietly until he realized that spending an hour complaining just meant an hour of complaining... he still needed to complete the work (and I added a bit extra just out of spite).  He promised that tomorrow would be better. He seems to be feeling good today.  While his belly is still draining, it doesn't seem to be as much of a problem.  And, the skies were clearer (not totally clear, but so much better than it has been the last few days), so he got to spend some time outside.  I even sat out and drank my tea this morning and enjoyed the fresh air. We started his IV magnesium this mo...

We brought Ryan into clinic today for labs and more magnesium.  His mag number came up a little bit (from 1.0 to 1.1), but not enough.  And, until the shortage is resolved, we will be giving him some extra IV magnesium for a few weeks.  But, because our pharmacy is so cool, we can give the IV at home with his regular TPN. The smoke is still causing some issues (mostly just allergy symptoms like itchy eyes and sniffling), so we are finding it better to keep Ryan home as much as possible.  He seems okay with it, as it means he gets to play video games and watch movies (only after his schoolwork is done!) Thank you all for the continued prayers and good thoughts!

We've mostly recovered from our emotional day yesterday, only to wake up to a very smoky day.  We decided that Ryan could plant his flowers another day, as he probably shouldn't be outside too much on days like today.  So, it was a video game inside kind of day (after our school work was finished, of course!) We got a call from our Great Falls oncologist, who spoke to the Seattle team about Ryan's low magnesium numbers.  They want us to get labs tomorrow, and probably a bolus of magnesium to get him through the weekend.  Depending on his numbers, we might come in next week as well until the TPN can get this right composition of mag (there is a shortage right now). Hopefully, these fires can get under control and the air quality can get back to our beautiful Montana weather, so we can enjoy the outside again... Thank you so much for your continued prayers and good thoughts!

Ryan is fine. However, Allen and Connor both left today for college.  Allen went with his sister and a friend, so I wasn't even there. (I was a bit nervous about my 16 year old daughter driving the 3 hours home from Bozeman alone, but she said it was easy.)  Of course, Allen's a sophomore and he's almost 20 and I was good with that.  I went through the sobbing last year when I dropped him off and he's totally where he should be.   Patrick and Grandma CC and I dropped Connor off in Missoula.  Oh jeez... The day consisted of 'nope, I'm not crying.. I'm okay...sniff, sniff'.  No pictures because I couldn't remember to pull out my phone and take any. (By the way, his room is awesome... he's in a 3 room pod of 'single' rooms, with a common area with a fridge and a microwave... so cool!)   We got his room somewhat put together with his bedding and his keyboard and guitar and computer, then had lunch in town.  When we dropped him off for t...

Tomorrow will be a busy day for us.  Patrick and I are bringing Connor to U of Montana in Missoula.  At the same time, Kathryn will be helping Allen move back to Montana State in Bozeman.  Which means that tonight is the last time my four kids will all be under the same roof for a while.  Of course, I'm sure they will all come back for Thanksgiving, and then Christmas, but for now, I'm preparing to be missing my boys.  It's gone by too fast... Ryan spent a bit of time today fighting me to do his spelling, but in the end, he got all his work done.  He still hasn't really gotten the concept that he will be doing his schoolwork every day, no matter how much he complains.  It's always hard, but I'm standing my ground and he's beginning to understand.. I hope. Thank you all for the continued prayers and good thoughts!!

Ryan went up to the grandparents for dinner this evening.  He talked grandpa into letting him have more cayenne peppers with his shrimp.  Grandpa made him drink milk before and after each bite, but he thought it was awesome! His belly opened wide up today, which we were expecting.  We put the ostomy bag on last night, thank goodness, so it's not irritating his skin as much.  It's not draining a lot, but it is actively draining.  With his week-long chemo last week, we expect that it will take about a week or two to close back up.  He's learned to deal with it, so we're all good! Thank you all for the continued prayers and good thoughts!