Monday was awesome! Tate attended his first classes as a college freshman. He is enrolled in calculus, engineering, psychology, and English 101. He talked to each of his professors, explaining that he has Leukemia and may have some scheduled absences for treatment and unscheduled emergency absences. The psychology teacher...

Tuesday morning Tate had an appointment with the Nurse Practitioner Angie and the Cortrosyn Stimulation Test (ACTH Stim Test) Greg wrote about in the last post. Both went pretty well. Tate was cleared for his Thursday spinal tap and chemo, but somehow his ANC has dropped again. This far...

Greetings Daily Dwayne Enthusiasts! The editors of The Dwayne have asked me to make another guest appearance and write a little segment about an upcoming test Tate is going to have on Tuesday. The test is called a Cortrosyn Stimulation Test (aka ACTH Stimulation Test) and it is going...

2019 has given us a lot of perspective. We have learned we can be hopeful and devastated at the same time and that we can do our best to be diligent yet still make mistakes with consequences that can’t be accurately measured. A painful perspective is that time is...

“You are in the good part. It’s just not supposed to suck so much.” Frank words from my sister this weekend. Tate’s appointment went well today. His ANC is 1130, which is within range, so his nightly dose of Methotrexate was increased a little bit. When discussing the decreased...

In October Tate scared us when his lung hurt. In November his stomach pain was so bad he ended up in the ER. It’s only the first week in December, and out of nowhere he fainted. It’s so hard. All the time. Tate is in Maintenance, the phase when...

This is how Tate walked into his appointment Monday morning: hoodie to protect his head from the cold, wraparound glasses to protect his eyes from the sunlight, and a mask to protect patients in the lobby from his cold. We spent all of last year being hypersensitive to people...

Things have gone a little backwards for Tate. His ANC is down to 340, which makes him extremely vulnerable to illness, and his abdominal pains have worsened. The doctor suspects Tate has gastritis and/or an ulcer. He’s hungry but afraid to eat, and both moving and laying still hurt....

Tate gave us a little scare. He has been been having abdominal pain, and it got to the point he couldn’t find a comfortable position, even laying down. Eating and moving make it worse. We know that by the time Tate tells us something doesn’t feel right he has...

Please read the next sentence in a whisper, for that’s how I’m saying it, afraid that if I shout it from the rooftops Tate will be struck down again. Good things keep happening. Last night ASU’s Wind Ensemble performed at Gammage Auditorium in Tempe. Scott was on the stage...