Tate’s appointment today was pretty good. There was some confusion created by whoever set his appointment this week; both Greg and I thought he would have appointments today and Thursday, but it turns out he just needed one long appointment today. The appointment got off to a very late...

A year ago and before The Daily Dwayne existed, Tate had to undergo radiation treatments at the Mayo Clinic, and that is what today’s story is about. When Tate was first diagnosed with Leukemia, he had “blasts” (bad cells) in his spinal fluid. For most pediatric patients, one dose...

Today’s appointment was pretty uneventful. Yay! Finally! As we were walking out, Greg and I were talking about how it may have been the first time we left an appointment feeling so lighthearted. The purpose of the appointment was to check Tate’s ANC to determine whether his daily at-home...

Today was a landmark day in Tate’s recovery; he had his first cello lesson since his leukemia diagnosis in May 2018. I shared this picture with our oldest son Scott, and he texted back saying he was crying and asked if he could share it on Twitter. Tate has...

Tate has been the most miserable guy. It breaks our hearts. It’s hard to watch him fight his fight and feel useless against his burden. Yesterday morning when I asked him how he was doing, Tate said, “I’m really bad” and then hid under his blanket and asked me...

Despite its ups and downs, today was a good day. Tate’s lumbar puncture with intrathecal Methotrexate was completed without complication, and he had already been given his Vincristine dose before we were allowed into post-op to see him. The scary parts of the appointment went super smooth. Things got...

Somehow Tate’s sleep schedule is upside down again, and he spent most of the day asleep. He and kitty were both still sleeping when I peeked into his room at 11:00am. This afternoon my friend sent me this picture of Tate she found in her wedding album. I remember...

We all had mixed emotions about today’s appointment. The Nurse Practitioner that examined Tate was very nice and no doubt very competent, but she primarily works at the main campus in Phoenix and only fills in at the east valley clinic when they are short staffed. It’s hard to...

Tate chose today’s title. No capitalization. No punctuation. Tate is working very hard at his occupational and physical therapy appointments, and he is constantly sore all over. He keeps saying, “Oof ouch owie my bones.” He is putting a lot of effort into getting better! The occupational therapists have...

The whole last week has been a series of ups and downs for Tate. Treatment days are HARD. Steroid weeks are miserable. This time Tate had the added problem of nausea and severe stomach pain. Tate has an emergency button in his room he can push if he needs...