May is brain cancer awareness month. Three years ago, our world was rocked when Wayne was diagnosed with brain cancer. Not only was he diagnosed with brain cancer, he was diagnosed with GBM, the worst form of brain cancer which you can be diagnosed. According to the doctors, Wayne is a walking miracle. The median survival rate for GBM is 14.6 months. A 2009 study shows that about 10% of GBM patients live five years or longer. Thankfully, Wayne's tumor had genetic markers that made his more responsive to treatment. So much more research needs to be done to find out more about brain cancer!! I have made too many friends on the course of our brain cancer journey that have lost their loved ones. If you want to learn more about brain cancer, some great websites include the following:
www.abta.org
braintumornetwork.org
mayoclinic.org
Please continue to pray for Wayne's health and for all of our friends going through brain cancer. Thank you again for all of your prayers throughout the years!!
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March 9th, we took a field trip with some homeschool friends. We learned all about maple syrup. It was fun, just VERY cold!!
In March, we also celebrated the boys being home for one year. It was a fun night full of Chinese food, cake, and we watched our video from our trip to China.
March also meant the beginning of soccer season. This year, since everyone else is in swimming, only Joella and Shan Chen played. DJ is doing special olympics track.
We spent Easter with our family in KY. While we were there, I also ran another half marathon (KY=done). This course was VERY hilly!! We had a great time enjoying the sun and time with family. We also got to have our Easter egg hunt at my parent's new house...that's right, my parents are moving to KY. Now we will have at least one set of grandparents a half days drive away!!!
We had an amazing opportunity to get together with Shan Chen's foster sister from China. Her family was in the area visiting and we met up at the park to play.
This year for science, Micaela, Shan Chen, and Joella helped me come up with a plan to plant our garden. We planted seeds to get a head start. We are still working on created our planting boxes in the backyard.
Another sign that spring is coming is that our butterfly, that stayed cocooned all winter long, finally emerged from the cocoon. I think it came out a little too early though because the temperature dropped the next few days. I hope it survived!!
In April, swimming started back up (can I get a hallelujah? Swimming keeps our kids hormones balanced!). Shan Chen wanted to try out for the team and he joined! He is super excited to be swimming.
School continues to go well. We are finishing up our last few weeks studying Rome to Reformation, as well as astronomy.
We got to spend the evening with friends from CA. They are moving to MI and stayed with us for the evening. We discovered that our college pastor from back in the days, was also in town. We had a wonderful reunion and enjoyed fellowshipping with friends that are like family.
The following day we went to the Lincoln Park Zoo. We enjoyed a few hours at the zoo.
April 27th, Grace had her mock trial. It is amazing to see young people do such a good job presenting the case (she had a murder trial this year).
As soon as we got home from the mock trial, Wayne was on his way to the ER. Shan Chen had been changing for swim practice and he noticed blood on his prosthetic sock. He looked down and saw a screw popping out of his leg!! Thankfully, it was not painful, but it was something to see. His case baffled all the doctors. We discovered that at some point in China, he must have had a screw?? It has just been floating around in his leg and decided on Friday night to break through his skin. He is doing fine now, but we do have an appointment with not only his prosthetic team this week (he is getting measured for a new part of his prosthesis), but also his surgeon (to look over records and see how we missed seeing this screw before).
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