Catching Up: July 2025

 Jim has continued to do really well with his treatments. He doesn't always feel the best, especially bad on days 3-9 of his 28 day chemo cycles, but he is staying busy and we are finding plenty of things to be grateful for.

Painting stars on our fron lawn

Elliott throwing the mini javelin

Elliott long jumping

Elliott and a donut prize from the library summer reading program

Back in June I asked the oncologist about a couple molecular tests that I have heard of and wasn't sure if they had been run on Jim's tumor. It turned out that one of tests had been done and was favorable and one of the tests hadn't been done, but they did it on my request, and it was also favorable. So that has been more good news. One of the tests measures how fast the cells in the tumor are dividing and Jim's was 5% (This is the MIB-1 which is equivocal to the Ki-67) which is considered pretty low. The other test is for MGMT Gene Promoter Methylation, which was detected, and is an indicator of better response to radiation and chemo.

Jim has finished 7 cycles of chemo and we expect him to do 12, so he is more than half way done. He had a brain MRI on July 3rd and that was all good news. He will have another brain MRI in October and he will also do a 6 month follow-up chest CT in October to make sure his lungs look ok after the pneumonia he experienced in February. He had his yearly physical with his primary doctor and that all went well. The bloodwork showed that his thyroid function is low and the doctor recommended trying levothyroxin. Jim is often fatigued, which is common with the cancer treatment, but it may also be due to his low thyroid function. We checked with oncology and neurology, and they all suggested that he should take the medicine.

Jim's first day working in his new office in town was July 14th. This shortens his commute from just over an hour each way to about 10 minutes each way. There is definitely a learning curve to some of the changes, but the bottom line is that the shorter days will be better for Jim and better for our family and we are so thankful for that.

A fun place to stop for food

When in Logan you have to stop at the Pepperidge farm outlet!

7-11 on 7/11...free slurpees

Lego store in Logan

Checking out the Niter Ice Cave on the way home from Logan

While we were in Logan, UT for one of Emmett's soccer tournaments we purchased our "mid-life crisis" car. We had been talking about adding a new vehicle for a while and one car we have always been interested in is a Lotus Elise. They were only available for sale in the US from 2005-2011, so they are somewhat hard to find. Jim saw that there was one for sale in Logan and talked with the owner a couple times and said that we would like to see it if he still had it when we were there for the soccer tournament. It was still available and the short version is now we own it.

Jim baptized Emmett at our outdoor church service on July 13th. Emmett thought long and hard about his decision to make a public display of his personal faith and felt like now was the right time. He had two friends that were also baptized that day, along with about 10 others. Jim's parents were also able to come for a short visit and be here for the baptism. They were able to do some fun outings with the boys while Jim and I were busy with work.

Emmett and 2 of his friends that were also baptized

Putting up our old trampoline net to stop balls from going into our neighbors yard

While Emmett was at a soccer camp in Utah this past week we got our camping stuff organized and took a one night camping trip with Ezra, Elliott and our dog. Ezra has really wanted to camp, but Emmett hates camping, so this turned out to be good timing to keep everyone happy. Ezra and Elliott enjoyed their hammocks, fishing, starting a fire with a flint and steel, "adventuring", s'mores, etc. We've also spent time visiting a safari park, going to a couple trampoline parks, and swimming at a few different nearby waterparks.

Looking at the fish at a local safari park (they are known for their foxes, elk, and bison)