Over the weekend, we
surprised Mason down at Johns Hopkins. He wasn’t expecting to see my dad on
Father’s Day, and we knew he was bummed about it, so when the opportunity came
for us to surprise him, we took it! It was great to be there, and we were even with
him for his last dose of chemo.
The doctors told us that
days 7-21 after the transplant would be the worst. It is during this period
where that final round of chemo will kick in the most, and it will really take
a toll on his body. Mason’s on Day 8, and he’s still fighting, strong as ever. His
hair has grown back pretty nicely! You also can barely tell he had surgery on
his brain because the scar has healed up so well. He is, however, having a lot
of the typical chemo side effects that he didn’t have in his previous rounds.
While this was expected, it’s still pretty hard for all of us to handle. I know
that what makes it easier for Mason is the kindness and compassion of his (cute)
nurses. From what I’ve seen, they’ve been awesome. They’re there to make him
laugh when he’s hurting or not feeling so well. They tease him for being the
only Steelers fan in Baltimore, and one of them even leaves him little notes to
cheer him up.
In other Abate news, Morgan
is doing much better! She ran for a few minutes on the treadmill yesterday, and
is even considering joining me for The B+ Foundation’s annual 5k tonight, which
I’m so excited for (me? Excited for running?!). Her back still hurts, but she’s
a fighter like Mason, and she’s pushing through it.
Mason truly is amazing for
doing so well even though he’s so far from home. He’s still adjusting to the
fact that we can’t visit as often when before he was only a short train ride
away, but he understands. He asked me to put on here that he still wants
prayers for the Leyva family, which is crazy to me because he’s still acting so
selflessly. Another ridiculously selfless person is my mom, who stays down at
Johns Hopkins with Mason. I don’t know if I could do what she’s been doing, and
I know that my entire family admires and appreciates her strength.
While it does hurt for us
to know he’s on a constant drip of pain medication to make him comfortable, it
reassures all of us to know that his support system grows stronger every day,
just like he does. We’re lucky and blessed to know that even though things are
tough on the orange brick road right now, our Emerald City is just ahead of us,
and we’re so so close.
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