July 2023 in Review . . . Trying to catch up on three months of Facebook posts for my blog-only followers!

Keeping track just because this is our life . . . Thomas had five medical appointments in July (one out of state).

Getting a Second Opinion at Boston Children's Hospital

The three of us are winging our way (after a six-hour delay!) to Boston Children’s Hospital today for Thomas to be seen by a national specialist in pediatric pancreatitis (very rare). Today happens to mark the three-year anniversary of the first day of Thomas’s chemotherapy. We pray for very fruitful information to come out of this appointment . . . And that we can have some fun in such a historic city on this patriotic holiday weekend!

After waking at 4:30 a.m. and four delays totaling nine hours, we have boarded our flight to Boston! Praise be to God!

The motto of Boston Children’s Hospital is “where the world comes for answers”—an apt description in the view of this mama who travelled 800 miles! Thomas’s appointment was wonderful. The doctor had reviewed Thomas’s copious medical records and my 10-page narrative summary filled with charts and graphs. He gave us a full hour of his time, took a comprehensive view of Thomas’s body, gave us numerous ideas, and both doctor and patient’s family left the appointment with ideas and homework to do. I am very grateful.

We had a delightful visit to The Boston Tea Party Museum today.

But first, be grateful you did NOT have to be the mother who had to tell her precious son—who cheerfully declared, “Now, let’s go to the aquarium!” As soon as the phlebotomist took eleven vials of blood—that he was not going to visit the New England Aquarium . . . The aquarium he had watched videos about for the prior week . . . All because I am so provincial that it never occurred to me that I would need to buy tickets ahead of time in this major historic city on Independence Day weekend. Aquarium tickets were sold out and I had to inform my beloved son.

He is such a good boy that he blinked back his tears and expressed enthusiasm for going to the Boston Tea Party Museum instead. Their tour is fabulous! Living history actors never break character while leading visitors through the fateful town meeting and ultimate dumping of tea into the harbor. Each visitor is given the role to play of a historic person who was part of the tea party. The acting is funny, exciting, and very informative. We loved it.

Transitioning from Solid Tumor Program to Survivorship

Milestone alert! Today marked Thomas’s last official appointment with Oncology: Solid Tumor Program. Going forward, Thomas will be seen by Oncology: Survivorship—and, of course, the 11 other doctors who follow him, for an average of 23 appointments per year (not counting sick visits). To add to our emotion today, this is the last day Clinic is being held on the sixth floor: on Monday, the whole Oncology Department will have moved to gorgeous new facilities on the third floor. Patients and parents are writing their memories of Sixth Floor Clinic on these butterflies. While this was a location of harrowing experiences, it was a place of tremendous LOVE and I will miss it.

Summer Baseball

Last night, I took the boys to our first Pineville Porcupines baseball game. What a fantastic fun time we had! I highly recommend this small town baseball stadium for south Charlotte families looking for wholesome entertainment during the summer. The night we showed up, kids' tickets were FREE (adults $8 apiece), plus they were given free tee-shirts. The facility was fantastic and intimately small so I felt safe with the boys running around, trying to catch foul balls and playing with their friends. I took them to the playground (100 feet away) during part of the game. My boys participated in the Shoe Race (Joseph was second place!) and the Dizzy Bat Race (Joseph won!)--for which all participating kids were given goodie bags filled with candy, a water bottle, a ball, and a bracelet. We left after the seventh inning, which was still two and a half hours of fun. The parking lot (free and convenient) was well lit at night and literally just steps from our seats.

And to give you a sense of the atmosphere . . . at one point, apparently a bad call was made by the umpire (not that I would have a clue) and the crowd went wild with insults and distress. A good Southern man called out with booming voice the ultimate insult to the umpire: "You should be ashamed of yourself! Go to church on Sunday!" Chalk it up to, "you know you're in the South when . . . ."

Happy Birthday, Thomas!

Happy eighth birthday to Thomas! This is a week of early mornings as he attends Summer Catechesis (Catholic name for Vacation Bible School) with his brothers, but we will have family festivities to come tonight and his gift, which is a big day trip to the zoo this Saturday (if weather cooperates!)!

Summer Catechesis 2023

We had the best time participating in Summer Catechesis this week, the first time we've done so in about ten years! I was a room parent, Mary was a snack room volunteer, Margaret was an art room volunteer, while Joseph, Thomas, and David were participants in the K-5 program. The five-morning event was very well organized, fun, and taught traditional Catholic teachings.

Joseph's mBot

Joseph (10), with his passion for building things, launching rockets, arranging SnapCircuits, and doing science experiments, just built his first MBot. He is loving this new hobby of beginner robotics!

Alarm Clock

If you won't wake up on time for the daily early start at Summer Catechesis, you get THE TREATMENT! (Read: your big brother drops the dogs into your bed to smother you with kisses till you get up)

John at Fraternus Summer Camp

Two weeks ago, John attended camp for five days: both two days at HAWC (a leadership/retreat kind of camp) followed by three days at Ranch, both sponsored by Fraternus. We missed his friendly, chatty persona around the house so much! He had a wonderful time at camp and came home more committed to his faith than ever.

The Girls at Fidelis Summer Camp

Two weeks ago, Mary (14) and Margaret (12) attended Inspire camp, sponsored by Fidelis. They very much enjoyed being with their chapter-mates and learned fortitude "roughing it" a bit more than they expected. I have received a mysterious absence of photos of Mary . . . but I know they participated in swimming, horseback riding, paintball, low and high ropes, whitewater rafting, daily Mass, Catholic talks every night, and more. It was a very quiet house with only three young kids at home all week!

The Catholic Museum

I highly recommend you visit the two-day Catholic Museum! There are rooms and rooms of Catholic objects to view up close with docents in every room, friendly and well-versed about all the objects. You could easily spend an hour at the display.

Sweetwater Farm

Fun Moments

Football with Pals

Independence Day Decorations

John cubing with pals

David playing frisbee golf

Margaret doing art in her closet studio

I took Thomas and David to explore a pond one day.

A birthday party for a friend

Food Photos

I made a special dinner of wings, baked potatoes, and corn on the cob on the eve before all three of my oldest kids will be gone at camp! We will really miss them—for their company and also because this mama will be taking over dog care, fish care, bird care, and collecting mail at two other homes.

Dutch babies for breakfast

Margaret baked animal-shaped bread rolls

Dog Photos

Little Nicky gave us quite a scare this week when he ate several peppermint candies. I swear, dog ownership should require some authority to tell the family the litany of items that are toxic to dogs! On Monday, Nicky was experiencing very bloody loose bowels and after a few hours, I remembered that he had gotten into peppermints the night prior. It turns out that peppermints are extremely toxic both because many contain xilitol but also because peppermint oil alone is toxic. It can shut down the dog's organs within days. Thanks be to God, famotidine (per the vet) and a couple of days of boiled chicken and rice fixed him right up. And I threw away the remaining peppermints!