We are officially in the groove of school!  Yeah!  Madison and JJ are in a great routine for drop off, pick up and yes, even homework!  It's amazing how much homework a 4th and 6th grader have, but we are so proud of their hard work.  Madison is very responsible for getting everything done, and other than a few checks here and there, she's very independent.  Both kids definitely have the strength area in literature and love to read.  JJ is learning Greek, Latin, and total submersion Spanish - AY CARAMBA!  We're all going to be learning some new concepts this year!

Lori had another chemotheraphy treatment yesterday and all went well.  Treatments take about 4 hours of infusion, but watching a movie and a little sleep makes the time go quickly.  No serious side effects, just a little achiness after day 5 or so, but still feeling so fortunate.  Now only 6 more treatments left - October 4 will be the final one!  Great news too - Lori's hair started growing back during the 6 weeks off of chemo, and so far it's staying!  It's even longer than James' already - hee!  So far it looks pretty dark, no curls yet, but we'll see...

So far chemotherapy does not seem to be slowing the leg healing, although doctors are still expecting it to take a little longer over the long run.  The plastic surgeon was VERY pleased with progress yesterday and told us that about 2 months from now the wound part should be completely healed.  The final surgery most likely will be optional if everything continues to heal over.  There are still a few parts where the skin needs to grow over, so as long as that occurs, the final surgery would be more cosmetic smoothing and a final skin graft to lessen the scaring.  Really hoping this happens so that final choice is up to us - just not sure if Lori wants to go through yet another surgery after all of this.  We see the orthopedic doctor in 2 more weeks to check the bone healing, but he was also very pleased with progress 4 weeks ago. Today physical therapy comes and Lori will be able to put a very small amount of weight on that toe to help with walking and balance.  Hoping to get to outpatient physical therapy soon and walking and driving soon after that!   

First Days of School

Madison and JJ both started school this past week.  Madison is officially a middle schooler, and obtaining a locker was the highlight!  She was excited to start school 3 weeks ago, and we're so proud of her organization and excitement for learning.

JJ entered 4th grade this year.  He wasn't as thrilled about starting school as Madison, but had a great first week and is liking it and getting into the routine of things - especially more homework this year.  Unfortunately, he is missing his first day of school after only 1 week due to strep.  Poor guy, but he'll be getting back into the grind tomorrow!

It has been extremely hot here - hitting in the 110's and lots of monsoon action.  Luckily we haven't been spending much time outside due to the heat and Lori's injury.  Not too much excitement there - Lori's leg is healing very nicely.  The doctors switched the bandaging so the wound is drying out and finally starting to look human again (not like the hamburger meat it once looked like - we'll spare any pictures!  For those of you curious ambulance chasers - hee! hee! You can view some similar photos online if you google 'split thickness skin graft'. This is a process they use for severe trauma like burns or unlucky broken lower legs).  Lori's chemotherapy also started back up this past week and we're back to the countdown - only 8 more weeks to go.  Doctors are keeping a very close eye on things to be sure the chemo does not compromise the healing process or cause infection of any kind.  In about 2 weeks Lori will begin putting very small amounts of weight on her leg, then work up with physical therapy.  There may be one more surgery involved to smooth out the leg scaring, but for now we're just patiently waiting to see how the healing takes place.  If we can skip yet another surgery, we would be thrilled!  For now, it's more sitting, leg exercising and doctor visits.  Hopefully by Christmas things will be back to normal, and 2013 can be our lucky year!