A Short Update and Michael News

Update:
Hi, everyone. I am, again, in a holding pattern. My doctors all agree that I need to give myself time to heal from the radiation before starting my new chemo. Part of me is relieved to have a break and another part of me is just very anxious to get going on it so I can get it behind me. As always, it is very nerve-wracking to just wait and not be doing anything proactive against the cancer returning. I know I can't be in treatment forever(at least I hope not!) and I will have to get used to living with the fear at some level, but it is not easy. My skin has finally almost completely healed from the radiation. It honestly looked so bad a couple of weeks ago that I would never have believed it if I was told it would heal this well,this quickly. The problem is that the radiation eroded part of my incision and so it has to heal from the inside out and that is going to just take time. I still am battling fatigue, especially by the end of the day, but I'm told that can take months to get better. Being in the classroom each day continues to be a source of energy and happiness for me. I have the most amazing kids!

Michael News
Two fun things to let you know about Michael. He decided this year to go out for the swim team. He is a senior this year and hadn't been on the team before, but it is a no cut sport and so he has been able to become a part of the team. It is a really nice group of kids that swim and besides occupying a lot of his time with practice and meets, he has a nice group of kids from the team he hangs out with. He came home at the end of the first week of practice with a Swimmer of the Week t-shirt. We are so proud of him. I got to go see him compete this past Thursday. Here is a short video of him participating in the 50 meter freestyle.



The other news is kind of funny. The senior class was having elections this past week for the yearbook;things like the most likely to succeed, etc. Well, one of the categories was best hair. Michael wanted to win one of the categories and worked at convincing his friends that they should vote for him for best hair. Well, I'm his mom and he is a very good looking young man, but his hair is pretty ordinary even in my eyes. I guess it was in the eyes of his friends,too, because they only agreed to vote for him if he would cut his hair in a "cul-de-sac." If you are like me, you've never heard of this style before. I think the pictures below will clear up any confusion you might have.




This last picture is one of the ones they took for the yearbook with the girl who won best hair.

So, that is all the news fit to print for now!
Love you all!
Martha