Separated (by Brad)

Good afternoon from McKinney, Texas, where fall is characterized by 78 degree temperatures and leaves descending from the trees covered in a marvelous shade of brown. We've reached the point in our odyssey where I (Brad) am here with our soon to be three year old son Jamison and Bree is in Ohio with Nathanael. I can't really speak as to how he is doing as well as Bree can because, obviously, I'm not there. From what I can see on Skype, though, he's gaining weight at an exponential rate and aside from the underlying condition, looks like a wonderful baby boy. These are the last few days before the treatment begins. They are admitted to the hospital on Monday. Nathanael has surgery on Tuesday to implant two central lines into his chest and on Wednesday the chemotherapy begins which is necessary to make room for the transplanted bone marrow. The chemo will last for ten days and the transplant is set to take place on November 23rd. Then comes the long, long road to recovery.

As far as life back in Texas is concerned, I'm not going to lie, it isn't easy. Except for the solid wall of rain between Memphis and Little Rock, the drive was inconsequential. Folks from our church made sure our home was in working order and that there was food in the fridge and even on the stove. It took two days to go through all the mail and I had to re-learn how to work the remote. My mom is here with us and her help has been invaluable. We've only been home a week but I'm not sure we'd have survived this long had she not been here.

Jamison is acting out and it's impossible to tell if it's simply a matter of being 2 years and 9 months old, as of today, or if it's because of the situation or a little bit of both. He vehemently protests whenever told to do something he doesn't want to do and has a hair trigger for a temper that will absolutely go off if he doesn't get to do something, "by own 'elf (by own self)." If I want to throw him into full scale hysterics, all I have to do is take his shirt off when it's time to get ready for bed. We haven't fully re-entered our lives here yet and time is inching along. My two goals are a.) have him see me every day and b.) have quality interaction with him every day and it's hard when so much of that time has to be spent in discipline mode.

Jamison misses his mommy. He was sad to learn that her pillow wasn't on the bed in our bedroom. He thought a trip to see his doctor meant getting to see Mommy and Nathanael. I was at least grateful that he included his younger brother in his aspirations. Last night he just came out and said it, "I miss Mommy." He wants to know when we can go back to Ohio. I wish I knew how military families with spouses on deployment and children left back home do this with such regularity.