Lord loves a workin' man; don't trust whitey; see a doctor and get rid of it.

The Jerk is one of my all time favorite movies. Steve Martin is an absolute genius and has always been funny to me. He is intelligent and funny with just the right amount of goofball. I remember watching reruns of SNL and seeing Two Wild and Crazy Guys as a young kid. The guy is even a talented musician and can shred on the banjo. His character Navin R. Johnson in The Jerk is hilarious right from the opening scene (the title of this blog is a quote from The Jerk for those confused). I'm smiling right now just thinking about scenes from that movie. 

Earlier this week Jordan made me think about The Jerk. I was getting frustrated with her because I was trying to get her from point A to point B in the house. I was attempting to move quickly because I had something else on my mind that needed to be taken care of. As I was growing more impatient Jordan just seemed to enter super slow mo, taking her sweet time thoughtfully considering every item she might possibly need for her journey from the bed to the living room chair (a staggering twenty three foot journey). I was gathering an eyepatch, a pillow, a brush, a missing phone (a daily theme at our house) and hand sanitizer. These are just the items I can remember off the top of my head. As Jordan listed off the items she kept saying "that's all I need" right before remembering something else. I quickly went from frustrated to chuckling as I remembered this scene. A hopeless Steve Martin at his lowest point clinging to seemingly meaningless things. Grasping for a chair, a paddle game and a remote control as he realizes life has come to a screeching halt. I related in my own silly way realizing that whatever it was I was in a hurry to get to was completely meaningless. Jordan reminding me again that what mattered was right in front of me.

Jordan has had an interesting week health wise. She has been absolutely exhausted. Each Monday after her treatment she has her blood drawn to monitor her blood cell count. We got a call this week from the doctor notifying us that her platelets were low. Nothing super concerning (yet) but something to keep an eye on in the future. Jordan also started shedding more than a Siberian Husky during an Arizona summer. She has begun losing her hair in the spots where the radiation enters her body. The good news is that those spots will shift next week. The doctor is hopeful that she will be able to keep her hair for now. A rash also sprung up this week on her neck. It quickly spread to her back. We covered it in various lotions and I found myself lightly scratching her back lots this week. Two doctors determined that this was probably from the Chemo and not the Radiation. As a result, we are currently halting the Chemo until Monday to give the rash a chance to heal. It has gotten much better in only two days and we are hopeful that it will be gone in a few more days. Our goal this weekend is for Jordan to stay at home as much as possible in order to rest and recover from all these things. We did a pretty good job with that today. Jordan has been nauseous all day though. We are hopeful that she will feel better tomorrow because we had apples, blueberries, raspberries, pears, zucchini bread and blueberry cake all dropped off today by various friends!

My mom was here all week. She took Jordan to treatment each day and by the end of the week was getting Jordan around like a pro. It was a stressful week with the kids starting school and with me officially starting work. It was great to have her around helping out and to have her share those first few days of school with the kids. She also got to experience the effects of the local wild fire. As the temperature continued to get hotter, the smoke also worsened. We were suffering here at the house with all the windows closed and no AC. Fortunately, a co-worker saved us by giving us a portable AC unit. He had just had central air put into his house the day I was complaining to him about how gross it was in our house. So for the next few nights, my mom slept on the couch with the kids on the floor (on their mattresses) and us in the bedroom. We closed off those two rooms and had the AC at full blast. It was an absolute lifesaver.

My mom got to see first hand the people that have meant so much to us while she was here. At the end of the week, she shared that it was both amazing and a relief to see how so many people have embraced us here. My mom had to leave a day early (on her birthday) because of Hurrican Irma. Her original flight was canceled but she was able to catch a different one just in time to escape the smoke of Oregon and beat the rain/wind of Hurrican Irma to her home in Orlando. Everyone here (including my mom) seemed to take it in stride as we have all learned that each day is going to hold its own unique adventures. We also leaned on our community and immediately found help making the trip to the airport happen even though the interstate was closed due to the fire. My mom left our house super clean/tidy and reminded me of where I get that from. Jordan, the kids and I are thankful that she was able to spend time with us and experience the love of our Oregon family.

Benton and Parker had a great first week of school. They both love Parkdale, their teachers and their friends. I love being in the building with them and getting to see them in that environment. Each time I saw Parker this week she just had this huge grin on her face. Like she was about to explode with excitement. Benton's teacher shared with me at the end of the week that during their morning class meeting Benton opened up to his classmates about Jordan's tumor. He shared that he was worried about his mom. His classmates were very supportive. I'm so thankful that he has a place outside of our home where he feels like he can truly be himself and that he feels safe enough to share how he is feeling. That means the world to me.

First day of school!

Busting at the seams with excitement!

Jordan asked Benton to bring her an eyepatch. He came stumbling into the room saying "How many do you need?"

The literal smoke cleared up late yesterday afternoon and the temperature dropped to an enjoyable seventy-two. We were able to unplug the AC and get those windows back open. It felt good to feel the fresh air in our house again and to enjoy a drink on the back porch. As I woke up this morning I heard lawn mowers, birds (the birds are big and loud in OR) and people enjoying being outside. It almost felt like that first day of warm weather here when you emerge out of your cave and there isn't snow on the ground anymore. I stayed outside as much as possible. There were tons of kids in and out of our house today. At one point there were six kids running in and out of our house this afternoon. It was nice to see all the smiles and listen to the laughter. I'm just avoiding going upstairs to the kid's room because I know it is going to look like a grenade went off up there.

Cheers to tomorrow's adventure!