Hello family!
I’ve been meaning to write a blog for a while.
Actually, it’s been since March.
How did that happen?!
I feel like I should begin with an apology for disappearing for so long. For years, this blog has been filled with updates. Treatments. Scans. Hospital stays. Prayer requests. Results. Good news. Hard news. Another hurdle to get over.
There was always something to write about.
But perhaps the reason it has taken me six months to write another update is actually a really, really good one. Life has become relatively normal. I almost can’t believe I get to write that.
Now? What about the the past 6 months, and right now? Well, the Nowak house is back to school drop-offs. Baseball practice. Football games. Dance rehearsals. Youth group. Birthday parties. Work. Church. Friends. Driving children from one thing to the next and occasionally wondering how on earth we are supposed to be in four places at once.
Wonderful, busy, exhausting normal.
And yet, amongst all of that normal, the last few weeks have given us three pretty extraordinary reasons to write. More on those in a minute.
Summer!
Before the school year swallowed us up again, we had a fantastic summer. The boys seemed to live at the pool. There were friends everywhere, plenty of playing, and the usual craziness of managing everyone's schedules. Our older two are also getting to the age where summer looks a little different. Hugo spent time mowing lawns, Calista was babysitting and doing jobs for neighbours, and somehow Nat and I are now parenting children who are increasingly doing their own thing.
One of the absolute highlights of our summer, though, was getting back to Australia.
What a gift.
It filled our hearts, and our love tanks, to be back with family and friends. Cousins hanging out together. Meals around tables. Seeing people who have known us for years. Catching up with friends where you can somehow pick up exactly where you left off.
And, obviously, eating.
A lot.
Great Australian food. Great coffee. Far too many baked treats. Creamy Cadbury chocolate. And, because Adelaide deserves its own category, Haigh's chocolate. We came back to America very well fed! But there was something else about this trip that has stayed with me.
A few people asked us some version of the question: "So... are you coming back home?"
It's an understandable question. Australia was home for so much of our lives. Our family is there. So many of our longest friendships are there. There are places, people and memories there that are simply part of who we are.
But I think Calista found the best answer.
We have two homes. (well, three, if you count heaven, but I didn’t want to get into theological convo)
One home is where we live, work, go to school, attend church and have built wonderful friendships.
The other is where so much of our family is, where long relationships live, and where a huge part of our story was written.
One doesn't have to be better than the other. They're just different. And we feel incredibly blessed to have people we love on both sides of the world.
Back to normal life
Then summer ended, and somehow we launched four children back into school.
Murphy finished Grade 1 so well and has started Grade 2 incredibly strongly. Once again, he has been blessed with wonderful teachers, and that has been true for all four of our kids. We continually have moments where Nat and I look at each other and think, Yep. They're exactly where they're supposed to be. Murphy and Teddy are both playing baseball this fall and loving it. Games are about to begin, so the Nowak taxi service is preparing for another busy season!
Hugo has been having a great time playing linebacker on the Junior Varsity football team at his high school. Calista is back in full swing with dance classes and Nutcracker rehearsals. Hugo and Calista are both loving youth group and have found such an amazing group of friends.
Nat and I are both in full work mode, fitting our schedules around school pickups, drop-offs, sports, birthday parties, church commitments, volunteering and whatever social engagement one of our children has informed us about approximately twelve minutes before it begins.
It's full. It's chaotic. And we are so thankful for it.
Three BIG wins
Now for the Murphy update.
Over the past few weeks, we've had three appointments/results that we really wanted to share.
And they are pretty remarkable.
Win #1: Murphy is growing!
For the past couple of years, one of the concerns following Murphy's treatment has been his growth. Over the past two years, Murphy had grown only around one centimetre. That's obviously well below the normal growth rate for a child his age, and it had reached the point where we were having serious conversations with his endocrinologist about whether Murphy may need human growth hormone treatment.
Then, we went back to endocrinology. And the news was completely different.
Murphy has grown at a normal rate over the past year.
Praise God! After such limited growth for so long, his body has started growing again at the rate they would expect. The endocrinologist looked at the numbers and essentially told us:
"I don't have words."
We laughed.
Because, strangely enough, that's not the first time we've heard something like that during Murphy's journey. There have been moments when medicine has done everything it knows to do and then something happens that isn't easily explained.
We are incredibly grateful for Murphy's doctors. We are incredibly grateful for medicine, research, treatment and every person who has cared for our boy. But we are also people of faith. And sometimes God does what God wants to do. So for now, the conversation around growth hormones looks very different.
Win #2: His kidneys have improved
Another long-term concern has been Murphy's kidney function.
Treatment saved Murphy's life, but it also came at a cost to his little body. His kidneys have been one of the things his medical team has continued to monitor closely.
At his recent nephrology appointment, we received another piece of news we weren't expecting.
His kidney function has improved.
Murphy had previously been classified as having Stage 2 chronic kidney disease. His kidney function has now improved enough that he is back into Stage 1. Again...Praise God.
There will still be monitoring. We aren't pretending that everything Murphy's body has been through has simply disappeared. And after years of watching numbers, scans and results hoping they move in the right direction, we are celebrating this one.
Win #3: CLEAR PET SCAN!
And then came this week.
Murphy had another PET scan.
If you've followed this blog for any length of time, you'll know that scans have a strange ability to bring everything flooding back.
No matter how well Murphy looks. No matter how much time has passed. No matter how normal life has become.
There is still that wait.
And then the result came.
ALL CLEAR.
No evidence of disease.
Another clear PET scan.
Another quintessential Murphy thumbs-up.
To God be the glory.
Sometimes I don't know what else to say. We've seen miracle after miracle throughout this boy's story, and somehow we still find ourselves blown away when another piece of good news arrives.
Three wins.
Three things that, individually, would have been worth writing a blog about.
Love,
Daniel, Nat, Calista, Hugo, Teddy & Murphy
