What better way to celebrate a cancer diagnosis than with a Halloween party? By Wednesday morning, October 31st, the labs for Eli’s tumor indicated that it wasn’t lymphoma. The process to determine the particular type is complicated, so we didn’t get a final diagnosis until Thursday, November 1st.

I went home Halloween morning to get a shower and get the kids to go celebrate with Eli at the hospital. I came home to friends cleaning my kitchen and the kids were almost all ready in their costumes. That was a pleasant surprise. After taking care of myself, I sat down with the kids to tell the kids that their brother has cancer. They took it pretty well, but you don’t always know how they really feel.

We had fun trick or treating at the hospital. We also ran into some doppelgangers.

Noah thought he might be getting a cold, so we made him wear a mask, after discussing it with the personnel. It turned out he wasn’t really sick.

That evening, Eli was ready to go home, so we got to sleep in our own beds.