Wow, has it really been six weeks since we last provided an update? My bad. I feel like I’m back in school again and didn’t turn in a homework assignment on time. In honor of that feeling, here are some excuses for the tardiness (feel free to believe your favorite):

• Time moves quicker in the summer – in winter time it’s really only been like two weeks.
• I sat down to write this a number of times, but wouldn’t you know it, across all my Internet connected devices I couldn’t get a reliable signal. Must be solar flares.
• I actually wrote 3 updates over the last 6 weeks, but each were pulled down by Russian hackers. Look for a forthcoming WikiLeaks dump of fresh content.
• Cathy has been doing so well, that we have admittedly become a tad bit complacent.

Round 6 (the final round of Phase I) went off without a hitch. Last time you may recall a severe allergic reaction to one of the drugs. Well, they held back on that drug this time which empirically validated the following math proof: chemo = poison; poision + poison you’re allergic to = really bad; just poison = not as bad as previous formula but still not optimal.

Because they cut out a drug, Cathy only needed one night’s stay in the hospital as opposed to three during Round 5. Even though it was only one night, the pesky side effect of boredom was still relevent. So we had some fun with the super official white board in the hospital room:

“On a scale from guy-who-could-braid-his-beard to guy-with-90s-fade-and-soulpatch, where would you say you are right now?”

So, what does one do after being dragged through the coals of hell for 4 months? Go on vacation, naturally. And so, we packed up our car (well three cars actually which isn’t ideal from a carbon footprint perspecitve, but I hope you’ll forgive us) and headed up to the beautiful shores of Lake Owen in Northern Wisconsin. Do you know what Cathy did a mere two a half weeks after having finished an intensive, 15 week chemo regiment, where the effects are cumulative, and her counts still low? She hiked 3.5 miles. And then the next day she hiked 5 miles. And the day after that, she hiked another 4. Her hike total for the trip was likely over 40 miles. She also got mad at Lindsay and I because we told her that waterskiing while still having a chemo port implanted in you was probably not a smart idea (editor’s note: Glenn is not joking here – she was really mad that we wouldn’t let her).

Not pictured: Cathy beating me in a “planking” competition which has led me to question my fitness, nutrition, and general life choices.

Transformed is a strong word, but after a week in the pristine, pine-scented air of the Northwoods, Cathy looks a little different than a few weeks ago. See for yourself!

What’s next? Well, we need all the good vibes flowing our way. Cathy returns home from vacation tomorrow and goes in for a PET scan on Friday to see how effective the treatment was. We’ll get the results back next Wednesday. Assuming we get the news we’re hoping for (complete or partial remission), then she’ll have the green light to undergo the last Phase of treatment: an autologous stem cell transplant at Loyola University Hospital in August. That’s going to be a doozy, so I’ll save that for a later date, after we know more next week. Until then, here is a family photo in front of a backdrop that Cathy thinks looks fake, but is definitely real.