Why “high risk”?
Last night we returned home – a day early – from Wes’ first round of interim maintenance (IM), the third of five phases of therapy that began the day he was diagnosed, and will...
Author: Roger Howard
The administrative outrages of poor health
I’d like to think I’m of at least average intelligence, have a reasonable capacity with numbers, and I’ve dealt with more than my share of contracts and financial documents before. I read every thick...
Interim maintenance begins (eventually)
Today officially marks the end of Consolidation in Wesley’s treatment plan, which began when he was officially declared in remission at the beginning of December. The past couple of months haven’t been easy on...
An update on Wes
It’s been a while – things have been largely quiet, and we’ve been settling in to new routines as I settle in to my leave from work. More about that someday. Wesley is currently...
Fatherhood and masculinity and therapy
As soon as I had my first panic attack a few weeks ago I began looking in earnest for a local therapist to talk to, something that’d been on my mind for months. Since...
Back on track
The past few weeks have been quiet after several hiccups transpired to delay Wes’ treatment, and there’s been so much going on – or not going on – that I’ve not been in a...
Crying
I was never much of a crier until we had Wes. It was never a macho thing with me, but I wasn’t well connected to my feelings and struggled with understanding them, let alone...
Grateful for society
I’m grateful today that as we enter a new year I received approval for Pennsylvania Medical Assistance, a Medicaid program that provides backup coverage for families with seriously ill children, filling in the gaps...
On being loud for Wes
Everything about this experience is new to me. I’ve never had serious health problems and haven’t had to deal with the health care system in any significant way in my life – even Wesley’s...
Long Beach loves Wes
When we left Long Beach almost a year ago we knew we were moving away from a huge extended family – Stephanie, in particular, had built so many enduring friendships across the city thanks...