Graham Family Baby and Brain Cancer: An Update

It has been a LONG time since I’ve written a post – and that was not my intention with this blog. But, I’m honestly terrible with keeping up with things online; it doesn’t always come naturally to me. On top of that, we spent the month of July moving, working, going to appointments, and my laptop broke – rendering me useless as far as the blog goes. July was a hectic month to say the least! We are now finally settled in our new home and getting into a routine again. Every time I have been pregnant, we have moved. This time however, I was the most pregnant I have ever been during a move, and the bulk of our move happened during the hottest week of the year. We are thankful that is all behind us now.

As I write this, I am 27(ish) weeks pregnant. On July 3rd, we had our anatomy scan which is what would tell us if there were any abnormalities or problems with development with this baby. There was a lot of stress surrounding the possibilities of abnormalities with the baby, just because we knew it was conceived while Butler was on chemo. I actually had a midwife list me as high risk as soon as she found out about the conception of this baby before she had any actual information on the health of this baby, but that’s a story for a different day. We are so happy to report that baby Graham #3 is developing exactly as it should and is perfectly healthy. There is no reason to continue to stress or have more in depth, unnecessary ultrasounds. So to say we are relieved is an understatement, and it just adds to the list of miracles our family has experienced.

We are also so happy to announce that baby Graham #3 is…. a BOY!!! We found out the gender on the same day as the anatomy scan. It truly was an emotional day in the best way. The following day we announced the gender to our family. We have no idea as to what we are going to name this baby, nothing seems to feel right. Except for Oliver, but we know so many people who have named their children and dogs Oliver so we just aren’t sure. We do know the baby’s middle name will be James, after the middle name of Butler’s Uncle Herman.

In other wonderful news, the last 2 MRI’s Butler has had has come back clean. His last MRI was on Friday August 15th, and when I read the results in his Mychart, it didn’t even mention his cyst! So i’m not sure if maybe the cyst is completely gone, or if it’s just shrunk to such a small size that it’s not worth mentioning at this point. Since April of 2024, this cyst has been shrinking. It is a cyst filled with spinal fluid that is located in the resection cavity where the tumor originally was. At the time, his neurosurgeon wanted to remove the cyst because he did not like the size of it. He never got to remove it though, because every MRI since has shown it shrinking, nothing short of a miracle.

I don’t know if I have ever witnessed such a string of miracles before. My family sure has endured so much hardship the last couple of years, but that does not mean that our life has not been full of miracles. From Butler’s survival, surpassing his prognosis, completing chemo and being healthy, to the conception and perfect health of this sweet baby I am growing. We will never not recognize the blessings that have been bestowed upon us.

I am slowing down on working as the baby (and my body) grows. This has been the hardest pregnancy I have endured, and it’s simply because of the physical labor required by my job and the string of simple but annoying side effects. I am very well aware this pregnancy could be much more difficult, but in comparison to my last 2 pregnancies, this one is hard. Butler got a job in recent months as a sale’s rep for a food service company, which I think is great for his self esteem as well as his brain. It’s a good mental work out. This week Ella is starting her 6th grade year, our 6th year of homeschooling. We are trying out a new online curriculum called Miacademy, which hopefully will be more flexible for me, what with a toddler in tow and an infant on the way. She also started 12U softball last week, and we have learned that Thomas is apparently a natural at soccer.

Our family is slowing down, getting back into routine, and preparing for the arrival of our new family member. September is full of events with Butler’s birthday, my baby sprinkle, maternity photos, and other things I cannot think of right now. We will blame it on pregnancy brain! As always, thanks for being here. <3