Highlights: Things are going well and under control. We continue to pray for this in the fall.

We have about a week and a half left of summer break, which is always a sad time. I'm holding onto each day the best that I can. At the beginning of the summer, everything felt hopeless as Jack had 5-6 migraines a week without any form relief. He would feel incredibly nauseous all the time, especially at night. Summer started off rocky and Jack didn't want to do anything or go anywhere. Lots of sadness and tears.

However, maybe it was the rest or the magnesium, but Jack is concluding the summer feeling great. He hasn't had a severe migraine since June. We drink lots of water and are very careful about not pushing it too hard in the heat and the sun. 

At the beginning of the summer, we were talking about canoeing trips and how the boys would like to go on one when they're older. Jack excitedly said it would be a great adventure, but then suddenly his face dropped. He said, "I just remembered that I can't do things like that because I get migraines." I told him no, that we'd get his migraines under control and he can still do big things. I'm happy to say that Jack has been able to do a lot physically this summer. We went on our first backpacking trip and while he did end up with a migraine in the evening (I did too!), it was only moderate and he got better after about 30 minutes of rest in the tent. 

Jack and Eliot were interested in playing soccer this fall, but we decided to take the season off. They started with piano again recently and mentioned wanting to train for races. Some of the road races are coming back. School can be emotionally overwhelming so instead of balancing piano on Wednesdays and soccer practice and games and Scouts and possibly running races and all the things, I figured we'll ease into being super busy. And we'll likely do soccer in the spring.

With school starting, I'm overwhelmingly worried about both of the boys. I worry about them getting good teachers, making friends, and feeling like they are doing well in class. Jack missed a ton of school last year and he always felt behind as a result--he always had make-up work to do. I'm hoping this year he will gain some confidence and have a supportive teacher. The neurologist said Jack may have migraines the first couple of weeks when school starts up, which is normal, but beyond that we should adjust medications. I dread the migraines coming back; however, Chris made the point that at least we know that his migraines can be managed. And if school is a trigger, we'll deal with it when we get there.