Update on Ry & an unbalanced, unfounded eyelashes claim

Ed went on Conrad's dad's boat downtown Friday night with Coach and Conrad's dad, and Ryland . . . whose real name is RYAN . . . I just cannot have you praying for a kid by the wrong name.  I'm old fashioned that way, I guess.

So, when the results came in about Ryan's tumor in his brain we were in Michigan.  The results were inconclusive and they needed a second opinion and there was talk about doing another brain surgery.  Instead I think they consulted someone else.  I am getting all of this second hand from a college kid, so consider that.  Ryan told the guys he was expecting a call Wednesday night, then not till Thursday night.  What's with the night calls?

Friday on the boat Ryan told them that he is going to need treatment.  Chemo and radiation.  He would not use the 'c' word:  cancer.  Ed and Conrad kept asking him BUT WHAT IS IT?  Finally, Ryan told them that it is cancer.  He is very optimistic, but as Ed points out he is optimistic naturally so he cannot tell if this is just his perspective or if this is the doctor's opinion.  At any rate, it is a blow.

He will have 12 weeks of treatment, a week on and a week off.  Then he expects to be good to go.  It is a germ-cell cancer.  I have not even googled that to see if I can learn more from google.  Ry thinks he is going back to college 2nd semester.  My fear is that with covid, he will not be able to go anywhere until there is a vaccine.  Assuming he is a cancer survivor at that point, he is going to be immune compromised.  I guess.  

Ed is so sad.  And scared.  And shocked.  One week they are hanging out and Ryan says he has headaches, and then boom.  College will not be the same without him there, but like Ryan says:  great semester to miss.  Good point.  

Ed:  I don't get it.  There are ass holes out in the world.  Ryan is the greatest kid.  This makes no sense.  He doesn't even want to tell the college guys in the group chat because he doesn't want anyone to worry.  

No explanation necessary.

Ed left our grad party and went to hang out with Ryan and friends at Ryan's house Saturday night.  He took whatever cookies I made that were left over to Ryan.  I asked if Ryan he hared the cookies with the guys hanging out, or if he tucked them away for himself for later.  Um, he is the tucking type, and I say amen to that.  Ryan is a lover of my baked goods and when all we've got is pumpkin bread, blueberry oat bread, cookies, and prayers, I am thinking he is going to get through this.  He loved the card Curly made him, as he is a huge Curly fan.  

On the boat that night Ed said they were talking about when they all turn 21 (they are currently 19), and Ed turned to Ryan and said, "Wait, are you Dec. 29?"  

Ryan:  No, December 19th.

Um, that is Curly's birthday.  So Curly and Ryan are birthday buddies.

I hope and pray that the 21st birthday celebrations happen and that this health issue is a mere memory by then.  Ed leaves on Thursday and I imagine that will be hard for Ryan.  Fortunately one of their other good high school buddies got himself in academic trouble (OK, so NOT really good news), and he will be home and able to keep Ryan company.  

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Reg and I ran to Costco last week.  He needed to have his glasses adjusted and I needed to order a cake for the grad party.  I bought these glasses as a replacement pair.  He lost his original pair at school in January after 10 days.  Yes, ten - as in less than 2 weeks.  I ordered the second pair from Costco just as things were shutting down and then was told they were in, but they weren't.  So, that was fun.  They guessed that they were sent to the wrong store and there wasn't anyone there to correct it.  So, they ordered them again.  

This is the lost-glasses page that Reg posted in the gym.  He took his glasses off for gym class and left them on the stage.  That's what kids do.  I thought, maybe another kid grabbed his glasses by mistake and hadn't realized it.  Hey, my kid is president of the no-noticing-details club, so maybe there are other members out there?  Alas, no one came forward with them.  Who would pick up the wrong glasses and keep them?

When they finally came in, I ran to pick them up one night just as the wait-in-line-around-the-building-fun had begun.  I called from the exit and told the woman at the eye-wear counter to turn and look at the exit.  "I am waving my arm at you like a crazy person who doesn't want to wait in line to enter the store.  Please don't make me come in to pick them up.  I was here yesterday and you called to say they were in when I got home."  

Kind lady marched them over to me in the exit and we did a sort of baton hand off.  They had already told me that they couldn't adjust them to fit his face.

So, months later when he said his glasses were super loose - "these glasses cannot stay on my face."  The woman working COULD NOT BELIEVE that this glasses were only purchased in early April.  

"What do you do with them?  They are so beat up?"  Reg gave her his infamous blank stare as if he was not sure she was talking to him.  What's that saying, you can dress em up, but you can't make em talk in public?

And this is why he must wear disposable contact lenses.  

His first appointment with contacts was in January.  He struggled - not like me with the passing out, grossness of it all.  He claimed his eyelashes were too long, um . . . on one eye.  And, he just had really quick reflexes and struggled to control his blink.  

After months of trying a sample set, losing sample set, going back to the doc to try again, he has figured it out.  My vision of him wearing prescription sport googles (get it vision?) was that they would cost a fortune and he would hate them or lose them.  

Problem solved.  I will have to keep a spare pair of his contacts in my purse in case any defenders make it past his quick reflex eyelashes and poke him in the eye during a basketball game.  If we even get to have a high school b-ball season.   

Heads up, I have another post coming at you tomorrow.  I still feel like no one wants to read on Fridays, so tell me if I'm wrong.