This picture has some relevance. Somehow. I think.
Well, we took him for an x-ray. Lo and behold, that wasn't enough. He had to go to the hospital for some more advanced tests. Then came the results - "So yeah...he's got cancer."
I'm good. Screw off.
Needless to say, it was kind of a first for all of us. Cancer's that thing you always hear about, but it seems like it'll never come around to you. I personally took it in stride, I think, because the first thing I thought was "Oh, he'll be fine." Which was an interesting sentiment considering that if we had left him a tiny bit longer without going to the doctor, he'd be dead.
Let me tell you, having a church family that cares about you is so touching. The day the announcement was emailed, our house was flooded with phone calls from people who just wanted to say they were praying for us. I got several messages on Facebook as well, and the posts my parents put up were swamped with people who wanted to let us know they cared.
Weird how people were asking me if Jonathan was okay. I mean, uh, he's got cancer. No.
Yup! Spiffing!
Fortunately, he's doing okay now. His was a very strange case, considering his cancer was probably brought on by his autoimmune disorder. The nurses told us they'd never seen such an extreme case (for those of you who don't know, leukemia is basically when defective white blood cells start crowding out healthy red blood cells. The normal count is around one white blood cell per 600 or so red blood cells. I think.) My brother's numbers were in the hundreds of thousands.
Strangely enough, though, he responded crazily well to the treatments they gave him. They expected to keep him for several weeks, but ended up sending him home around one and a half. Prayers work, people!
"Can I have a penny?"
"In a minute."
Well, now he's at home. His hair is going to fall out sometime, which we are all eagerly waiting for (there WILL BE PICTURES). However, he basically has no immune system because of the chemotherapy he's receiving. So if you're sick, stay the *%^& away.
...
One last thing, though. Since he has a life-threatening disease, he qualifies for this thing called the Make A Wish foundation. This organization tries to fulfill the wishes of children with terminal diseases. Now, obviously, you can't wish for a billion dollars. But all he has to do is write a semi-convincing and grammatically correct essay and he can get hisself a laptop.
A laptop.
For an essay.
Seeing as he's not dead, or dying, I call foul. Spend your hard-earned money, you little git!
Just kidding. He's had a hard time. He can have it.
