We left this afternoon for our trip to Cincinnati! Thanks to all the support we have received over the past few months but especially the past week. It’s incredibly overwhelming to feel such an outpouring of love. We loaded the van with all the donations we had gathered at Jack’s goodbye pancreas party (we removed two of the rows in the back of the 12 passenger van to accommodate the donations!), packed up a couple week’s worth of clothes, gathered the amazing activities and pampering items we received from friends and family and headed south.

Our neighborhood showered us with love lining our yard with purple flags, and filling our yard with words of encouragement. It made Jack’s day. Jack’s school friends and teachers made cards and gave advice and well wishes on Friday. Jack came home so happy, which was heartwarming considering he went into his last day of in person school sad and scared. We are definitely feeling the support near and far, and I thank you all.

We spent the afternoon at Scene 75 in Dayton, then headed to Black Rock for Jack to have his last meal for about a week. Naturally he got a filet, multiple sides, an appetizer and a brownie volcano. He destroyed it. Tomorrow morning he starts his clear liquid diet. We check into the hospital at 10am. Our goal is to head to the Ronald McDonald House before he checks into the hospital to drop off all the donations. There’s about a week wait at the RMHC so until then we’ll be camping out at the hospital with Jack. Once we get a room at the house, we’ll be able to have the siblings join for a visit (and hopefully after Jack’s out of the ICU) and we will have a mailing address.

We are full of nervous energy over here, but Jack sure is a trooper. Fingers crossed all the surgery prep goes smoothly tomorrow morning and we can just hang out for the afternoon/evening before the big day Tuesday.