Six months

It was six months ago today that we discovered the lymphoma.  By 11 pm we had already found the mass on ultrasound, been admitted through the emergency department, obtained an MRI, and were admitted to the Children's Hospital, hoping to have surgery the next morning and discover exactly what we were dealing with.  I remember doubting that it could be anything benign and hoping it would just be lymphoma because the alternatives would have been worse.


So much has happened since that day.  We didn't even need the lymphoma to put our lives in turmoil as we were already planning on leaving my job and starting a new job.  We just barely moved to our new home and immediately left on vacation with some friends.  Our house is not even close to unpacked.  The kids are registered for their new school, but J and his older sister still need to get their classes scheduled.

J has a full head of hair growing again.  It's very thick and has a bit of curl to it.  Mom thinks it's a little bit softer, not as coarse as it was before.  I can't tell the difference.

J recently went to a special needs camp for children with cancer.  He was allowed to take one sibling as a guest, so his older sister went with him.  They had a blast and have already planned the next 10 years of camp attendance.  They are able to attend 5 years and then they could apply to be a camp counselor for the one week camp.   They had all sorts of activities and played pranks on each other.  J was given "The Most Inquisitive" Award.  That captures him well.

We will have his first appointment with his new oncologist next week.  From a medical standpoint, they will want to know what symptoms he had that led to the discovery of the lymphoma, specifics about the type of lymphoma, treatment, any noteworthy complications, and treatment response assessment.  We boil the stories down to just the basics.  Enough to make treatment decisions.  But there is such an amazing story to accompany his basic story, as there likely is with every patient.  It's a shame we don't have enough time to know another's complete story.

Right now we are considering his treatment successful with a complete response.  We wouldn't necessarily jump to the "cured" word at this point, but things look really good today.