Scans Today

Not scans...but it's easier to say than "chest x-ray and abdominal ultrasound." Hopefully those things will be clear and he won't need scans in addition.

Somewhat off-topic--kids don't care if it's your birthday.

I took The Boy out for pancakes, figuring that if he had a nice big pancake breakfast, he would notice less that he was required to have a late lunch. I left Meatball home with my mother, figuring that for 45 minutes he could sit and watch TV with her.

It's her birthday today, and Meatball puked last night's dinner all over her bed. According to her report, he didn't do it on purpose, either. When I got home, I dressed him, nursed him, and gave him some oatmeal, which he was all too happy to eat.

I did order her a cake...and I am washing her bedding.

Anyhow, I'm not too nervous about scans but at the same time...of course I'm nervous. Because all it takes is a little bit of something to grow wrong once again, and we're back in cancer-land. We're trying to be normal, and this is the time when we realize that...we're not, and we have this cloud that hangs over our heads. The Boy said his belly hurt last night, and of course we worried. He had to poo and that made it better, but even so...

It has been 7.5 months since The Boy was sent home from the hospital because we were DONE with chemo. We didn't know we'd be done; had we finished the whole treatment, we'd probably still be doing it now. Of course, had we finished the whole treatment, who knows what would have happened to The Boy?

This past weekend was an amazing Wilms Tumor Symposium in California, spearheaded by the Pablove Foundation. I haven't yet read about what was learned and what was discussed but apparently many of the big experts on Wilms Tumor were there.

The general feeling I get, based on what has been going on with other Wilms kids, is that The Boy would likely have been treated differently, and maybe should have been, but at the time, the doctors he had went with the advice that the experts were giving. It is tragic that there have been so few advancements in treatment but at least encouraging that more studies are being done and organizations such as Pablove are really greasing the wheels.

Tonight we're having pizza, pasta, and cake with my mother and my aunt, for their birthdays. I love cake.