Scans Are Stable

Once again, we can breathe a little sigh of relief. The scans look stable without any real changes since last time. That is good. There are still, of course, issues - sinuses and ears especially. When doc looked at Rebekah's ears he said the right ear looks normal and the left ear looks dry and gray like he would expect after radiation damage. He said that if we continue to have ear infection issues, we may need to consider tubes but that is really a call for Rebekah's ENT.

They did have one question mark on the Chest CT relating to the spleen. It didn't look right, but they don't believe it is cancerous or caused by treatment. They suspect that it has to do with the way the CT was done, so they want us to do an ultrasound of the spleen just to make sure. Apparently there are two types of tissue in the spleen and they can "react" to the contrast at different rates. If the spleen was "pictured" too soon after injecting the contrast that could explain the splotches - one type reacting and the other one not reacting. Normally, they wouldn't expect Ewing's to recur in the spleen and the "spots" are too large for them to think that it could be an odd recurence when they aren't seeing signs of cancer in any other areas. Nonetheless, we need to check it out. If the ultrasound comes back normal, great. If it looks odd, then we do more tests. So, I've got an ultrasound scheduled for next Tuesday. Meanwhile we wait and try not to fret about it.

It is nice to know that we can go on Rebekah's MAW trip and not have to worry about recurrence - at least not now. It is such a relief. I've had a nagging feeling that we could get bad news at our check and then not be able to have as much fun on the MAW trip. I guess it comes from hearing other families that have had MAW trips planned and then just before got bad news and then had to debate whether to postpone treatment to go on the trip or postpone the trip and "hope" that they get to make the trip later. Scan time is always difficult - always worrying and fearing the worst, and looking for anything that might lead you to believe that cancer was back or something else was wrong. The worry and fear can just drain any energy you have left right out. I am worn out and yet there is so much to do between now and when we leave on our trip.

We were reminded, once again, that every kiddo is different and reacts differently to treatment. You never can tell who will survive and who won't and who will have what issues. Life is precious. We have to take each day as it comes and see the blessings each day brings.

The oncology doctors lost a kiddo recently and I know that has to been hard on them. I read on Madeleine's page that they were rescheduling appointments so the office could close early so that they could attend a service. I told doc that I thought of the docs and staff when I heard about it and that I know it must be difficult for them as well as for the family. I don't know any of the details, but I know there is a family whose hearts are breaking. If you think about it, pray for this family and for the doctors, nurses and others whose lives were touched by this child.

Both Rebekah and Sarah have coughs. Neither of them has been running a fever. Rebekah is getting some green in her nose, but that always seems to be the case when she gets sick. Since I knew we were going to clinic where there might be kids with low counts, I wanted to have the girls cover their coughs so that they wouldn't get anyone else sick. We had a few masks that we had brought home from the hospital while Rebekah was in treatment. We tried them on the girls and they were a little big, so I tied knots in the straps that go around the ears and they fit just fine. Then we spent some time decorating them with stickers. They each decorated their own.

They wore them for a little while at home and we made sure to take them with us. Sarah did a really great job of wearing hers! Her bangs need cut again and her mask kept rising up so it looked like she couldn't see much of the time. Rebekah wore hers for a few minutes at a time and kept pulling it off. We tried. There weren't too many other kids at clinic, so it wasn't as big of a deal.