Reorganizing

It is a blessing to have so much GladWare. Even if it's piled up too high, spilling out of the cabinet, and so abundant that you finally just give up and put the whole stack out in the garage to be dealt with later.


It is a testament to all the people who love you and served you by bringing meals to you when you needed it most. It is the remaining symbol of everything that was prepared, warmed, seasoned, blessed, and brought to your home. Thank you to everyone for your care for our family, whether it was tangible or intangible. We felt loved the whole way along. I won't talk about the extra five pounds sitting on my hips from the wonderful desserts that came with those meals. I'll just say thank you.

All Clear

Big sigh of relief. Jumping up and down. Hugs and kisses all around. Prayers of thanks. All clear.

Dr. Minow called about 15 minutes ago. Reese's PET scan showed a "complete resolution" of the two lymph node tumors. Poof, they're back to normal size, thanks to the chemotherapy. He did see some mild lung fibrosis on the scan, which is the scarring we were worried about from the Bleomycin. However, he said it should resolve and just needed to be watched with no treatment necessary.

The next step will be a blood test on June 22nd (Happy Birthday to me -- what a great gift!) to make sure Reese's tumor markers are still normal, and then an appointment to go over everything a week after that. From there on out, he'll be back on surveillance. God has been so good to us. Of course we would have walked through whatever challenge he laid out for us, but we're just so happy we don't have to do another round of chemotherapy. Reese might even have enough energy to break out the cake and party horns now.

No news

No matter how sternly I glare at the cell phone, cursing at it in my mind, it refuses to ring. "Ring, would you?" I think. Still, no phone call from Reese's oncologist. We know that the PET scan was read by the radiologist, received by the office, and faxed to Dr. Minow at his hotel today. Poor guy, he deals with cancer patients all day, so I know his vacation is well earned. He could be hiking in the Alps or scuba diving in the Great Barrier Reef, I don't even know. I just want to find out if my husband still has cancer or not. I'm no good at waiting.

The bright side is that Reese is definitely perking up, physically and mentally. Chips, salsa, and the first beer you've had in 10 weeks while watching the Lakers with your brother will do that for you. He's only had a little bit of pain the past two days and has slept well, which makes a big impact on his mood. He's getting his sarcasm back, which is always a good sign.

Is that a light at the end of the tunnel, or just an oncoming train?

I know. I'm neglecting the blog. I know I need to write an update, but I really don't want to. It's been so nice to be free of appointments and waiting rooms, letting things like sewing projects, laundry, and vacation bible school decorations take up my thoughts instead.

Reese has been gaining ground little by little -- very little, actually. He's sleeping a lot. He worked for a bit on his laptop today, but quickly ran out of steam and needed a 2 hour nap. He still has quite a bit of muscle and joint pain that just doesn't seem to be going away. Dr. Minow referred to it as "residual chemotherapy pain". I don't know if that's really a thing, or just something they say to make you feel like what you're going through is normal. He didn't seem to be worried about it.

Tomorrow morning, Reese will have his PET scan to see if the tumors in his lymph nodes are gone. His doctor is leaving on vacation, so we may not find out the results until this weekend. He told us that he feels there's a 90% chance that the scan will be clear and Reese will be done with chemotherapy. We're trying to focus on the 90%, but that 10% is hard to not think about. They blocked off an appointment for another round of chemo for him on Monday, just in case. I tried to talk him out of his anxiety by saying, "Of course they just want to write it down because he'll be out of town and that would be a big hassle if they weren't prepared, but remember he said only a 10% chance, and nobody really thinks you'll need it...yadda, yadda, yadda." The truth is, Reese just can't even stand the thought of his name being pencilled into that book. It's hard to be done, but not really done.

Thanks so much for your prayers and good wishes. We'll report back as soon as we hear anything.