I don't post very often anymore, and I have been meaning to post for a week about Steven's most recent scans. They looked great! He went in the week before Christmas. He's had a cough (possibly multiple coughs) since his last scans. I can't deny I was worried about metastasis. But I was very busy with Christmas preparations and school events and so I didn't have much time to worry. Besides, Steven was adamant that everything would be fine.
He was right again, thank heavens! The ECHO was good and so was the blood work as well as the scans. We felt so grateful and happy. I wanted to shout it out to the world on social media, but something held me back. The same week as Steven's scans, one bone cancer (Ewings sarcoma) boy got news of relapse and another Ewings patient was waiting on a lung biopsy result, which luckily turned out to not be cancer. And with all that, a month or so ago, a little osteosarcoma patient who also had a rotationplasty, died of heart failure from her chemo. And so I took our good news with a dose of reality. I am so grateful for every day we have with Steven. I hope with every ounce of my soul that it will be a lifetime of days. But even good scans this time is no guarantee that he will live relapse free forever. I wish I could just live like him--smothered in hope with no room for fear.
I try to have that kind of hope and I think it will be easier to go forward now that we have a six month break until his next scans. For the next three years, he will get scans every six months. When we hit the five year mark, he will go annually until he hits the 10 year mark. We have a lot to look forward to in those months and years--we really are so blessed.