Day 108 - No News is Good News

     We'll start off today's blog on a positive note.  Congratulations to George and Christina on their marriage and amazing wedding yesterday.  Cristy and I were honored to be part of it and wish you two nothing but the best for years to come.  My parents came up and watched the boys and niece, which allowed Cristy and my sister to get out of the house for a couple of hours.  Thank you to my wife as well for handling all the household duties solo the past few days so I could focus on being a helpful groomsman for the wedding party.

Working on some lung strengthening exercises.

     Evan completed session 4 of 5 for this round of chemo on Friday.  This trip also included another spinal tap and a flu shot.  His blood work shows strong numbers in all the counts that we care most about (ANC, WBC, RBC, Hemoglobin, Platelets).  This is a good sign that his bone marrow is responding well to the treatment plan thus far.  As I sit here on Sunday morning there don't appear to be any adverse effects yet from the procedures this past Friday.

Evan with Jackie the duck.

     The lesions on Evan's skin are still cropping up.  We've been back and forth with his medical team on the best course of action.  After being referred to a pediatric plastic surgeon we were told the soonest they could see Evan for consultation would be October 24th.  Naturally we weren't thrilled with the timing of this and Cristy brought those concerns up with our primary Oncologist.  He's expedited an appointment to be conducted tomorrow morning.  We're not sure if this is only for viewing or if there will be any procedures taking place.  Since we're meeting the surgeon in the day surgery unit I suppose there's always a chance of removing the growths tomorrow.  Either way I think a biopsy is long overdue.

Waking up post-sedation.

     Evan's work towards walking unassisted is on-going.  We seem to have stalled in our progress.  His attitude is great and he's very willing to go all-in on his physical therapy exercises, but there seems to be a problem with his balance.  I have to keep telling myself to be patient and keep working hard. It took us two months of best rest and surgery to get us into this position and it will take time to heal, strengthen and re-learn how to walk.

The boys being silly in the morning.  Nolan loves his big brother.

     In closing I want to return to our earlier topic, which is the wedding and celebration that followed.  Thank you to all of you who expressed concern, sent well wishes and offered assistance to Evan and family.  When times get tough here at the house it's good to be able to refer back on the words of encouragement from others to help push us through difficult challenges.

The groom and I during the photo session.