Tuesday, February 12, 2019

Day 977 - Better than expected outcome

     Good news!  Evan received the results from a recent x-ray to discover he has a broken bone in his right foot.  Naturally you may be thinking, "Geez Blaine, how is that good news?".  Well, the answer is this is the cause of Evan's MRI showing increased blood flow, which was initially thought to be another bone infection.

Movie day compliments of Aurora Day Camp

     When Cristy gave me the news I wondered whether this meant a cast, decreased physical activity or any changes to his PT plan.  As of this posting, the answer to all is a no.  Our primary oncologist, in consultation with Evan's ortho Dr., agreed to simply bring Evan back in four weeks for another x-ray.  As usual there is no slowing Evan down.  He hasn't voiced any complaints about pain and regularly loves taking part in strenuous activities.  I guess kids just have a different threshold for pain than 40 year old men finding a new ache or pain daily.  Out of an abundance of caution I'll probably pull back on some of the more physically demanding activities that he likes to take part in.

Bingo and BBQ with Camp Sunshine

     Next week Evan goes for his monthly clinic appointment; however, this one will include his quarterly spinal tap, methotrexate, vincristine and steroids.  Cristy may also hear from the doctors on a date to remove Evan's port once he's done with treatment.  There was some discussion of leaving it in post-chemo since the doctors want to keep him on IVIG for some period of time.  Hopefully we'll have a decision on all of that soon.

Magic time with Mr. Tone

     We've been very fortunate over the last few weeks to be able to participate in some outings with various charities.  One of them was new to us and we got the chance to learn quite a bit more about them.  They're an up and coming charity that provides spiritual support and trips for families fighting cancer called Thumbs Up Mission.  The founders started this charity after seeing the strength of their son who battled brain cancer.  This charity hosted us, along with 105 other families, at Great Wolf Lodge two weekends ago.  I want to say thank you to Thumbs Up Mission and Great Wolf Lodge for the opportunity, and to our host family for helping all of us have such a fun and memorable weekend.  To learn more please check out the links below:

Thumbs Up Mission
Super Bowl at Great Wolf Lodge - LaGrange News

     This past weekend Cristy, the boys and I got to take part in more fellowship with local families via a day at the movies with Aurora Day Camp and Bingo/BBQ with Camp Sunshine.  Interesting note about the movie theater we attended; it was recently renovated (beautifully I might add) and is owned by another pediatric cancer family.  They hosted us for a viewing of Lego Movie 2, complete with refreshments and popcorn for the kids free of charge.  This is the sort of business I'll happily get behind in the future.  Link below for more info:

The Springs Cinema and Taphouse

     The kids have Winter Break from school next week so I'm hoping to get a day or two off of work to spend some time with them.  Day 1000 in our journey is coming soon so please keep an eye out for that blog.  I'm going to try and do something special for that entry.  Adding a song to this blog because it's really motivational to me and has been stuck in my head lately.  It's called Get Up by Shinedown.


More photos from the past few weeks.


Check out that parking job





PJ Super Bowl Party with Thumbs Up Mission