Ben has been energetic, active, and enjoying life at home over the past three months. Yesterday was our next check in MRI to see if anything nasty has returned. We have to keep remembering that Ben's cancer is a highly recurring type and to enjoy every minute. Over the past few days Cari and I have both felt the stress of the next MRI beginning to weigh on us. Emotions tend to get pretty close to the surface and you just always wonder what will be.
We got to the hospital for the MRI at around 730am after dropping off the other kids at a friends who would take the girls to school and Nathan could play at home with their son. They put numbing cream on his wrists and gave him some versed to get him to start calming down. After they put in the IV it must have looked a lot like an airplane on his wrist because Ben started playing with the board and IV like it was one. He flew it around the bed and it crashed multiple times. Then it seemed to transform into a fighter jet or maybe Iron Man's arm because he was shooting everythig from Sponge Bob on the TV to the bed posts.
He went in for the scan just fine. Cari and I went and got breakfast and then waited in his room for him to return and then to wake up from being sedated. Again, while waiting you try to read every statement, every emotion from anyone who walks into the room while you are waiting. This time the chaplain came in to say hello. The alarms immediately went off in my head that the answers were going to need a chaplain. Then the pediatric oncologist came in and said the magic words: "It looks like it is going to be a Merry Christmas". WAHOOOOO -- three more months clear of cancer. We know they need to take the scans to the Tumor Board at Seattle Children's and do longevity comparisons, etc., etc. but we will take no baseball size tumors for now.
We celebrated by taking the kids all tubing at Kincaid Park. It was cold and already getting dark at 430pm but everyone had fun and we were all excited to have another three months together.
We love you all and Merry Christmas from Ben and the rest of us!!!
