Tuesday, January 20th

We found out today that Nicholas' line will be removed on the 29th, a week from Thursday. Nicholas is happy to be free of the thing, but he is very nervous about the procedure. He doesn't like to talk about it. He really hates these kind of procedures. Still, he can't wait to go swimming or go in Ben and Traci's hot tub.

In other news, Roger is home with us. He is recovering from his surgery pretty quickly, and gets around the house with no problems. He has daily radiation treatments at the hospital, but they only take about a half hour. They will last for about a month. Also, there is a meeting with the doctor coming up on Thursday. They'll go over the chemotherapy plan then, if I understand everything correctly (Stephanie has pointed out that I can get the details wrong here. I really should clear this stuff with her before I post it.) Anyway, he is feeling pretty peppy, from what I can see. The kids love having him around, too.

Karen is still at Harborview hospital. Because of the holiday weekend, they haven't been doing much but waiting and running scans. Today things seemed to finally get going. She had surgery in Bellingham last week, and it looks like they might have to do that surgery over again here in Seattle. She is in a lot of pain, so Marty hopes that they will do that in the next day or so. In the meantime, he is staying in Rogers apartment when he is not at the hospital.

That's the news, most of it good for a change. We are all thankful Nicholas is healthy again and his life is getting back to normal, and we are all praying for Karen and Roger.

Saturday, January 17th

In other bad news, Stephanie's brother Marty is doing the waiting room thing for a different reason. His wife Karen is in the hospital. She has been having some problems that stem from a car accident she had almost 20 years ago. While still a high school student, she was riding in a car that was hit by a drunk driver. The injuries she sustained back then have recently begun afflicting her again, and she was moved from a hospital in Bellingham to one here in Seattle today.

Obviously there is a lot going on, we are very worried and concerned about our loved ones. I'm a little too overwhelmed to provide a lot of detail yet. It was a few weeks after Nicholas was diagnosed before I was able to digest what was going on and put it up in this blog. It will probably take a little while longer before I can get out the whole story on Roger's and Karen's situations. Also, I feel less comfortable going into the specifics of their medical problems without talking to them first. It's not the same as sharing your son's story as it is with less immidiate family. So, that's why I've kept this part short.

In sharp contrast to that depressing news, We got word yesterday that Nicholas' final bone and CT scans are negative. Nicholas is cancer-free and in remission. Let me say that again:

Nicholas is cancer-free and in remission!!

It is truly happy news. Stephanie and I were both on the verge of tears when the doctor gave us the news. Nicholas didn't want to put down his GameBoy while we took turns hugging him. He's been through so much these last six months, and it's great to be done with the worst of it.

His last scan was on Thursday, and he was a real trooper. He has to lie perfectly still for 10 or 20 minutes at a time, depending on what scan they are performing. Most kids Nicholas' age are sedated for the procedure, as they fidget too much to get good pictures. But Nicholas hates to be sedated. It is frightening to him, so we do it while he is awake. As he lay on the table, while this big machine rotated slowly around him, I thought how proud I was of him for holding so still. Then I thought that I should be proud of him because he is learning to read, or because he is good at soccer, or something, anything besides how still he can be for his bone scan. With the good results, I think I can finally start doing that.

Nicholas will start school on Tuesday. He met with his teacher and toured his classroom last week. He was very excited about it. We were meeting with his teacher before school in the morning, and on the day, Nicholas came into our bedroom to wake us up. He had gotten dressed by himself and told us he was ready to go.

Nick will have his line taken out sometime in the next two weeks, we are waiting on scheduling for that. He will have monthly appointments with blood tests and another bone and CT scan in three months. After that, I think we slow down to blood tests every other month, and then gradually lessening until the 5 year mark, at which point he is considered cured.

We talked again with the Make a Wish people, and Nicholas wished for a trip to Disneyworld for him and his family. We will be going sometime in mid-February, for 7 days and 6 nights. It is a really special treat for a little boy who has been through so much in the last year, and for our family as well. We are looking forward to getting away and having some fun.

I guess now would be a good time to again thank everyone for their love and support, for their good thoughts and prayers. We wouldn't have made it through this without you. Thank you.

Thursday, January 8th

They are operating on Roger tomorrow, and will remove most of his colon. They will biopsy all the suspicious stuff, and we will know more next week on Wednesday or Thursday. Roger will be hospitalized until at least then recovering from his surgery. Right now we don't even know if it really is cancer, though one of the polyps is very large and looks very suspicious. We don't know how much it has spread. We don't know what course of treatment will be required. So, as we have found out so often in the past 6 months, the doctors won't commit to anything until the tests are back (and even then, they won't really give difinitive answers). We don't know how worried to be, so we are sometimes not worried and sometimes really worried, depending on our blood sugar levels and horoscopes.

Roger has been a huge help to us during Nicholas' treatment. He lives only a couple blocks from our house and has been there to pick up Madeline or make dinner or do whatever we needed when Nicholas was in the hospital. Our thoughts and prayers are with him right now.

Tuesday, January 6th

Nicholas is doing fine. I guess I should mention him, since this page is ostensibly about him and not about the fabulous New Year's Eve party that Stephanie put together. Our holidays got so busy that we pushed his final scans back to January 15th. That was the earliest time they could get us that wasn't in between Christmas and Rachel's wedding. So, a week after the scans we will meet with the doctors, and if they have nothing but good news for us, then we will schedule an operation to take out Nicholas' line. So, if all goes well, he should be in school and back to a normal life around the end of January.

Nicholas had a great time over the holidays. Santa brought him the Ninja Turtle Sewer Playset, and Mom and Dad got him the Extreme Ninja Turtles action figures. Maddy got a playpen and swingy chair for her baby dolls. I think the best thing about the holidays for both kids, however, was that their cousins came to visit. We had little kids staying with us for most of the holidays, with the New Year's Eve party being the exception. All the cousins had a great time playing together. It was non-stop action.

Nicholas was the ring-bearer in Rachel's wedding. It was a big responsibility, and he pulled it off quite well. He looked great in a black tuxedo with his pale white bald head. I'd put up some pictures, but during the drunken bacchanalia that was our New Year's Eve party, I misplaced our digital camera. I will have to wait until we get our film camera's pictures developed to put them up. Anyway, Nick pulled off the job great.