Can you say R.E.M.I.S.S.I.O.N?

I woke up to a reminder on Facebook - "Blessing #17, an unsolicited hug" posted originally on March 19, 2011.  I know exactly what hug that was; where I was, what Ian said and the feel of his arms going around me.  What a great way to start today with a reminder of unsolicited love from Ian.

We got final results today and Alex is cancer-free!  Alex and I were both quietly happy at the news as we met with his oncologist, Dr. DiCarlo.  Alex is usually quiet in his responses; he thinks, he ponders then he questions. So I will wait and see what questions he comes up with in the days ahead.   He's also focused on the 'now'.  When I asked him if he was happy about the news, his response was "I'm still hungry."  That's my boy!  

For me, it's because I've been in this place before; thinking we had beat the cancer with Ian only to have it come back 'with nasty aggression' (Ian's words).  So, I will wait and watch and be quietly neurotic.  I also know that  now begins the dance of balancing his immunosupression and keeping the cancer at bay.

We are seeking opinions from Stanford and Loma Linda on how we should proceed.  There is talk of during a couple of rounds of Rituxan (a monoclonal antibody) to make sure we killed all the cellular traces of cancer that a scan can't pick up.  There's the question of whether it would be beneficial or may be more harmful down the road.  If we do this, then we stop his immunosuppression medication again...it's a highly choreographed, complex dance.... this life with Alex,  but worth every step.

I had something noteworthy happen lately....I got a Friend Request from a stranger on Facebook.  The request wasn't unusual, it happens and if I don't know them I usually ignore them.  But I saw that we had some mutual friends, one of them being my friend Melissa Haley who died much too soon a few years ago.  I thought, if she was a friend of Melissa's she can't be all bad.  I found out very quickly how much my new friend and I have in common.  She lost her son 14 months ago at the age of 22.  He was born with congenital heart problems which led to lung problems and needed a double lung and heart transplant but was unable to get one.  She has a Bakersfield connection.  We had both been previously divorced.  She's a Christian.  God speaks to her through songs as well.  I knew we needed to meet and talk, so we did and it was lovely.  She was needing to meet another mom who had lost a son and had walked where she is now.  I needed to share with her what I have learned and experienced so far on this journey and we both needed to talk about our boys.  God used our ties with Melissa to bring us together....I think Melissa would be smiling at that.