This past week found the Buckley crew in Denver yet again. The first couple of trips back up north were fun...we looked forward to it. We wanted to see friends and go to favorite restaurants, watch some TV in the air conditioned apartment. This time was different. This time Dillon and I both had some level of dread and annoyance with the trip. Most of our friends have gone home from Brent's so we feel like strangers, outsiders, and it just takes so much effort to be friendly and open with these new families who very clearly view us as the new family because they have never seen us before either. I am also acutely aware of Dillon's anxiety around the IV placement, the PET scan procedures which include not eating for about 18 hours, and the injection of a radioactive substance that makes him feel weird. Sean was the only one who was "excited" because he gets a couple of extra days off work and some much deserved R&R with the family. Luca was fairly indifferent...not looking forward to the trip but not dreading it either. I think Big D and I are just ready to be done with Denver and get on with our lives. The trip feels like an interruption.
With all that said, we drove up last Sunday, had tests Monday and Tuesday morning, and drove home Tuesday afternoon.
The results are POSITIVE. Dillon's blood work continues to improve and come closer to normal with each visit. His red cells, white cells, and platelets are doing great. We are still waiting on the results of a special test that will tell us how functional all of Dillon's different white cells are, which is a direct correlation to how much immunity his body has built. If things continue as they have been, Big D will be able to stop wearing his mask in a couple of months (hopefully sooner) and his system will be strong enough for him to get re-immunized and start school in September. Dillon has dodged a couple of bullets including a bacterial infection that he was exposed to at UNM, as well as exposure to whooping cough at his basketball camp earlier this summer. He also recovered from a flu-like virus....so this all means that his system is mounting defenses against these germs!!!
The PET scan still shows a few lymph nodes in Dillon's neck but they are smaller than they were on both the February and March scans. The docs are not overly concerned and assure us that these are not looking like or acting like nodes that have any sort of cancer involvement. So, they are there and we will continue to follow them but we need to not worry about them much. Dillon's primary oncologist talked to us as a family about the fact that over the next couple of years we need to learn to not assume that every lump, bump, or illness is a return of the cancer. I figure it will only take me 40 or 50 years to get to that point....but the doc assures us that life will be better if we can get our brains to stop automatically jumping to the cancer card.
August 12th is our next visit and it is the beginning of Dillon's ONE-YEAR POST TRANSPLANT workup. They will compare all of his pretreatment test results to his 1-year results and will make some determinations about some of the possible long-term side effects on his entire system.
Life is very much back to normal (well, it is a new normal but we are getting used to it) for the Buckley clan and that is why I have not been blogging as of late.
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| Buckley boys playing Bball in a downpour |
That is good news. I didn't realize that he dodged those issues over this summer. I imagine it is hard going to Brent's with so many new faces. I also imgaine they are all just as scared and freaked out you guys were when you first got there. Perhaps you can be like the light house in the storm for them. You have weathered the storm, help them to show that they too can weather the storm. It is all about intention and the energy that you give off. Be open and have a healing heart and say a prayer for them. Love you guys.
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I've been wondering how things were for weeks but just too wrapped up with Jen's stuff to email you. I continue to see Dillon as a healthy and spunky pre teen with abundant energy with all the right cells doing their job and letting him experience every day life to the fullest....
ReplyDeleteI am thrilled to hear how far he has come this summer!! Those milestones are amazing - especially fighting off outside infection! I think in the back of your head it will always jump to the 'cancer card'...to keep you alert and keeping a close eye. Just how we are wired for our kids. Definitely not a bad thing tho! Just remember to live life, no one knows when their time is up! :) We should all be so lucky to remember to embrace our life...every single day.!
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