Its been a while since the last post. All has been going well. Thomas and Evan have been visiting their cousins in London recently and this is the 4 of them enjoying some pasta after a day at the London wetlands centre. Thomas has got 2 months left in preschool before he moves on to reception in September. We were at Alder Hey last week for a check up scan and await the results. We are getting better at waiting but the time between scan and results is always a little nerve-racking!
Thomas has had another scan and all was well. He started preschool in September and despite getting into a few scraps and arguments about cars in the first few weeks he seems to be settling in well. We had a family trip with CHICS, www.chicsonline.org, to the Manchester ChillFactor. Thomas did some ‘lubing’ while Evan grumped his way around the snow play area. He wasn’t very into the snow. Ted and Becca are both back at work now and just about surviving the logistical challenges that ‘dual working parenthood’ bring. Difficult to say which is harder, work or refereeing the monkeys?
It’s almost a year since we got back from the USA. We’ve had another clear scan in the last month and Evan has celebrated his first birthday. Last month we were invited
to London Zoo by Procure (the organisation who performed Thomas’ treatment in Oklahoma). It was wonderful to see so many families who have had success in the States and to swap stories of being “Brits Abroad,” not to mention getting to catch up with Nycke, Vickie and Pam, who looked after us so well whilst we were there.
A belated post after Thomas had another normal scan 2 weeks ago. A year or so after Thomas was first diagnosed we are busy in the normal way with 2 children, rather than spending it having chemotherapy or proton therapy, hence the blog delay!
We are now 7 months from the end of his proton therapy and whilst we still spend a fair amount of time at the hospital (he’s under the oncologist, the radio-oncologist, the endocrinologist, the audiometrist, the ophthalmologist and the neuro-developmental neurologist!) its all as an outpatient so no overnight stays.
Our little American, Evan, is busy laughing at his British older brother as they yell at each other, with Thomas enjoying lying on top of Evan if given a chance. They’re two cheeky chappies together.
News from the second scan is good, with no signs of the cancer returning. Off to clinic tomorrow, so a more detailed post to follow, but wanted to share the good news.
Thomas looks slightly bemused in this photo taken during his haircut last week. This was the first one since his chemo in February, and we share it as a milestone in anybody’s life who has had chemo. Thomas is pretty sanguine about his hair and we leave it at that. We have another scan in 9 days’ time, so we are back to trying to not let it interfere with every waking (and sleeping) moment, with less and less success as we get closer to the appointment….
Scan ok, no great big recurrence. There is a bit of something on the scan that people aren’t sure about, but hopefully it will all boil down to surgery, or therapy or something along those lines. Hopefully caused by one of the things that Thomas has had to deal with in the last nine months, but not a reoccurrence of his cancer. We can breath a sigh of cautious relief, and contemplate the next scan in two months’ time. Every time Thomas has a test we are going to be nervous, but we are taking it one day, one scan at a time.
Thomas had his first MRI scan today after his proton therapy finished in July. This is him 3 hours after he woke up with his now common camera smile! We’ve got 6 days now in purgatory awaiting the results….fingers and everything else as crossed as you can.
We have finally managed to get a bit of a break away from it all. We came to Cornwall after Ted took his exam for a bit of a getaway. At the moment the wind is howling and you can see the storms brewing in the Atlantic from the windows. It’s a bit like being in Oklahoma, except about a quarter of the temperature! Thomas had his first dip in the sea now that his line is out, but was put out when the sea stole his sausage roll. He seems to be developing a taste for scones, jam and clotted cream, we have no idea who from….
We are back and as you can see Thomas is familiarising himself with every single toy he has.
Thomas and his toys
We survived the flight home. The American security staff were really helpful, even when Becca left all the lotions and potions in her bag, as were the UK immigration staff at Manchester, who had been pre-warned of our situation by Maureen (our MPs constituency wizard). Thomas did not enjoy the flight, but Evan was in his element as he was cuddled by Granny the entire way!
We got into the house in Liverpool to find that Dan & Sarah had changed the beds and put some provisions in the fridge, which was such a nice to thing to come home to. The last few days have been spent doing the usual things that you need to do when you get home after being away for a long time. Shopping, washing, changing the baby, changing the baby, feeding the baby, changing the baby etc!
Thomas now has to have his line taken out of his chest and then scans every 3 months. We will continue to post how things are going and we hope and pray that we will have good news.
Thomas Adams 