Three years

Three years ago this week Anna was diagnosed with brain cancer.  Every so often it's worthwhile to stop and reflect on that statement.  The mere fact of Anna's diagnosis still catches me off-guard sometimes.  Much has happened and many people have come into our lives during this time; I can hardly remember our life before cancer entered the picture.

The memories were especially prominent this year as Anna had her periodic MRI on Monday, almost three years to the day of her major brain surgery.  This year, the day went well and the preliminary read shows that everything remains stable.  Anna went to school for the morning and I picked her up at lunch time since she had an afternoon appointment this time around.

The two of us had an enjoyable couple of hours playing games and hanging out while we were waiting for everything to be set for Anna's turn in the machine.  Her scans are usually scheduled for 2 1/2 hours, but she is often in the scanner for closer to 3 hours, sometimes even longer than that.  This time around she was back in the recovery room after only 2 hours!  I can honestly say I don't EVER remember that happening before.

For the third time in a row, Anna woke up slowly, but peacefully, from anesthesia.  Big sigh of relief.  Our post-anesthesia routine now includes about an hour of quiet music while she sleeps, another 1/2 hour or so of watching videos of her siblings, then peppier music and a game or two until she is ready to roll.

Because of the lateness of the scans, I figured we wouldn't hear any results until the next day at the earliest.  However, Dr. Iskandar was available to take a look at the images and he even came down to say hi to Anna and let us know everything looked fine.  Plus, we got a call from one of the nurse practitioners also letting us know that the images looked good.  Again, I can't remember the last time we heard Anna's results so quickly.

Because we were on our way home earlier than expected, Anna and I stopped to get some ice cream for the family :)  Anna hasn't had ice cream in ages, but she was definitely enjoying her serving that evening after a whole day of fasting.

Besides the half day at the hospital on Monday, last week was more of the same in our house.  A mild cold worked its way through all five of us.  No one missed school or work; no one had fevers; only a few of us were extra tired for more than a day or so.  This is usually the time of year when our immune defenses are down and we start getting sick.  Hopefully the coming viruses all proceed as easily as this one did.

Last week the girls were at school all five days, only the second time that has happened since December.  They were both beat by Friday.  Anna's fatigue and general low energy at the end of the week is making us rethink the beginnings of our plans for fifth grade.  It takes a lot of communication and coordination to figure out when and how much therapy Anna will have each school year.

Before we jump too far ahead with our planning, though, we are working to figure out our summer schedule.  Last summer worked SO well that I'm doing my best to replicate some aspects of it.  So far the only official thing on the books is Anna's Advance program in July.  Even that isn't set in stone completely, though, because we're not exactly sure how much of it will be covered by our insurance company this year.

In the midst of the planning and the rest of life, we made a point of getting outside together as a family on Sunday afternoon to play in the snow before it started to melt this week with the predicted rain.

Everyone had a blast.

In fact, Ethan has been visibly upset at times when he thinks that the snow will go away.  Silly boy.  I wonder where he gets some of his personality :)

We will keep on keeping on this winter and hope that everyone stays healthy and happy.