Ian's Appointment this Week

I am far behind! Ian had his appointment on Monday. He had three appointments that day so we were there pretty much all day long. Ian was totally brave as he got his chemo and we were in and out pretty quickly with that part of it. Basically, the routine will be the same for the next 2 years. One appointment with a big dose of chemo a month and oral chemo every day. We are almost a third of the way there. It seems far but it is better than a fourth of the way.

After that, we had about an hour to kill before we had to go up to Radiology. There is a little park right outside the hospital so we had some lunch and then went out to play. Fortunately it was somewhat warm so we could enjoy it more than we would have in the freezing cold. It cracks me up to see how different he has become these past few months. He is still a huge mama's boy but he is much more outgoing. About 6 months ago I took him to a birthday party and it took him about 20 minutes before he would even pick his head up out of my shoulder to look at anyone. I know a lot of it was from everything he'd been through with hospitalizations and being quarantined from the world but still, he seemed like a completely different kid. He was the complete opposite, talking to the kids right away and becoming instant friends with them.

We went up to Radiology to have a follow up ultrasound on his kidney. He was born with a kink in his ureter and it causes his kidney to be enlarged. He has had so many ultrasounds done now that he actually was asking me, "When are they going to call me in?" He wasn't nervous at all. In fact, he kind of likes that they are rubbing it on his back; it's like a free massage. We had to wait nearly an hour and a half so it dragged on but we finished just in time for our next appointment so it worked out.

After the ultrasound, we headed up to see the urologist to get his results. The last time we were there a few months ago, his kidney had enlarged nearly 3 times so they were pretty worried about it and wanting to see if it had improved at all. The doctor came in and said, "He has the weirdest kidney I have ever seen." My heart just dropped and I waited to hear what was next. He then continued, "It looks completely normal. Not only has the swelling gone down, you would never even know that he has had problems with hydronephrosis. Come back in 6 months. I want to follow it still." I was so relieved when he said that! I hope it continues on this way.