Tag: MIBG scan

You must have been a beautiful baby

Ronan’s counts are still rising. He had a great day. I came to the hospital this afternoon with Liam and Quinn. The 9th floor blocked off the playroom for us so Ronan could play with his brothers. We stayed in there for about 3 hours and the boys played their little hearts out. The twins then left with Woody to go back to the RMH so Woody could shower and get some work done. I stayed with Ro for the rest of the day and evening. We played out of our room most of the day, and walked the halls shooting people and playing in the playroom. Ronan took a red marker today and colored all of his arms and said it was blood from his battles. Pretty much anything goes in the hospital as far as I’m concerned as long as he is having fun. I gave him a good bath afterwords in a little tub of water on the floor. He’s all clean now and just fell asleep as he didn’t nap today. Woody is on his way back here to stay the night so I can have some time with L and Q.

We have some scans set for Friday and Ronan will be discharged after that. They keep changing the set of scans we are having but as of now, I believe it’s the CT and Bone Marrow on Friday and the MIBG next week. That is the last I heard from one of the doctors earlier today, but that could always change. I asked New York Miss Macy if she could take Liam and Quinn for a few hours on Friday so they don’t have to sit in the hospital with us and wait. She happily agreed and I know the boys are going to over the moon about spending some time with her. It will be so helpful to us to have them off somewhere having fun, rather than sitting in a hospital.

So anybody that knows me, knows that I have been obsessed with taking pictures my entire life. Just a hobby that brings me much happiness and always has. Taking pictures of my kids is definitely my favorite subject. I have over 11,000 pics on my iphoto… so to say I’m obsessed is an understatement. All of my pictures on my iphoto are now defined to me as, this was our life before Ronan had cancer and this is now our life after. Sad but true.  Going back and looking at pictures before all of this is painful to me and makes me break down in tears. Every picture of Ronan before all of this makes me sick to my stomach as I would have never in my life have imagined this happening to him. He was such a gorgeous baby…. how can he now have cancer???  I sit and look at all of our pictures before all of this and we were such a happy family. We have so many beautiful memories and we were so blessed. I get so angry that all of that has been taken away and we have to work so hard to now find our happiness in the hardest of times. Today, as I was pushing Ronan’s asspole around the halls as well as trying to carry his gun, Star Wars guys, and his Crayola markers that he called his “Missles,” I was overwhelmed with anger. I caught a glimpse of him walking down the hall as I followed behind and he almost tripped over all of his lines. He looked back and goes, “Mom, I can’t carry my tubies and my guns.” I wanted to punch a freaking wall. It makes me sick that my 3-year-old has to worry about tripping over his lines. I am also pissed because Ronan has his 4th Birthday coming up and all I wanted was for him to be home. Instead, we will have to celebrate it in the hospital. All he wants to do is go back to Phoenix and he tells me at least once a day that he is never going to get to go back home and be with his brothers. I tell him that is not true, but no matter how much convincing I try to do, he argues with me and does not believe me. In his head, he thinks we are going to stay in New York forever and he thinks he is never going home. So much for a little boy to try to understand. Too much for a little boy to try to understand. As happy as he is, I also know that he is worried and sad and there is nothing I can do to take that away no matter how hard I try. That is my venting for the evening. I feel a little better now. Not really, but I am trying to convince my self otherwise.

I left the hospital late tonight and came back to RMH with Liam and Quinn. We went down to the common area and worked on some of their homework that their wonderful teacher, Mrs. Martin sent with them. I cannot tell you how good it felt to sit and help my boys with their homework, like a normal mom. After we worked on homework for about 30 minutes, we played the board game Operation. I have not played that game since I was a little girl. We had so much fun playing it together tonight. We are now all snug in bed and Liam and Quinn are watching CSI. A bit mature for them, but they both say they love it. My 7 year olds are now going on 30….. They are growing up way too fast:( Makes me sad.

Tomorrow is a new day. One more day closer to getting Ronan out of the hospital. Cannot wait to see Miss Macy tomorrow. Cannot wait until Friday, when we can bust Ro out of there and all be together outside of Sloan. Sweet dreams, my friends. Thank you for checking in with us. Have a beautiful day tomorrow.

xoxo

Never-ending tears

How much can one little person endure? It’s amazing because the strength of Ronan seems endless. All he has gone through so far… all he is going to have to go through still. I am exhausted just thinking about it. He is back getting his bone marrow aspirates done and MIBG scan as well. I didn’t tell him until we arrived here what was going on. He cried and said he did not want his sleepy medicine unless Dr. Maze gave it to him. I knew he was going to be upset about that. He was more than upset. He  threw himself on the floor while the tears poured down his cheeks. I told him we could call Dr. Maze and he could talk to him if that would make him feel better. He finally calmed down after that and we made the phone call. Nevermind the fact that it was 6:30 in the morning back at home. I put Ronan on the phone and watched his little face as Aubrey talked to him. It lit up and he kept saying o.k. and nodding his head. He then told him, “I love you,” and handed the phone over to me. I have no idea what was said to Ronan, but it worked for the time being and calmed him down. We were soon called back to the procedure room and I was able to hold Ronan as the doctor put him to sleep. I left the room freaking crying. Time to get used to all new doctors, people, nurses, etc….. We are so attached to our angels at PCH. I already miss Sharon, Kristen, Dr. Maze, Erica, Dr. Adams, Dr. Eshun, Elaine, Patty, and “A,” so much. They have been our family for 7 months now and here we are starting all over. I didn’t think it was going to hit me so hard, but today it did. Especially leaving Ronan in the anesthesia room with some new doctor whom I’m sure I’ll never see again. Don’t get me wrong, Sloan is beyond amazing. But this is going to take some getting used to.

Lovely. Lovely that I am a blubbering mess today. Lovely that as soon as I was called back to see one of Ronan’s main doctors, Dr. Modak, to sign papers for blood work that I immediately starting bawling. Lovely him took my hand and said “Tell me what’s wrong.” I couldn’t even get the words out because everything is wrong. I just told him I was worried about this arm pain of Ronan’s. He pulled up the latest  MIBG scan for me immediately and we looked at it together. I’m sorry, but nobody at PCH would have done that for me. As much as I love them, the fact that Dr. Modak was able to pull up the scan in 2 minutes and discuss it with me was something that would have never happened so quickly at PCH. And it should be that way. It should be that way everywhere. I should not have to wait days for results. We went over the new scan and he showed me that nothing has progressed. If anything, it looks slightly better. I was able to stop crying for the rest of the time while I was in his office. At least I can have that peace of mind for the moment. I was sent down to the blood donor room to have my veins looked. I made it halfway there before I started bawling again. The nurses kept offering me orange juice to calm me down. Made me laugh to say the least.

My friend, Ed, is in the city today and should be here any minute. There is no way I am going to be able to hold it together for him. He lost his little boy Jack to Neuroblastoma a few years ago. He and his wife have been so supportive of all of this even though we hardly know them. They are 110% behind our Sloan decision which makes me feel very good and just confirms that we did indeed make the right decision. I only was able to see Ed for a few minutes due to Ronan waking up from anesthesia as soon as he arrived. He woke up grumpy like always and wanted to just go back to the hotel. I grabbed the Starbucks Ed brought me and he helped me with the stroller downstairs until I was able to calm Ronan down enough to put him in it. What a sweetheart. We were planning on going to lunch but Ro baby was not having it. Ed grabbed a cab and we headed back to our room. I tried to get Ronan to rest a little bit but he was hell bent on going to FAO Schwartz. I bundled him up, threw him in the jogging stroller and ran up to FAO. We stayed for about an hour. He was tired and is in a lot of pain from his bone marrow aspirates that he had done today. He keeps asking why they put needles in his body. UGH. He is hurting tonight which kills me. I hate seeing him in pain and I know it’s bad because he never complains. After FAO, we ran back to our “hood” and went and grabbed our favorite pizza. He ate a lot as always and now we are back in our room. It is freezing out there and I am so exhausted today I swear I could fall asleep right now. It will be an early night for sure.

Woody is flying out tonight to NYC because Dr. Modak needs his blood by tomorrow. Nobody in Phoenix can send his blood that quickly so he is just flying in. Ronan has a CT scan at 11:30 tomorrow and we will fly home with Woody tomorrow evening. I hate to admit this; because I like to act like I’m such a tough ass and have everything under control; but……. these 3 days without Woody have been SO hard. I sometimes take for granted how helpful he is to me but I swear, never again. I could NEVER survive this without him. I miss him terribly and I am so insanely blessed to have him as a husband. He truly is the best thing to ever happen to me.

That’s all for tonight. An early update because I hear a hot shower and a very early bedtime calling my name. So thankful that todays MIBG scan showed no progressive disease. Maybe I will sleep a bit better tonight. I am anxious to get home, I feel like I’ve been gone a year.

xoxo, sweet friends.

P.S. Biggest HAPPY BIRTHDAY loves to my New York Miss Macy. This city is not even close to being the same without you:( Miss you so much. Kisses from NYC!

Mama and Ro baby take NYC <3

Ronan and I arrived to NYC yesterday morning 5:30 East Coast Time. The flight was great, fast and Ro slept the entire time. We headed to our hotel, checked in, and we were in our room by 6:30 a.m. Ronan was chipper and ready to play, but I told him how it was really only 4:30 in the morning at home so we needed to rest before our big day. He didn’t put up much of a fight, crawled in bed with me and we slept a couple of hours. You’d think I’d be a zombie tonight but I’m not. Must be that NYC energy. We woke up, got ready and headed over to Sloan Kettering. As soon as we arrived to the 9th floor it was party central. They were having a parade for Marti Gras. Ronan loved watching all the action. We spent the next 4 hours having labs drawn, getting his MIBG scan injection, and had an Echo test done on his heart. It was a very long day but we killed a lot of time by playing in the playroom and doing arts and crafts. As much as this sucks, today I found myself having the time of my life with Ronan. I feel so lucky to be able to spend so much time with him. I cherish every second I have with him so much. As the day was ending, we went to finish our last thing which was the Echo test. An adorable girl named Penny took us back into her room and I laid down on the bed with Ronan so he could rest on top of me while she did her thing. The test is really simple and was done in about 20 minutes. Ronan ended up falling asleep on me so I sat and watched Ronan’s little heart on the screen as it pitter pattered away. Penny kept telling me how beautiful and healthy it looked. As soon as Ronan’s little heart started beating away and we could hear it, I completely lost it. I told Penny I was sorry that I couldn’t stop crying and she smiled sweetly and told me that it was totally o.k. I explained to her that hearing his heart beat like that reminded me of when I first heard his heartbeat on an ultrasound. I will never forget what it felt like to hear his heart for the first time and now this. Who would have thought in a million years that I would be listening to Ronan’s heart on a monitor again due to cancer. So. Freaking. Unfair.

After the Echo test we scooted out of Sloan quickly to go back to our hotel and meet one of Auntie Karen’s best friends for dinner. We met Krista at Serendipity and it was such a treat. I’ve heard about her forever and it was so lovely to finally meet her. We had a nice dinner and Ronan and I shared the to die for Frozen Hot Chocolate. He was beyond tired from his day and ended up falling asleep in my lap. Krista and I had a chance to finally get to know each other and I can see why Auntie Karen loves her so much. She was a delight:) Just as we were leaving, Ronan woke up not a happy camper. We were going to take him to Dylan’s Candy Shop, but I decided that we’d better just head back to our room. Krista got us a cab and sent us on our way. We came back here and  talked to Woody, Liam, and Quinn via Face Time on our Macs. Ronan got a big kick out of that. The rest of the night was spent just hanging out and playing. Ronan finally fell asleep a while ago and he has no idea what we have in store for tomorrow. I have yet to tell him that he has to get his MIBG scan. UGH. He is going to be beyond mad that, 1) he has to get his sleepy medicine and 2) that Dr. Maze is not the one giving it to him. I did not want to tell him any of this today because I know he will sit and obsess over it. I’m not telling him anything until right before we go back so they can put him under. I am nervous for this MIBG scan even though we just had one not too long ago. Ronan has been complaining of his right arm hurting for a few days now. I had one of the doctors look at it today and we cannot see any bruising or swelling. So, of course my mind goes to the worst place possible which is something I’m not going to even say out loud. We will know by tomorrow if anything new is going on. I am sick to my stomach tonight. Ronan has also been complaining of his right leg hurting and I have pretty much been carrying him everywhere. I noticed him limping tonight. This has been going on for a while now and has been something we have just been watching closely. As I said before, if anything is going on, we will know by tomorrow. Pray that it is not. I’m thinking positive and just keep telling myself it is his bone marrow healing or growing pains. Please let it be one of those things.

As of now, our plan is to stay here until Thursday or Friday. We will then return around March 20th and that will begin our 5 week long stay. Woody will be coming out with me during that time for a while, thank god. It is really hard to be here without him. He is such a big help to me when he is here. We both really miss him this trip. It’s hard to be a single mom, in a different city, when your kid has cancer. It’s hard but I am strong and know I can do it. New York is going to be the best adventure yet.

That’s all for tonight. Sleepiness is starting to kick in. Let’s just hope it lasts. I am tired of waking up every night at 3 a.m. and not being able to go back to sleep. I call it the witching hour around here. G’night, sweet dreams, and lots of prayers for our Ro baby tomorrow. Love to you all!

xoxo

Deep breaths, Patience and Xanax

Fork em' Devils!

What a long day. We don’t know anything yet but should know the results by tomorrow afternoon/evening. Now Dr. Eshun will meet with a team of doctors to go over the results of all the scans combined, with a fine tooth comb. Waiting is the hardest part. Sleep is going to be extra difficult tonight. UGH. I hate these nights.

Today, we started out at the clinic just doing Ronan’s normal labs. He needed to get blood, but we did not have enough time to do it before we had his MIBG scan. We will go back tomorrow for a transfusion as his counts were a little low. We did have some time to kill in between the clinic and our scan time so we went to the car wash and ran home for about 15 minutes. We then headed back to PCH to get ready for Ro’s scan. He was in a pleasant mood today and was excited as always to see Dr. Maze. We brought him a coffee and Ronan introduced Dr. Maze to his favorite show that he was watching on his iPad, Max and Ruby. Dr. Maze and our favorite of his helpers, Angela, were eating Ro up like always. We had some fun play time with them before it was time for Ronan to get his “sleepy medicine.” We did the usual, I held him, and Dr. Maze injected him. Ronan cried out his usual, “Mama, Mama, Mama!” I put on my brave face and gave Dr. Maze the look he knows so well now, which is, take the best care of my baby ever. I don’t even have to say the words anymore. He knows and he does. So thankful.

I walked myself out to the waiting room where Auntie Karen and Fernanda sat waiting for me. I am so glad they were there to keep me company today. They kept my mind occupied and I am so happy the two of them finally were able to meet. I am so used to going to PCH alone and by myself and I never realized how much work it is for me. Today, after Ro came out of anesthesia, Fernanda went and got my car for me so I didn’t have to walk all the way to the parking garage while carrying my bags and Ronan as I usually do. Today was easy and I am going to try to make myself take the help from my friends more often. It makes all the difference in the world. They kept my mind busy and my spirits happy. Thank you both for today…. I know I tell you all the time, but I love you so much. Ronan woke up a little grumpy and just wanted to get out of there asap. That is precisely what we did.

We came home to Mimi and Papa helping Liam and Quinn with their homework. Ronan was starving so I made him his favorite scrambled eggs and he scarfed them down. Woody came home soon after and we snuck out just the two of us for dinner. It’s been so long since just the two of us have gone out alone. It was nice to just sit with my husband and try to be as normal as possible. I caught myself laughing easily at his funny stories and we got caught up on our plans for the weekend. It was a very nice, much needed night together. My mom comes into town tomorrow until Monday and I am so very excited to see her. It should be a busy, fun, weekend ❤

Fernanda sent me a text tonight that melted my heart. She said one of her little boys’, Brando, who is four, was at school today and a little boy asked him where his mommy was. Brando told the little boy that his mommy was at the hospital helping a little boy grow back his hair. That is one of the cutest things I have ever heard and filled my heart with so much joy. Fernanda is doing so much more than that; she is teaching me what it truly means in life to be an amazing person to the core. What it means to live a life full of passion, laughter, and love with just the right about sass to go with it. Fernanda is the kind of women who can light up a room with her quick wit and bright eyes. I told you she has the same sparkle in her eyes as Ronan and I find so much comfort in that. Even though what we are going through, sucks balls, I am so thankful for the beautiful souls that I am surround by. If not for this, I would be missing out on all the loveliness that has surrounded me for so long, but I just didn’t know how beautiful it truly was until now. Everyday is a combination of heaven and hell…. it’s a beautiful, tragic love story to the fullest.

Deep breaths tonight. Hot Yoga at 5:30 a.m. Yes, please. I will be there and I will be focusing all of my energy into my Ronan baby like I always do. We need some good news tomorrow. Please.

G’nite and sweetest dreams to you all. Love you for checking in on us and loving our little Ro so much.

xoxo

Goodnight moon

Home. After over a month of being in and out of hospitals, between Sloan and PCH… we are home again. So sweet. Yesterday, Ronan’s ANC was only at 80… today it jumped up to 240! That is very high for just one day. Ronan’s little body is fighting so hard to come back after being beaten down so badly. After Arica, our amazing friend/nurse, told us the great news about Ronan’s ANC.. she still wasn’t sure if we could go home or not. She said she didn’t want to get our hopes up because we were scheduled for scans as an inpatient for tomorrow, so that may mean they may just make us stay the night again. My sweet friend, Fernanda, came to sit with Ronan so I could run home and shower. She texted me about a half an hour after I left to tell me the doctor came in and told her that after Ronan received a transfusion of platelets, we could be on our merry way. I was so thrilled to hear this news as I was not expecting it:)

When I returned to PCH, Ronan was sleeping and when I walked into his room I had to laugh at the snow cone tent/stand that Fernanda bought for Ronan, along with his very own snow cone maker so they could sell snow cones to the nurses. Can you even stand the cuteness of this right now?? I can’t. It was the most adorable thing ever. What an amazing heart and imagination she has. Arica was telling me that when they were making snow cones, all of the nurses were like, “What is that all that noise?” Arica said she was laughing and told them, “Oh, don’t worry.. it’s just Ro making snow cones with his snow cone machine.” Only Ronan with the help of Fernanda would pull something off like that while stuck in the hospital. The thought of the two of them doing this together makes me so happy. Thanks, Fernanda, for everything. For all your help with Ronan these past couple of weeks and hauling all of our things to my car for me today. I don’t know how I would have managed without you, my dear:)

As we were getting ready to leave PCH, we were waiting for one of our doctors, “A” to come and talk to us about the weeks upcoming events. She arrived from the clinic all flustered, panicked and excited. She was jumping up and down about Ronan’s ANC and said how amazing he was that it spiked so high in one night. Talk about being passionate about her job. I love seeing that in someone who is caring for my child. A lack of passion in life is fatal. I have always felt this way and seeing “A” as often as we do, she is one of the most passionate people I have ever come across. Makes me love her even more. She told us that one of the scans Ronan was supposed to have this week, the MIBG scan had to be delayed due to the iodine not being able to get here from Canada due to the big storm. I told her not a big deal at all, as I know the situation is not in her hands. She was also trying to figure out a way to squeeze in one of Ronan’s bone scans tomorrow with all of his other scans, so we could limit the amount of times that he has to be put under anesthesia in the next two weeks. The only problem was Dr. Maze had a certain time blocked out for Ronan’s anesthesia, and throwing another scan in cut into something else he had scheduled. His office didn’t think he would be able to do it so they were going to have to get somebody else.  Just as she was telling me this, she looked down at her phone and started jumping up and down saying, “Yes, yes, yes! Thank you!!!” She then told me, “Nevermind, Aubrey moved whatever he had and will be there to do all of the scans.” She was smiling and saying how she was going to have to bake him cookies now for this one. What a good friend and a good man he is to us. He knows how important it is to us to have him do Ronan’s anesthesia. Thank you, Aubrey…I have decided that you are first a good man, and than a good doctor 😉

Ronan had his EKG and Echo Heart scan done today just to make sure everything is working properly. He was of course a great little trooper about having yet another thing done to him. I did have to bribe him into leaving his room to go for these scans by letting him take the 5 pounds of candy that Macy sent him from New York. Thanks Mace! Nothing like a little candy straight from Dylan’s Candy Shop to get the morning started! You spoil my child rotten and he loves you all the more for it! I love you for making me laugh the entire day with your ridiculously funny 4 minute long voicemail. You have no idea how much I needed that one today:)

Home today has been heaven on earth. To have all of my boys’ under the same roof is a dream come true. I did spend most of the night unpacking our 20 bags and doing laundry. I couldn’t stand the thought of having to wake up to them in the morning and then having to come home from a long day at the hospital tomorrow to them staring me in the face. The boys helped as much as they could and Woody cooked dinner. It was a nice, normal, happy night. It feels really good to all be together again.

Ronan knows the drill for tomorrow. I have been preparing him for it all day as far as having to get up early to go back to the hospital so Dr. Maze can give him his sleepy medicine. I find if I prepare him for things, he is less likely to throw a fit. He told me tonight it’s o.k. to go back to the hospital, as long as he doesn’t have to be “hooked up” as he calls it, to his pole. I told him he would not have to be hooked up, he was just going to get his sleepy medicine for pictures and we would go home after. He is being very cooperative with all that is being thrown his way. I am so lucky to have such an amazing little boy. He never ceases to amaze me.

Tomorrow is a big day for Ro. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers. He will have his audiology test first thing, his bone marrow scan, and then his bone scan. We know from the scans in New York, that the Neuroblastoma was not detected in his bone marrow, but we will have them rechecked at PCH and have the bone test done as well. When Ronan was first diagnosed, he had Neuroblastoma in everyone of his bones and 5-10% in his bone marrow. We know that it is now gone from his marrow, but his actual bones may be a different story. We will hope and pray that it has drastically decreased. It cannot be any other way.

Tonight, I am happy to sleep in my own bed with my little bug curled up beside me. I was able to tuck in Liam and Quinn which means the world to me now. Who would have ever thought something so little would mean so much in the grand scheme of things. Tucking in my little boys’ is the happiest place on earth for me. I am very thankful for the nights that I am able to do this and will cherish them for the rest of my life.

G’nite to all of you beautiful souls out there. Thank you for all the love, thoughts, and peace you are sending our way. Nobody said this was going to be easy, but it is going to be worth it. The love that surrounds our family is something we are so thankful for. Sweetest dreams to you all.

xoxo

I never understood before
I never knew what love was for
My heart was broke, my head was sore
What a feeling

Tied up in ancient history
I didnt believe in destiny
I look up you’re standing next to me
What a feeling

What a feeling in my soul
Love burns brighter than sunshine
Brighter than sunshine
Let the rain fall, i don’t care
I’m yours and suddenly you’re mine
Suddenly you’re mine
And it’s brighter than sunshine

I never saw it happening
I’d given up and given in
I just couldn’t take the hurt again
What a feeling

I didn’t have the strength to fight
Suddenly you seemed so right
Me and you
What a feeling

What a feeling in my soul
Love burns brighter than sunshine
It’s brighter than sunshine
Let the rain fall, I don’t care
I’m yours and suddenly you’re mine
Suddenly you’re mine

It’s brighter than the sun
It’s brighter than the sun
It’s brighter than the sun, sun, shine.

Love will remain a mystery
But give me your hand and you will see
Your heart is keeping time with me

What a feeling in my soul
Love burns brighter than sunshine
It’s brighter than sunshine
Let the rain fall, I don’t care
I’m yours and suddenly you’re mine
Suddenly you’re mine

Let the hiding begin….

Hello. Hope you all are well. I have officially gone into hiding. So much so, that my 3 besties had to bust into my house on Sunday morning to make sure I was o.k. I felt like I was on that show, “Intervention.” I don’t mean to shut everyone out; but it’s what I do best. Being home has been great and I have been loving spending time with Liam and Quinny. I could easily stay in my house and never leave again because when I do go out, the anxiety is still too much. Woody practically kicked me out of the house last night and made me go to a movie. I picked up Linds (my go to last minute girl… thanks mama) and we went to see “Black Swan.” Good movie, but I should have picked something a little less dark. After I dropped off Linds, I was driving home and the tears started up and I couldn’t get them to stop. I had to pull over because I couldn’t even focus on my drive. I’m not going to tell you what thoughts were consuming me…. but I’m sure you can guess. I still don’t think this is real. I still can’t wrap my head around the fact that my perfect little boy is so ill. It seems like yesterday that he had a head full of hair, and was running around always looking for trouble. I can’t tell you how much I miss that little boy. The little boy that I could never get mad at because one look at those bright blue eyes and that mischievous smile and I was done. I always ended up laughing at whatever naughty thing he did. Well, most of the time:) Now, I get to watch as he is too weak to walk and wants to me to carry him all of the time. Now I get to lay next to him and know that every breath he takes is a blessing and every kiss he gives me is a dream come true. Every tear that falls down my face is for him and I think about what sadness was like before all of this. Before all of this, sadness should have not existed in my world because I absolutely had nothing to be sad about. Everyday is a struggle for our family; nothing is easy anymore. I am doing what I can do to push through the motions, I am doing what I can do to survive. I am still numb to everything around me, except for pain. I feel that every second of the day.

We got a call from Radiology today and we have all of Ronan’s scans set up. February 2nd, Ronan will go under Anesthesia for his Bone scan. February 3rd, he will go under Anesthesia again for his MIBG, Pet scan, CT scan, and MRI. These two days are going to be very telling for us. After these scans, we will know exactly where the cancer is left in Ronan’s body and from here we will find out when we start the stem cell transplant. We already know that it is clear from his bone marrow; but the MIBG scan will be the most telling of them all. A MIBG (iodine meta-iodobenzylguanidine) scan is a test used to find tumors of a specific origin. This scan will light up Ronan’s whole body to show us where the cancer is still active. Of course we will be praying that it has diminished immensely. Ronan has come too far and worked too hard for it not to.

So, this is my update for today. Tricia was officially concerned because I have gone off the radar; so here you go Tricia Boo. I’m here, or I’m here as much as I can possibly be. I haven’t been talking to anyone so I hope none of you are offended. I miss you all but just need some time to get back in a routine at home. I miss my New York Miss Macy dearly. I will think about the time I had with her and Tricia in New York when I need to smile. The time spent with those two and Ronan meant the world to me. It felt so good just to be and laugh, even though we were in a hospital with my baby who has cancer. True friends that can make you smile and laugh during the hardest times in your life, are the truest of the true. I love you both so much.