Confirmation of CR

Tanner and I went to Dallas today for his three month follow up appointment with his main Oncologist at the Sammons Cancer Center.  Dr. Berryman told us that the PET Scan and the full body bone survey both confirm that there is no active cancer in Tanner's body!! We couldn't have asked for better news!

I'm sure if anything was happening as far as Tanner's MM, the weekly labwork would reflect such changes, but it's always reassuring to hear the news from the doctor himself.

Tanner told Dr. Berryman that he's having lots of deep bone aches in his legs and back and that, while it's not a sharp pain, it's an ever present ache in his body.  They talked about the fact that Tanner has to take several hydrocodone at a time to receive any relief whatsoever - and they discussed some of the alternative medicines.

When I mentioned my worries about Tanner having to take so many pain pills, Dr. Berryman told me he knew there was always the worry about addiction to hydrocodone, but that he doesn't want Tanner living in pain.  He wants to try and make him comfortable enough that he can get up and out to participate in life because these bone aches are something Tanner is going to have to deal with for the rest of his life.

They decided to try a pain patch and Dr. Berryman told him to be sure and follow up with Dr. Asad here in Fort Worth in a week or two because the dosage of the patches might have to be adjusted. He told Tan to apply the patch on a flat part of the body, like the chest or back, and change them out every three days. I hope they give Tanner some relief!

He also told us that they had received the results of Trevor's labwork back from where they sent it off to see if he was a stem cell match for Tanner - and then found out they don't have Tanner's type in their system! So, they ran labwork for Tanner today and should be able to compare it to Trevor's report and see if they are a match. He assures me that they will call me as soon as they find out and if the boys are a match, they hope that I can bring Trevor over to have his cells collected and frozen in case they are ever needed in the future.

Dr. Berryman was looking in the computer and said, "Man, you are about to have a big birthday!"  I asked him how he knew I was about to be fifty and he looked shocked and said, "I was talking about Tanner turning 20"...  He went on to say, "I did say man" and I told him whenever I think about turning 50, I usually think "oh man" myself.... LOL! He wished us both a happy birthday and said we don't have to come back to Dallas for three months.

I received an email from one of the men we met while we were in Little Rock and he said he found my Facebook page and had seen Tanner's Hawaii pictures and had read some of the blog posts and wanted to reach out to us.  He is close to my age and his young daughter was with him in Little Rock as his caretaker.  Often we would share treatment rooms on 7C and his daughter and Tanner would visit since there weren't too many people their age in the Infusion Clinic. He, too, has remained in full remission since his tratment in Arkansas and said since returning home he has found freedom from the stress and worry of MM on his Harley. Wouldn't that be fun? To jump on a Harley and find freedom for even a while? It sounds like heaven to me...  I did stop this afternoon and picked up some new tubes for my bicycle... Maybe I can find some solace and freedom on my mountain bike... LOL!

Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple... Dr. Seuss