Relief all round

I’m delighted to report that not only were Monkey’s MRI and blood results normal, the little boy and his family we ran into last week were also there, and he is ‘no evidence of disease’! I am so thrilled for them – I’ve been thinking of them all week.

They had already been in treatment for I don’t even know how long before we started, and although in our few short months on the ward I never actually had a chance to get to know them, I do distinctly remember seeing the Dad in the halls, and he made a lasting impression. He is a big personality and was always so positive and cheerful, he was a bright light in the dark.

I don’t know how he did it – I don’t know if it was a brave front that he put on for others or if he was truly able to be that strong through his family’s adversity. But either way, I am glad that tonight he will have something to be truly, truly happy about.

Their road to surviving cancer will be even more stressful than ours. Their son is older than Monkey and his neuroblastoma was more advanced, which means not only are the odds of relapse much higher for him, but there is no known treatment for him if he does relapse.

As anxious as I feel at every scan, their anxiety will surely be a thousand fold. At least we know that there would be further treatment options for Monkey if something was found.

Monkey’s next scan will mark a year since end of treatment. To celebrate, we’re being booked in for an ECG and an audiology test, to check for any damage done to Monkey’s heart or hearing by the chemo drugs which saved his life.

Double edged sword anyone?

But frankly, we will happily take hearing loss, if it comes to it. There are much worse things around than that! And his exposure was comparatively minimal, so we’re hoping that our lucky little Monkey will live the rest of his life with nothing more than a couple of small scars and a story he doesn’t even remember.