Remission
When Nick was first diagnosed with Leukemia, his pediatric oncologist, Dr. Porter, explained that he would need to achieve remission within 30 days of treatment by taking steroids. If not, then he would be a candidate for a bone marrow transplant. T-cell leukemia was harder to cure than B-cell. Boys tended to fare worse than girls.
Teen boys even more so.
When Nick asked us why this happened to him, I didn’t have the answers. All I knew was that I saw this 30-day need for remission as a race, an achievement in this timeline of getting Nick Healed. We were in a marathon that none of us trained for.
At day 28, when Nick hadn’t gone into remission, the plan shifted to bone marrow transplant. The thing was—he still had to get into remission—0% cancer cells in his body.
As we sprinted into October, Nick had been hospitalized with abscesses in his colon. He’d have to have surgery. He wanted to be home but that race toward 0% cancer cells and transplant were his only options.
We learned that a match was found in an umbilical cord that parents donated after the birth of their child. What an incredible gift and just enough for Nick’s size.
As we stumbled toward the finish line, here’s how the month unfolded:
Thursday, October 2—Aunt Maka’s birthday
Saturday, October 4—twin cousins’ birthday
Tuesday, October 7—Nick’s 13th birthday
Friday, October 10—Nanny’s birthday
Monday, October 13—Surgeon wants to let the abscesses shrink
Tuesday, October 14—Nick sad he can’t swim
Wednesday, October 15—Nick is home. Sits in the sun. Laughs, pokes his brother. Watches Planet Earth
Thursday, October 16—Nick admitted to hospital for surgery
Friday, October 17—Nick has surgery
On Saturday, October 18, we get the amazing news that Nick is in remission. Finally, after 106 days, he has 0% cancer cells.
Sunday, October 19—this news was the greatest birthday present I could ask for.
Monday, October 20—Nick comes home
Tuesday, October 21—Stephen’s birthday
We had finished this part of the race. We thought we’d have a long haul during Nick’s transplant journey.
The second leg of our Nick Healed race had begun . . .or so we thought.