Our time in Houston

It is Sunday afternoon, Amanda and I returned from Houston late Wednesday evening. Hopefully most of you are now aware that the results of Amanda's first "post treatment" scans were all excellent. God truly honored the prayers of the faithful who have walked this journey with us.

The delay in my response is not a lack of my desire to share details with you...it is not my schedule (although that is crazy!) ...it is just that I did not realize how emotional, how difficult this visit would be for our hearts. MD Anderson represents so much more to us than perhaps I had realized until the moment that found Amanda and myself walking back into that world of cancer, that world of waiting and that world of hope.

Sunday afternoon found us (and our rental car) heading back into a city that was strangely still quite familiar. We spotted some of our favorite sites and even drove past our summer apartment home. The Ronald McDonald House was "home" for this visit and we came to love it. What a ministry, what a gift those homes are to the families who stay there.

Monday morning started bright and early. We were at MD by 7:45 and our first appointment was a radioactive injection at 8:00. Then into our busy schedule of labs, back down to the radiology department for a PET scan, more stops and tests all throughout the day, a late afternoon appointment with Dr. Woo (who was the specialist in charge of our summer radiation) and then an additional chest x-ray. We finally found ourselves back at the Ronald McDonald house at 7:45 in the evening.

Tuesday was to be our free day, and it almost was. I had become concerned about a night fever and a cough that Amanda was developing. Monday night found me making late night calls to two of Amanda's Doctors with my concerns. Tuesday morning the phone rang with one of the Doctors calling to say that after hearing of my concerns they had looked at the chest x-rays early and had seen that Amanda had three small spots in her lungs. Close inspection showed that they were pockets of infection. If left alone they could have developed into pneumonia. We scheduled a time to bring her in and Tuesday then held more appointments for additional labs, port checks and a prescription for antibiotics.

Amanda had other plans for Tuesday that did not include being at MD Anderson, and so, both before and after her doctor appointments we headed over to the Natural Science Museum. It was one of our favorite places this summer and we had become members so that we could have free, unlimited visits. We saw Lucy (the oldest bones found so far...we are certain she is not related to us!) and visited a display on the beauty and history of Shanghai ( in honor of Joshua). We went into the IMAX (LOVED those 3-D glasses) and then spent the rest of our evening doing Tuesday evening Bingo at the RM House. Following Bingo we spent time with the other parents/children of the house sharing stories, hopes, tears, and words of encouragement. Everyone there is desperate to share good reports, learn of treatment options, and support each other when the news confirms your worst fears. We saw how quickly strangers could become dear and how sweet their words could sound.

Wednesday morning was our meeting with our specialist, Dr. Anderson. For us, the words that we had hoped for and prayed were spoken. Amanda's lungs held no sign of metathesis, her labs are almost back to pre-cancer levels and her tumor scanned at 0.0. This means that there was 0.0 (zero point zero) amount of active cancer cells detected at the site. NONE. ZERO.ZERO !

I didn't realize until I held the report in my hands and read the words as Dr. Anderson spoke them that I don't think I had truly taken a full breath since we came back to Houston. The power of this appointment...the understanding that these tests could shatter the calm that we had shared over these past few months of rest and that with just a word/just a negative test scan we would be thrown back into the active battle for Amanda's life. The power, the uncertainty of that all hit as we arrived at MD that morning and waited to meet with our doctor. The other parents tell me they refer to this time as "scan-itis". There is only one cure for it-results.

To share just how significant each of the scan dates are, I will share with you that Amanda and I have met only 3 other teens with osteosarcoma. For all three of these girls the osteo spread to their lungs. Megan, a sweet girl we met in Denver and then again in Houston, lost her battle in July. The two others are still at MD fighting the fight.

No day, no test, no scan can ever be taken for granted once osteo has been diagnosed. Our clear scans, our good news is cause for praise, for tears of gratitude and hope for others. It is also a reminder that we - no, that none of us - should ever waste a day when you could be making memories and sharing time with those you love.

Wednesday night we arrived back in our own home, surrounded by our family and with phone calls of praise and thankfulness ringing in our ears.

Thank you doesn't begin to express the gratitude that I feel for my daughter's report, for my 5 other children and husband, for our family and friends who continue to surround us and uphold us. Nor is it praise enough for this time - truly a gift - from our loving Heavenly Father. Why we have it and not others? I don't know. But I will thank Him for it everyday.

Breathing... breathing and smiling (and still wiping an occasional tear),

Denise