Less than a Week Until Leo's 4th Birthday

Who'd have thought this time a year ago we were planning a joint party with one of the nice families we knew in Spain for Leo's 3rd birthday and Joseph's 7th birthday. It was outside in the garden, blue skies, sunshine, bouncy castle and lots of fun indeed. One year on and we're not sure if this will be the last of Leo's birthdays which we will be celebrating. I am not being morbid or depressed about it...this is a fact. And as such, where we would normally just hope everything goes to plan, this year we're pulling all the stops out and desperate that Leo enjoys himself, whilst we also take time to appreciate him and all that he gives us as our son. Life is too short after all!!

We've heard back from the cancer consultant who in a very technical way has said that we should not read too much into the increased egg allergy, but that also there's only Leo with this cancer in this site at his age, in the world, and as such, little is really known about the chemo he's had on his specific cancer.

Tomorrow brings more hospital visits. This time his right eye is going to be checked and we're rather hoping that they do the tests they usually do at the end, right at the beginning instead of waiting through an hour or more of testing before checking his cataract / light sensitivity. It may well be that they'll decide to check the cataracts and back of his eye the next time he has a general anaesthetic which will be on or near February 17th for his next MRI.

His teachers at school have all made a point this week of saying that Leo really has come out of himself post-Christmas and that he's a pleasure to have in school. Similar statements were made when Leo was at King's College in Murcia and so it's nice to know that others mirror our feelings that the Leo we knew pre-cancer is now back, albeit a little older, wiser and somewhat institutionalised.

Unexpected Stress

We were at the hospital on Friday, primarily to have an appointment about Leo's mould allergy and his other allergies. Whilst there we had a meeting with his oncologist too who advised Leo now needs chest x-rays every other month. This is because if he relapses, it may not be in the primary site i.e. on the brain. It could relapse in his lungs. So a little surprise and actually with hindsight quite pleased we did not know this before as it's another major thing to stress about.

As it happens Leo's chest x-ray was clear so he's not relapsed yet.

His allergies though a little cause for concern as normally people who have had their immune system 'modulated' with chemotherapy and especially the type and amount that Leo has had, the tests for his allergies would give a 'false' low at this point post-treatment. However his allergy to eggs has increased whereas chemo normally 'resets' the system and the egg allergy usually disappears. So not quite sure if we should be reading into the fact the chemo didn't knock the egg allergy out of his system and the fact it's got worse. At Leo's age, cancer aside, it's highly unlikely he's going to grow out of his egg allergy now.

So just to see what his oncologist comes back with in terms of the chemo / allergy testing / false high debate?

Today's a new day...no time for stress.....