Wed, 19 Jul 2006

Nate is officially off treatment. OT. Done. Finished. Cancer free.
How many days left, Nate? That's right. ZERO! You're done!

Nate had a spinal tap and a bone marrow aspiration yesterday. This was end of treatment diagnostic tests, to confirm that he's still in clinical remission. And, it's confirmed. He's still clear of cancer. We're ecstatic. I've been walking around today, telling everyone that "today is a great day".

Here's some numbers:

• 2.5 years = 30 months = 130 weeks = 910 days = 37% of Nate's life being treated.
• 2 surgeries
• 4 bone marrow aspirations
• 18 lumbar punctures (spinal taps)
• Around 200 blood draws, probably 140 of which were from his arm
• 9 different chemo medications (dexamethasone, methotrexate, cytarabine, vincristine, 6-mercaptopurine, 6-thioguanine, cyclophosphamide, daunorubicin, PEG asparaginase)
• dozens and dozens of IV punctures
• thousands of pills.
• 3.5 weeks of overnight hospital stays
• ER visits at 4 different hospitals
• 1 new sibling

Now what? Nate becomes a "normal" kid. We hope to not have cancer be always at the forefront of our lives. But, it's not gone yet. 3 more spinals. Monthly checkups and labs. Friends still being treated. Our efforts to help improve the process for other families. For Nate, eventually it'll be the afterthought. Or the "remember when ..."

Let me leave you tonight with a little photo album, mostly about treatment.



Good night.

- Greg
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The last day.
Only 1 day left!!

I'll add more info, later. Honest. All the details about a long day at the hospital followed by a quick trip up to SF to the Giants game, watching them win with a bunch of other Make-A-Wish recipients.

Good night.

- Greg
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