Sorry to leave you all hanging back in February. I hope you knew that no news was good news. It was!  We've been on an upswing! And tomorrow's a big day. 

SURPRISE

Because we went through 4 very distinctive phases with specific time periods before we hit the 5th phase of maintenance, I had it in my head that this one was going to be 2 years long. Since he started maintenance in Sept of 2021, I thought we'd end in Sept of 2023. Then because this last year has had so much unexpected sickness, nose bleeds, low platelets, admissions, etc, I thought for sure it would be longer than that.  I was bracing myself for October or November.

But... surprise! I was right about the 2 years but wrong about when the 2 years started. After his last admission in February, we found out that the "2 years" actually started in the 3rd phase "interim maintenance"  -- so my timing was totally off. All of a sudden, his end date was upon us, in April.  It's a weird feeling because we are so happy to be completely out of the woods. To be able to go back to normal, but it also brought with it all kinds of scary feelings too. Because "cancer treatment" has become normal and now we're doing something different again. It took some time to process and they tell us that's a common feeling for families. But now that we're there... it's APRIL!... it's good. Francisco is ready.

LOTS OF LASTS

Francisco had his last spinal tap in March. It happened before he knew it was going to be his last, which was an awesome thing to find out after the fact. Tomorrow is his last IV chemo, his last port access and he'll start his last 5-day steroid pulse. Port access has been getting harder and harder since it was put in 27 months ago and he's grown so much since then. It's pretty deep in his skin. But after he gets his last IV chemo tomorrow morning, they'll keep him accessed and we'll head up to surgery to get it taken out! He is very excited but also very nervous.  

They tell us it's a very routine and easy surgery, much easier to get out than to get put in. And it's outpatient so we should be home by the evening. They were flexible about when he would get it out since he's still going to be on oral chemo for another 6 weeks, but the biggest advantage to getting it out now is that if he spikes a fever, we will not have to rush to the emergency department. They tell us we would still have to call, but it wouldn't be a rush thing since he will not have a central line anymore.

BEING ACTIVE & FEELINGS

As we are preparing Francisco for the next phase "after treatment," we've put some extra emphasis on physical therapy and talk therapy. We found good time slots the past few months for both where he didn't have to miss any school and since they were both the same times every week, the routine aspect of it helped him make good progress. He knew what to expect and he didn't have to be worried or nervous and could just engage. We've been really happy with the changes in his attitude and his ability to manage his feelings.  The intensive PT was suggested to us because he was refusing to let me sign him up for any summer sports, but after about a month of the visits, he changed his mind so that was a super big win. I also signed him up for swimming lessons again and that is going really well.  

There's not much else to say -- which is pretty great. He's been feeling good and he's almost done with his treatment.  Thank you -- Thank you -- Thank you everyone for all of your support that has gotten us to this spot. I'm still going to hold my breath here for a few more months as we finish this all up and try to get beyond the lingering medical trama, but I give so much thanks to be able to get to this spot, where it's only lingering things that we are worried about. The hard stuff is done. In the past. 

Francisco wants me to tell you that this is the second to last post. I told him I'd write at least one more when he's all done with chemo. Sometime this summer. And hopefully, at that time, I can say... and he lived happily ever after.  :) And if you read this soon, pray for us tomorrow, May 1st, that surgery goes well.