A Moment for Reflection

Note: This was intended to be posted on Tuesday instead of today, but it still holds true.

Today marks the last day of 2019 and the Klennert family is very excited to turn the calendar to a new year.  2019 has been one filled with medical appointments, late-night radiation, and countless drives to Rochester on roads that would make an Eskimo blush.  Today also marks exactly one year since Michele had spine surgery and 363 days since we found out she had spinal cancer.  We are forever thankful for the continued support, outreach, and prayers over the last year and felt it was important to give an update.  (In all honesty, Michele has been hounding me since Halloween to write an update, but we’ve been a little busy!).  With that being said, here goes nothing.

Our last post in July noted that we were going to return to the clinic at the end of August for another set of tests in the fear that potentially pieces of the tumor had broken off into the spinal fluid and potentially be in Michele’s brain.  The good news is it appears this is not the case and what’s left of the tumor, is still isolated on Michele’s back.  Both our oncologist and neuro-oncologist were pleased with our August scans and we were to return again in November.  Our November scans looked exactly the same, which is a good sign.  There is some concern that there is some rebuilding of the sugar-coating on the spine, but we will continue to monitor this every three months for the next year.  While we are treating it as “cancer-free” no doctor has ever told us this.  We do consider it good news that we only need to check in once every three months (which is the standard protocol) and our next medical appointment is for another round of scans in mid-February.  We will keep our fingers crossed for the same results on these scans.

On the physical therapy/recovery side of things, Michele continues to make progress.  If you remember, the nerves are one of the slowest healing parts of the body and recovery was expected to take 1-2 years.  Michele continues to walk with a cane and the use of her braces, but we have begun not taking the wheelchair to school (only when we need to carry large objects, such as Christmas gifts).  Michele visits physical therapy just once a month to check in with the therapists, get some exercises, and be reminded of how far she has come.  At the end of October, Michele’s last biggest hurdle was re-passing her driver’s test.  Michele is able to drive, without the assistance of hand controls, just with her feet, which is a huge step.  Michele has been medically cleared to drive, it has just been a nightmare with the DMV to un-suspend her license—which she still does not have, but hopefully soon will officially obtain (a story for another time).  We are hopeful that Michele continues to regain some of the feeling she still doesn’t have, but are reminded and thankful daily for the progress she has made and accepting of her current physical state, if it does not improve beyond where it currently is.

Looking back on the last year, I am incredibly proud of Michele and the battle she has overcome.  There were many humbling moments, ones in which I felt like quitting, but Michele never quit.  She kept a positive outlook day to day, month to month, and over the course of the past year.  She continues to amaze in so many ways.  While I would like to close this post saying we finally hit our “home run” it is hard to say since technically, we have not had this from the doctors, but the next best thing is continuing to be monitored for the 3 months at a time.  Again, on behalf of Michele and our entire family (close and extended) we thank you from the bottoms of our hearts for the continued support, well-wishes, and prayers over the past year.

With positivity and faith in God we battle on.  Thank you.