Dear Porter,

Your first quarterly MRI of 2024 is behind us and scans are clear! 🥳 🎉

The entire experience and procedure on the 23rd were also about 180 degrees from our last visit in October...a little pink "happy juice" made for an easy-going, happy visit for everyone involved. Your friendly MRI tech even offered for your Paw Patrol buddies to go an adventure to "take photos" with you. A little loopy and happy as a clam, off you and your stuffed animal buddies went with the medical team to explore the hospital. 

Phew. What a relief this time around. We also received an update upon arrival that you'll only need blood work annually instead of quarterly, so there were a few less pricks while you were under anesthesia this time.  

And the best news of all was then confirmed on our visit to clinic 24 hours later - the MRI is clear! No new areas of enhancement and the previous areas continue to lessen, where scar tissue continues to heal and shrink from the original surgery and tumor site. It is pretty remarkable to see side-by-side MRI photos from less than 18 months ago and how your body has visibly responded well to surgery, treatment and continues to heal inside and out. 

The follow up meeting with your oncologist, Dr. Esbenshade, felt optimistic and encouraging. Nothing is ever certain and his role is to give a realistic outlook based on research and statistics, so I think we were both pleasantly surprised at his more-excited-than-usual tone and that he would even mention the hopeful possibility of no tumor recurrence long-term. 

While these clinic visits and familiar faces (you got to say hi to Becky from stem cell transplant and Elise from child life) still feel routine, they are also starting to become more like a random interruption in the normal day-to-day life that's happening. Back to school for you, back to work meetings for mom and dad, back to all the things we enjoy doing as a family...and without the constant concern about your health. These visits remind us what a gift your health and happiness are to our entire family. The 12-24 hour wait for radiology results brings with it that tiny little voice of doubt every time and a mental weight of temporary anxiety and nerves. 

Until the next quarterly scan in late April/early May, we'll continue to enjoy waving at the hospital from a distance and keeping our focus on what's happening in the moment.

January has been fun in surprising ways - Nashville had a giant snow (by southern standards) that shut down schools, daycare and most of the city for a full week. Even though it was in single digit temperatures most days, you LOVED sledding and digging in the snow. We made it out to the big hill at Sevier Park for about 7 or 8 straight days in a row and by the end of the week you were flying down the hill, rolling out in the snow and marching right back up to the top to do it again, somewhat insistent on racing and winning each time. Your parents appreciate the snow and cold in small doses, so by the end of the week, we decided to take a 20-minute road trip to the Opryland Hotel for a short break from the snow. You and Alice loved the lazy river, splash pad and water slides at the indoor waterpark (and I enjoyed being warm in the 84-degree tropical bubble for a few hours). 

Valentine's Day is just around the corner and it seems, given the heart-shaped artwork that came home from school last week, not much has changed in 12 months - excavator was written in the center of it. Even with a growing excitement for Paw Patrol, singing and dancing to music, playing hockey and your enthusiasm for cookies, nothing surpasses your deep love of excavators.  

The next time I journal, it will most likely be right after your 4th birthday. Time certainly has a way of flying by...which feels strange to say given you were born at the start of a long pandemic quarantine...and about the time the world started to feel normal again, we found ourselves spending 9 months with life inside or revolving around a hospital. Nevertheless, we're doing our best to enjoy every fleeting moment of it.