Finally! Tests complete.

This photo was taken after Christopher finished his last week of Chemo. On his return visit to Nemours for blood work and his monthly antibiotic injection, the staff gave him a well deserved end of Chemo celebration! He had made quite an impression over the last 10 months at the clinic as well as in the hospital.

On Dec 14 and 15 Chris had his end of protocol tests which included, an Echo and EKG, a full bone scan, chest CT and an MRI of his rt. leg (stump)-all of which involved injecting a contrast or nuclear dye to get a better picture. Chris had become an expert himself with his port -the device implanted in his chest to administer meds, including chemo. He not only reminded them that his port needed to be flushed after each procedure but he did it himself! Luckily we just happened to have a few syringes of heparin on us. He even de-accessed himself at the end of an 11 hour day of tests as there were no clinical staff available to do it. Scary. Thank God he is the brave one!

The next day he got custody of his leg which he was very happy about and bright and early the following day he was on a plane to CA! He had a wonderful Christmas and is thoroughly enjoying his visit with his Dad and that side of his family. He is being very well taken care of and has been treated to a stunt plane ride-complete with the stunts, a skeet shooting day with his grandfathers which he has come to love, not to mention being fed very well by Nana and Grandpa Bill. He more than earned this trip and deserves to take in every moment. He has one more week out there before coming home and getting back into some sort of "normal" routine. At this point that will be a welcomed change!

All in all the tests came back clean! Thank God. It took several days to get the results which was a bit nerve wracking to say the least. He will have to re-do the MRI next month for a better look at some areas that were not quite so clear. But he was finally given the go head to keep on truckin on that leg! That's all he wanted to know. I will continue to keep you all informed with each round of this "protocol" testing which is to be done every 2-3 months for a while.

We are both VERY excited and relieved that Christopher is in the clear and on the road to bigger and better things! A job well done by my brave "little boy" if I don't say so myself.

I want to extend a very special thank you to my brothers and Severino Trucking for all the effort and energy that went into not one but two Benefit Fundraisers for Chris. I am touched and amazed by the amount of people involved and tickets sold. On January 9th there will be the drawing for the second raffle, here in Florida. Huge thanks to all of you in NH, NJ, GA, FL MA and CA for the willingness to get involved.

A very heartfelt thanks also to "Grandpa Bill" and the IBEW (International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers), for reaching out to the different "Local" branches. As the result of a well written flyer about Christopher and our situation, I received many generous contributions to Christopher's Cancer Fund.

Each and every one of you has given so much, in so many different ways over the last 10 months that I cannot begin to express my appreciation and gratitude. I hope you all know how much it has meant to both Chris and I.

May we all enjoy a very happy, healthy and peaceful New Year!

With much love to you all! Patty

The look on his face should say it all...9 months of chemo is over!!

Final Round Complete!

This is Christopher and his teacher, Ronda, the day after "THE END" of chemo! He celebrated the milestone with his classmates...and a big chocolate cake of course!

Late Thursday evening, 9 very long months later, Christopher completed his 18th and final round of his chemo protocol! Somehow this day seemed so far off and now it is behind us.
Fortunately, it was an uneventful week. He had a mildly rough start with nausea, but he finished up feeling pretty good.
There was one minor setback, or disappointment rather. Chris was experiencing pain in his hip area (where the 2 screws are located) so he had a couple of X-rays taken to make sure all was intact. The films looked OK, however, small fractures may no be evident and given the brittle nature of the bones in that leg the Orthopedic Surgeon thought it best that he stayed off the leg until he has his complete series of tests on the 15th. It would make sense that his pain is muscular in nature and caused by not being used to his prosthesis. It weighs 8 pounds which is a lot considering he had been immobile for almost 6 months. Chris was not happy as he was doing quite well adjusting to his new leg. He was also looking forward to physical therapy this week so that he could be that much closer to losing the crutches. But all minor issues considering the road he has already traveled.
So on December 15th Christopher will have a chest CT, a full bone scan and an MRI to rule out any evidence of disease. If he is clear he will only have to repeat these tests every 2-3 months.
On the 17th he is leaving for California and very excited about a change of scenery and spending the holidays with family.
I am so proud of Christopher for the way he braved through this and also for the many people's lives he has touched. He continued to amaze me each step of the way.
We are both very grateful to have had such a strong support group behind us. I don't know that we could have hung in there as well as we did without the encouragement, love and constant prayers from everyone. I have to say, although it is just Christopher and I in this home, there was never the sense of being alone with so many of you always close at heart. So again, my heartfelt thanks and appreciation to all!
Thank God for the end of this chapter!!

I wanted to put up this picture from Christopher's very first day of Chemo. I still cannot believe how much he has grown both physically and more importantly mentally.