Free Day

This is the easiest post I've ever written. It's a great morning. Pablo is home, happy, healthy. He looks and feels great. He woke up in a good mood. He's eaten two Fro Yos. He snatched the prizes out of both of his Advent calendars—the Lego calendar from Eli, and the Starbucks chocolate calendar from me. Both prizes brought a smile to his face.

Last night, Pablo and Grady talked and played and hung. Pablo adores Grady. Grady adores Pablo. When Jo Ann drilled G on his homework, Pablo sat there, watching and absorbing the entire scene. At the dinner table, their conversation flowed fast and furious. I sat there, watching them in awe. They are brothers. They love one another, and enjoy being with one another. That is real. Last night was a Polaroid in a vast sea of snapshots. I sat there thinking, These guys will look back in 20 years and recall, maybe, one of these nights at the table. I wonder which one it'll be?

We have absolutely no medical activity scheduled for today. We are free. That is a relief and leaves our family open to millions of possibilities. Somehow, I think we are too fried to take advantage of most of those possibilities. It's just nice to know we have options.

There is an update on Pablo's MRI and CT scans from Monday. It's all good—there is no sign of a recurrence of cancer in his kidney, or a new growth in his lungs or brain. There is a fluid build-up of some sort in his abdomen. And the scan shows that he is constipated—odd, because he has been going #2 regularly. Jo Ann just spoke with Dr M —we are going in tomorrow for a blood draw, which will be used to check major organ functions. We will see Dr M on Monday as well, for our scheduled check-up before the next in-patient chemo treatment. He will physically examine Pablo's body. We will get to the bottom of this fluid and constipation. But Dr M assured Jo Ann that neither was a cause for concern at this point.

Now, back to our regularly scheduled free day.