A Postcard from Holland

Our next Memphis visit was scheduled for February 15 and 16, a few days ago.

This visit has some special significance, if the results are good it marks another rite of passage.

We have been returning to Memphis every three months for MRI's since the end of Steven's treatment in May 2004. If this next MRI is clear, we will "graduate" to six-month followup visits.

I rescheduled our visit. For a couple of reasons.

One, I'm the room mother for Steven's class and February 14 was his Valentine's Day party, I would have had to pawn the responsibility for putting that together on someone else. Or reschedule.

I feel like Steven and I have missed enough of this sort of "normal" stuff, enough to last us a lifetime. After over two years of rescheduling the rest of our lives around Steven's doctor visits, I want to try to schedule his doctor visits around the rest of our lives.

Two, I'm not in general a superstitious person, but somehow it didn't feel right for Steven to be going in for this important MRI on the day of the tenth anniversary of his cousin's death from a brain tumor.

So I moved the appointment. We're flying to Memphis on March 5th, his MRI is on the 6th, his other appointments are on the 7th, and we're flying home on the 8th.

We went to church tonight. Afterward we went to dinner at Sammy's, our local pizza place, the place we ate on the eve of Sean's birth, the place we ate to kick off Steven's Make-A-Wish trip.

After dinner, while we were getting ready to pay our bill, Steven slumped over in his seat. Headache, "the bad kind, Mom", the code between me and Steven that means sharp pains in the area were his tumor was. It's happened before and hasn't amounted to anything.

Followed by nausea, he came home and got into bed fully clothed with his shoes on. I undressed him and helped him into his P.J.'s.

Doug went in to remove Steven's hairpiece (we take it off once a week) and Sean and I chatted on the stairs. Sean is concerned about Steven, worries out loud about Steven's tumor returning. But he's just so mature about everything for an 8-year old, he went into their room and on Steven's request, got into bed with Steven.

They're sleeping together right now. I just love both of them so much.

I expect everything to be fine in the morning, like this never happened. I promise to update if we have new concerns, no news is good news.

The monster still sleeps, we pray.

This is our life, in Holland.

- Kathleen