Radiation Ends - School Begins!

Well, it was the day we have all been waiting for - Abby had her last day of radiation and has completed all of her treatments!!!! We are all so excited for her resume her normal life and get back to being a kid. Abby went back to school yesterday and all of her friends were so excited to see her. It was a great day.

So, where does she go from here? Abby is not technically in remission yet. She will have another MRI and lumbar puncture in 8 weeks. If all is clear and normal, she will be considered to be in remission. She will continue to have MRI's and lumbar punctures every 3 months for the first year post treatment and then every 4-6 months for four years after that. A patient is considered cured after 5 years post treatment with all tests and labs being normal and no relapses. She will always be considered a "cancer survivor" and followed by doctors throughout her life. Along with that, she will always be on hormone replacement medications for the hormones her pituitary gland and thyroid gland no longer produce. These are not an affect of chemo or radiation. It was the lack of these hormones that brought our attention to her diabetes insipidus and then the brain tumor. She will most likely require growth hormone injections to help her through puberty. It is unclear and unknown what this will mean in her adult life and her ability to conceive children. Lastly, she will have another neuro psych test in 18-24 months of completing radiation to see if radiation has effected her cognitive development.

Her journey is not over, but for now we are so grateful and overjoyed that she is doing well and her progress is going in the right direction. Abby has shown a tremendous amount of strength and courage throughout this process. She is truly amazing and we are so proud of her!

Back to School Soon

Abby had an appointment with her Neuro Oncologist on Thursday. All of her counts are good, she is doing great and has the approval of her doctor to return to school. School starts on Wednesday, August 11th. Abby has made the choice to start school after her Child Life Specialist can go to her class and talk to the kids. Her CLS, Andie, was able to go to her class at the end of last year to explain to the kids why Abby is no longer in class and tell them a little about cancer and the treatment Abby would go through. Well, this year of course it is a new grade and new students, so Abby would feel more comfortable if Andie talked to the kids about cancer and her hair loss. Although Abby is handling all of it very well, she understands that she does not have hair, people are curious and want to know why. She knows that she needs to wear a hat when she is outside, but immediately takes off her hat when she is inside. She seems to not care too much about her hair loss. She has mentioned that she hopes it grows back brown like before and long enough for a ponytail:)

4 more radiation treatments to go! Almost done! Yeah!