Reece Loved Kindergarten!

My heart is overflowing with joy that Reece had such a good day at school. He really, really liked it! He likes his teacher very much, and enjoyed everything they did. He enjoyed the other children. He wasn't afraid, didn't cry or get upset in any way that we are aware of, and just had a great day in general. Thank you, Lord, thank you!

He was cheerful and happy when he got home, and shared his day with us. He says he wants to go again tomorrow. He said he missed us, but he still wants to go to school. I'm so glad!

My heart aches a little bit because I really would love to have homeschooled him, but what with all that has happened over the past year with the cancer, that just wasn't working out. But I can still teach him, supplementing what he is learning at school.

Speaking of the cancer, I got the results of all the testing they did while I was in the hospital, and there are no surprises. We were 99% sure it was the mantle cell lymphoma which had returned, and we were right. The good news is that now we know definitely what is going on, and can start the correct treatment when the radiation is finished.

I was really praying that radiation of my spinal cord would take care of it, but more than likely I'll have to have chemotherapy again, and probably another stem cell transplant (I cannot use my own cells this time, though). As much as I dread going through all this again, I will never stop fighting and will do whatever is necessary to keep beating it back as often as I can.

There is a little bit of involvement around my heart, but the doctor said there is very little disease there. They will leave it to my oncology radiation doc whether he wants to try to irradiate that little bit, or leave it to the chemo. There was no sign of the mantle cell lymphoma in my bone marrow, so mostly we're talking about the spinal cord.

There's not much change in my neural function (I think that's the right expression to use)--still have the tingling, numbness and weakness in my buttocks, hips and down my legs--but I'm still walking with the walker and doing as much I can. I'll be starting some physical therapy soon, to help keep my muscles strong in case I do regain function of my legs. There's some danger of the radiation doing even more damage to my nerves, so that's another reason to be cautious about using it. So far, after 8 of 12 treatments, I'm doing okay with it. Fatigued, a bit of nausea, but okay.

Anyway, I'll keep everyone in the loop as much as possible regarding the cancer and treatment. Thank you as always for your wonderful prayers.

And please continue to pray for Reece, that school is a joy to him and that he learns and grows as beautifully as I'm sure he will. Thank you!