However, just after your November appointment at the Cancer Clinic, you presented with a fever. This would be your first fever in the 13 months since finishing chemo; which means we can treat you at home and don't have to go to the hospital. Of course, your dad was out of town and I was pretty nervous and unsure of the situation and of course a lot of old memories came flooding back. It was hard seeing you sick again, I couldn't help but go to the worse case scenario. You fought the fever for 3 days, but it did finally go away and we could take a deep breath again. Your dad and I talked a lot about how this is our reality and that we need to realize that you are going to get sick and getting sick is part of being "normal." It is hard to describe in words the internal struggle not to over react and think the worst right away, it is something we have to get "better" at.
Things went back to "normal" after your fever. You were back at school, enjoying the preparation for your Christmas concert. However, only a few weeks after your fever, you started to get sick again. It started with a dip in your energy and occasionally getting sick after you ate. Your symptoms seemed to get worse, however you recovered each morning. Everyday was a roller coaster ride with the day starting on a high; bugging sisters and eating breakfast and then by lunch time you would just crash. At this time, you would complain of stomach pain, sometimes actually get sick and sleep. You wouldn't eat and weren't interested in anything, but sleeping. This happened a few days in a row and your dad and I had just reassured ourselves that this was going to end quickly and that you were just going through something.
However, after a few more days your dad and I both were feeling something just didn't feel right, after all this was the exact pattern we saw before your diagnosis. You would have periods of energy throughout the day but also the very low periods when you would just sleep. Of course, we finally decided that we had waited long enough and needed reassurance that your blood work was what it needed to be. I spent last Sunday in the emergency getting blood work and a check up with the doctor. You were dehydrated and the doctor gave you some meds to help settle your stomach so we could get some fluid in you. The doctor was stumped at what it could be, but thankfully your blood work came back and everything was normal. Yahoo!! This was good news, but your dad and I couldn't relax till they found a cause. Your symptoms continued into the week and your crashes lasted longer. We asked to see Dr. Foulston and she agreed to see you right away. She was stumped too and decided to do a battery of tests to see what she could find. Perhaps we were dealing with mono, there were many symptoms that we were seeing that could point to mono. At a last minute decision, she also decided to do a throat swab. You had not complained of a sore throat but we thought why not just cover all our bases. Again, all the blood work came back normal and the first test for mono came back negative. I was secretly hoping that it was mono, at least mono would be something we could handle. We followed up with Dr. Foultson two days later and she shared with up that his throat swab came back positive for strep throat. Yes! Finally an answer! Dr. Foulston explained strep throat would cover some of your symptoms but the cough you had now developed wouldn't be the strep throat. Anyways, we needed to start antibiotics right away and see if there was any change. However, she did reassure us that she was fairly confident that we weren't looking at a relapse. What a relief! We are to follow up with her again this week.
Did the antibiotics work? Yes, you did a complete 180 after only one dose. You are back to bugging your sisters, running around the house and eating up a storm. We finally decorated our tree as you did not have the energy for the last week to help. It has been a huge sigh of relief for your dad and I. The last two weeks have been completely anxiety ridden with many sleepless nights. A lot of old memories and feelings came flooding back and we did our best to keep going, but it wasn't easy. It absolutely killed me to see you sick again and not knowing what it was ate me up inside. Friends and family around us were a huge support and again helped in more ways then they even know. We are so grateful for all the support we have.
This Sunday, we will spend time as a family feeling relieved and grateful. It is time to focus on the here and now. Again, grateful for the family and friends in our lives and most importantly for the health of our family. I can't wait to start this new week by going back to our normal routine (minus the cold and cough I have managed to catch). We will have all your tests and scans done on Dec. 18th, in Calgary. I have full confidence that they will tell us what we already know...cancer you are completely gone and definitely not welcomed to come back anytime soon!!!!
Love you to the moon and back,
Mom
