It's Official

Evan's scans were clear.

A visit to Minneapolis yesterday confirmed that even those stubborn spots near his lung and heart are gone. Three-plus years after that first Hodgkins Lymphoma diagnosis -- and just in time for his birthday -- we finally heard what we've been waiting for. The cancer is in remission.

Karl will be home over the weekend for the birthday celebration -- 28 years for Evan; 1 year for Evan running on Karl.

Hallelujah!

An anniversary

October 16th marked one year since Evan's transplant. Happily, his tests last week were good. No cancer. He still makes plenty of trips for blood tests, and will continue to do so for some time, but there is no cancer. What better news could we ask?

Normal

Evan's bone marrow is normal. Pretty spectacular word, normal.
:)

Six month check

Evan headed to Minneapolis on Tuesday to spend the night at Alyssa's before his early Wednesday BMT Clinic appointments. He had a scan and bone marrow biopsy to check his progress 6 months out from his transplant. As usual, he declined anesthesia for the biopsy. I cannot imagine having needles stuck into my hip joints without plenty of happy juice beforehand, but Evan dislikes the recovery time, so skips that part. And, as usual, after being subjected to several hours of tests, as soon as he is able to get out of the Clinic, he gets in his car and drives the nearly four hours home.
He arrived home around 7 last night and didn't even wait to be asked to tell us that his day went well. At last -- six months of good. The biopsy results will come later, but the scan was good and we couldn't be happier.

Hanging in there

Wow. It's been a while ...

Evan is doing O.K. Annoying, but not unexpected, symptoms of Graft Versus Host Disease keep him familiar with the medical facilities in both Marshfield and Minneapolis. So far, there's nothing that can't be helped by medication. And, because he's under such a watchful eye, symptoms are caught very quickly. Aside from that, he's back at work and back to his usual spring plans of working the dogs, putting in a garden and this year going to and being in weddings, weddings, weddings.

Speaking of weddings, Kit and Violet were here over the past weekend. Violet had very good news to share: she has not had a seizure since her January surgery, which is wonderful! Over half-way completed with her radiation treatments, she was in good spirits and looking great in her rock star bandana. I guess that's even better than hanging in there. That's great progress!

Doing just fine

People keep asking, 'How's Evan doing?" It's so good to say, "Just fine," and really mean it. Not "fine, considering ..." but really "just fine." Easing back into work seems to agree with him and the milder winter days agree with all of us. The past few days have started out very cold, but brightened up to beautiful days.

Paul caught this picture yesterday morning. Evidence of an otter on the creek, it is a lovely winter scene. I especially like Paul's shadow while standing on the bridge. This seems the perfect illustration of life today. Moving along at a good pace -- coasting sometimes -- but always under a watchful eye.

It's a good place to be.

A quick update

What was supposed to be a long time turned out to be about a week. Evan is back in Minneapolis today for some quick tests. When his doctors in Marshfield and Minneapolis spoke, they determined that doing a few more tests would be a safe route to take. Nothing alarming. And, since history tells us that the tests are best performed in Minneapolis, Evan headed back there today for an early afternoon appointment; he expects to come right back home tonight. He can't stay away too long. That herd of hounds keeps him chained pretty close to home.
Did I mention that there's another pup? That's right, Orville arrived last weekend. He's a spotted little guy, like Poppy, and has made himself right at home with all the other Leopard Hounds. I'm hoping this is really enough now to get that breeding business off the ground. It's not that the dogs are bad. They are very nice dogs and make great pets. But there are a lot of them! I just can't imagine how my hosta beds are going to survive. It used to be just good old Rufus digging a nice spot for himself. One dog. One spot. Annoying, but not all that bad. Then there was Daisy and two spots in the shade. Now? There's gonna be a mighty big pile of shade seekers ...
Paul and I will head to Minnesota tomorrow and, like Evan, plan a one-day trip; we will take the key to Alyssa's apartment, just in case we change our minds on that. We're going to Rochester to deliver a quarter of beef to the winner of that prize from Evan's fundraiser. From there, we'll head up to Kit and Violet's for a little visit and to wish Violet happy birthday before heading home again. You know what that means -- plenty of knitting time!
I took a few days off this week. What a blessing. In addition to some sewing and general putzing, I started a new blog, Blueberry Thrills. Unlike this site, it will not revolve around any crisis or drama, but simply be a place where I will share the thrill of my little creations. Like this site, however, new posts will arrive as the spirit moves me.
Milladore Transplants will still keep you up to date on Evan's progress and our general family news, so don't hesitate to check back periodically. I'll be around ...