Cancer Free... those are such sweet words! I know how blessed we are to be able to make that statement.
Piper had her 9 month off treatment scans on Monday; May 14th at Duke. Things went well overall. It was much more stressful than usual, though. Typically, everything (including sedation with a ketamine injection) is handled in the peds radiology department. It's a fairly easy process.
Well, they decided to make things really interesting this time. The doctor in peds radiology wasn't comfortable giving Piper ketamine because she has a peritoneal dialysis catheter. So, they made us go to the 3rd floor for general anesthesia. As most of you know, general anesthesia is not just a quick injection. They treated the case like she was going in for full surgery. It took forever, and I didn't care for the anesthesiologist. They also made her go through the whole routine of drinking the contrast. We were finally ready for her CT. We all walked back down to the 1st floor (where we were to begin with), and she was ready for her scans. Typically, they give me a cover so I can stay in there with her. This has never even been a question before, but the anesthesiologist chose to lecture me and make me feel like I was a burden because I wanted to stay beside Piper the whole time. He continued to lecture me explaining that I should wait out in the hall, and they had it all under control. I advised him that I appreciated his opinion. .... then the kind nurse handed me the cover up, and I stayed by my daughters side the whole time. The doctor still continued to groan about it, though. The nurse told me she would stay by her child's side too. That made me feel better.
Once we finally completed the scans, she had to be taken to post-op recovery room until she was awake and ready to go. Well, this all occurred right at nap time, so she was not in any mood to wake up, get dressed, and get moving. I had to do a little coaxing. She finally cooperated. We then had to go visit her oncologist for the CT results and exam. CT results show "no evidence of disease"! Basically, the kidney that she has remaining has shrunk so small that it's barely visible on the scans. So, that is good news. If there aren't any cells growing, then there aren't any bad (cancer) cells growing! Praise the Lord!
She is due to have her next scans in August. She has an eye appointment with her ophthalmologist this Thursday, and she continues to see the nephrology team at UNC every month. We're still hoping for a September/October transplant.
Please pray that all continues to go well for Piper. She is growing so fast, and she is getting smarter every day! The prayers have been working. She's come a long way in the past year.
