The News

Most of you have heard via social media that Ava was declared cancer-free by her Drs. at St. Jude on Thursday!  We are a little bit in shock about this, even though we hoped for and expected this outcome.  When you're dealing with such a roller-coaster, it's a habit to make sure you don't let your hopes get too high.

Here's a little bit of the story from the last week.

Holly, the kids, and I snuck away to the beach for a few nights for some R&R.  We drove back from the coast on Wednesday morning and we are on a plane to Memphis that evening!  We arrived at midnight and were exhausted by the time we climbed in bed.  Ava was brave, but was definitely anxious about her full day of appointments on Thursday.

On Thursday, Ava had several tests, including bloodwork, pulmonary function, auditory, and the biggest one: her CT Scan which would reveal if the cancer was complete gone from her abdomen and lymph nodes.  We were all eagerly anticipating the results from the CT Scan, but were pleased to hear that her lungs were functioning well and her hearing is fine.

At 2:30, we finally got to meet with Dr. Becky and Dr. Furman to hear the results.  They explained that there were some suspect tissues on her left side that they couldn't see fully.  As they were describing this, we were all expecting the worst - that it was more cancer.  They basically told us the things they suspected it could be, and that they weren't concerned.  I asked, "So...are we happy?" and they responded YES!

My experience during those moments is that I didn't fully believe Ava was cancer free until a few minutes later when the entire D Clinic staff came in and sang a song to Ava and threw confetti all over her.

That was the moment when I realized they meant we were done! Loren, Ava's beloved favorite nurse, threw a handful of confetti down her shirt and made everyone laugh.  It was a little bit of a lackluster moment, because of the confusion with the unidentified tissue, but the staff party made it more of a celebration.  Ava didn't get to fully enjoy the moment because she found out she would be receiving a flu shot later.  Bless her heart.

On Friday, she had surgery to remove her port!  It was a minor surgery and she recovered quickly. 

I will write more about how life moves forward when I have more time.

Thank you for celebrating with us and for all the support that has allowed us to move forward this far.