It has been a long time since I have updated the blog. Things have been going smoothly and I just didn't have much to share. We had a nice summer and the girls have settled into school nicely. Della Jane LOVES kindergarten, Lillie and Emma are doing well at Spring Station and CJ is doing well in the 3rd grade. So, like I said, there just hasn't been much to report...until today.
Monday we went to Vandy to see a new doctor at a new clinic. Dr. Esbenshade is an oncologist who studied under Dr. Whitlock. He works in the clinic but he also works across the street in what they call the survivorship clinic. The survivorship clinic isn't anything like the onc-clinic. It is quiet, calm and it isn't busy - at all. At this point in Clara Jean's journey the emphasis has started to change from getting rid of the disease to watching for late effects and recurrence. That is what the survivors clinic does. They also focus on the emotional needs of the patient and the family. Dr. Esbenshade ordered some blood work, a urine test and an x-ray series.
The nurse called me today to tell me that the x-ray series looked good. She told me that there weren't any new lesions and that the lesion on her skull hadn't changed. Wait....what???? The lesion on her skull? She doesn't have a lesion on her skull!
The next phone call was from Dr. Esbenshade. He said he thinks what they mean is the place on her skull where they had to remove some bone hasn't changed. Great. He thinks. I asked him if he planned on verifying that and he said yes.
The next thing he told me was that that results of CJ's iron study aren't great and that she has to go back on her iron supplement. Ugh. This isn't that big of a deal but iron supplements cause upset stomachs. And upset stomachs cause CJ to be very grumpy.
Lastly, Dr. E. shares with me that the results of CJ's urine test aren't great either. Because she had LCH she is at a pretty high risk of developing diabetes insipidus and the urinalysis indicates that she may be developing it. I blogged about DI way back in the beginning, so I won't go over the details now, but let me just say that this isn't a fun disease. If she has DI, it will be a lifelong issue. It can be controlled by meds but it has to be closely monitored or it can cause some very serious, even life threatening problems.
My dad reminded me today that CJ isn't mine. She belongs to God and He loves her even more than I do. In my head, I know this. But my heart still aches. More than anything in this world I want her to be healthy. I have to remind myself that God doesn't promise us that our lives will be easy, but He does promise that He will never leave us.
