Lots of good news

We are home & settled in from our trip to Duke and we have a lot of good news to share. So here it is:

•  Rion will be able to "take a break" (the neuro-oncologists exact words) from chemo after this last round which he will begin Friday. He will take the chemo for 5 days and get lab work done once a week for 4 weeks and then after that he can stop.
• He will continue to have MRI's every 2 months BUT they will be done locally & the disks sent up to Duke for review. We will not have to go back to Duke for 4 months!!
• His MRI was GREAT- "stable to improving" (same doctors exactly words) with no new areas of enhancement and decreased size of the re-sectioning cavity and fluid around the incision.
• We can expect to see improvements in Rion's memory & attention the longer he is off the chemo. Much of what I had read stated that the neurological side effects of chemo are permanent however the doctor said that with Rion's age she does not expect this to be the case. This is such a relief to us as we both find it frustrating how forgetful Rion is and how easily he is distracted when trying to complete a task. We will discuss these issues again in 4 months and if we are still concerned there is a neuro- psychiatrist Rion can meet with for an assessment and to develop a treatment plan
• And our last bit of good news isn't so much about our Duke trip but rather about life AFTER treatment...

Baby Henderson is due April 28,2013!!!