Thanks for listening

Ok.  So I was in a bit of a funk yesterday.  I have found that this blog not only allows me to keep everyone up to date on what's going on, it has become an outlet for me as well.  What I wrote last night has been bottled up inside me for a very, very long time.  I make no appologies for what I write.  It is what I feel and comes from a place so deep inside.

But... what I didn't get to write yesterday, and what I meant to when I sat down at the computer, is that Alejandro started school again yesterday!  Just recess.  But it was so wonderful to watch him playing with his classmates.  The school has done such a fabulous job of including him in his class.  Even though last year he only attended 3 weeks and yesterday was the first day of this school year, his classmates know him  and consider him part of their group.  He knows that there is a place for him there.  And yesterday, to see him running around with other kids his age... I have no words to describe how I felt. He probably won't go every day, nor will he be able to attend a full day for a while (and of course we have all these new treatments lurking around the corner) but while he is able, I will make sure he goes.

And while I was watching him run around and play on the slide in the schoolyard with his classmates from the window of the teachers' room, I decided to check my email.  And there was the answer from Germany!  Yes.  They will accept Alejandro.  The projected date to start is November 1st!  The only thing is all the preliminaries that they assume are or will be taking place.  The MIBG therapy will have to be set up quickly.  And this whole thing with the surgery!  I have wanted that tumor out of him for months, but everyone has told me that due to its location, it is inoperable.  That the nerves in his left leg could be irreversebly dammaged.  And furthermore, surgery is not often concidered for relapse for the simple reason that if they remove something from one site, it most likely will pop up again at another site.  But in Alejandro's case, the lesion has been contained to date.  All tests that are not imaging show up negative.  I have had this surgery thing going around and around and around in my head.  And now here are surgeons who deem it operable.  It really threw me off ballance.  And of course our oncologist is in Caracas until Monday and it is now the weekend.  Hopefully we will have a better picture by the end of next week.

And of course, the kids are fantastic.  Yesterday, my funky mood apart, was acutally a really good day.  We received good news.  Alejandro went to school.  And in the afternoon we went to a birthday party in the park.  The kids had a wonderful time.  We got to hang out and talk to other adults- what a treat!  So again, thank you so much for listening.  I will keep everyone up to date on what gets decided in the comming days.