We're finally home!!

We got home around 3:00 pm. Michael was awake but very quiet and somewhat grouchy on the way home. We were afraid that coming home wasn't going to make him feel better but we couldn't be more wrong.

Michael has now gone to bed but the transformation this afternoon was amazing! He's been eating non-stop, talking like a little chatterbox and his stomach doesn't hurt anymore. He sat and played with his toys for a little while this afternoon. We have large mirrored doors on the closet in our entrance way and I was concerned he would be obsessed with looking at his head but he hasn't looked at all. We always knew Michael was a great kid but now we think he is truly amazing. He went through more this week than a lot of adults have gone through in a lifetime and he did it with courage I didn't think a 4 year old could possess.

When we got home, people had decorated the house with balloons and yellow streamers which was nice. We also found out that big brother Brian had shaved his head like his little brother. Chance was happy to see us and Midnight was all riled up. It is great to be home.

Dr. Swan (Michael's pediatrician) wants to see him tomorrow and we have to go back to Rochester Thursday morning to see Dr. Pilcher (the neurosurgeon). While there, Michael will get his stitches removed and we will get to see his last MRI and get the final results of the pathological tests on the tumor.

I was looking back at some of the posts I made this week and saw all the typos. Sorry about that. I was posting from the hospital and the system there isn't very good. It is through the TV and it is hard to read the screen and next to impossible to navigate with the keyboard and mouse. I also noticed that I had never posted about the pediatric oncologist that sees all Dr. Pilcher's brain tumor patients that we had met with.

It was a very positive conversation. He said (& I quote) "I think we are done with Michael". He doesn't think Michael will need anymore surgery, chemo or radiation. He also said that in his experience with children as young as Michael, he doesn't see a lot of lasting side effects. We have been worried about memory loss and learning disabilities and he said not to be. Although Michael is left handed, he uses both his left and right hands comfortably and he thinks that is proof that Michael's brain has already mapped paths between the two sides and will make up for any deficits the tumor has caused. Like I posted earlier, they think Michael was born with this tumor and that his brain had adapted to it. We got a lot of good news this week and this was some of the best.

Thanks again to everyone that cared enough to follow Michael's progress through this page and to those that posted comments. With all the good news we got this week, everyones thoughts and prayers must have worked! Thanks, JoAnne