Praise The Lord! And, thank The Cancer Ninja!

Allen is in REMISSION! We want to shout it from the rooftop, sing it as we dance on the kitchen table, make t-shirts that say it in big letters, jump on the bed while yelling it, and just hold each other and smile the biggest smiles we have ever smiled!

Rewind a few days:
Allen's PET was scheduled for Wednseday the 12th; however, when we went in that morning, the machine was broken! It was certainly a bump in the road, as we had been preparing ourselves for this moment for quite some time, but the technician was super nice and promised us that she would do everything possible to make sure Allen could be scanned the evening of the 13th. The good news was that now, Allen wouldn't be radioactive for my birthday! (Never thought I would type that sentence! Who ever thinks about their husband being radioactive?!)

So, we regrouped and waited a VERY long day Thursday before heading in for his scan at 4:00. Once there, the nurse broke it to Allen that he would have to drink Barium again. Poor guy, if needles aren't bad enough, he had to endure that TERRIBLE drink (he says it tastes and smells like latex paint)! But, of course Allen is a trooper and he took his "cocktail" and headed back in for his scans. About and hour later (by this time Braedyn ans I were the only ones in the waiting room--even the front desk lady had gone home) Allen came out and said that the machine was broken again. We didn't know whether to laugh or cry! Really, the odds of this had to be incredibly small! So, Allen stood like a statue (apparently you cannot move or the dye will go to your muscles and give you a false positive scan) while Braedyn, at a safe distance, told him all about the latest and greatest games he had downloaded on his iPod. Finally, the technician came back, held both hands up with her fingers crossed, and led Allen back to get his scans. Surely, the third time was the charm! And, this time it worked!

We headed home that night (in separate cars) so anxious for the results. Allen's family dropped off dinner for the kids and I, and Allen headed over to The Bates Motel (aka, Uncle David and Emily's house). It was such a LONG night waiting!

But, oh was the waiting worth it!! Our appointment the next morning with The Ninja was awesome! Allen's scans showed that there is no more fluid in his left lung at all, that all his lymphnodes have DRASTICALLY shrunk down (even the Ninja was happily shocked by their response), and whereas before the doctors only had to magnify Allen's scans 5 times to see the bright light of the CANcer reflecting on the screen, now they had to magnify his scans 20 times to even see small swirling sections on the scans (not CANcer activity just normal considering how large Allen's mass originally was). Allen asked The Ninja what all this meant, and The Ninja replied, "You are in remission!" The best four words we have EVER heard in our lives!

We certainly still have a long road ahead. Just because Allen is in remission doesn't mean he stops treatment. He will finish the last seven rounds of chemo and will have 17 radiation treatments after that to make sure the CANcer is GONE for GOOD! However, this news is the boost we so needed to get us over the hump and let us know that all the hand washing, anti-social activity, pill popping, port wrestling, fatigue, and general state of worry is SO WORTH it!

We thought Mrs. Scott, Brookelyn's Kindergarten teacher from last year said it best, "Praise The Lord! And, thank The Cancer Ninja!"

Dont' you love Allen's hoodie?! Says it all: Stupid CANcer!!