Remission!!!

Yesterday Nick had a day of tests. PFTs to check his lung function, an echocardiogram to check on his heart and then a PET scan which would show the effectiveness of the chemotherapy. 

Today we went in to meet with his oncologist at Methodist. When he came in the room he had a big smile and said "I have very good news for you." 

He showed us the PET scans from back in September and they were covered in cancer. It was EVERYWHERE. (We never saw them back then, I didn't even want to. We knew it was bad, didn't need to see it.) 

Then he showed us the scans from yesterday and he said "There are no signs of cancer. At all." And obviously he was right! We didn't see one spot lit up (signifying abnormalities) not ONE! It was UNREAL! 

He used the words "FULL REMISSION". 

This does not mean cure. Let me stress that. Cured is a big word.  

His lung function was NORMAL which is huge because now he will be getting the 4th type of chemo, which he should have had from the beginning, called bleomycin. This is the one that can cause lung toxicity and will cause his white counts to drop even more dramatically. With the addition of this new drug we aren't sure what side effects will come with it. It's scary to add something new and toxic, but they say that this is the best treatment plan. Nick will continue to have the chemo every 2 weeks for 4 more months. (8 more treatments, for a total of 12) 

One thing I need to note for people that will come in contact with him, if you have been sick, are sick, could be sick, you need to stay away! Nick can not be exposed to any "funk" for obvious reasons with his immune system being so weak. 

Didn't mean for that to take a grim turn... we all could not be more excited, still kind of in shock! Still fighting, but so happy!