Bye Bye Port

 







Today was a huge milestone!


As we have gone through this journey, we’ve learned to fully appreciate the importance of milestones.  Every surgery and procedure completed, phase completed, every medication where Cooper took the last dose, was a major celebration in our house.  


While celebrating the milestones was important and key component of this journey, each milestone also bore some difficulties for two reasons.  First, each milestone was a reminder of just how far Cooper has come and the tole this process has taken on his body and life.  Second, was the reminder of just how far we have left to go.


Well today was when we started forgetting about the second one.


Today, Cooper had is surgical access port removed! What this means is the doctors have no more need to access his central line for chemotherapy administration, frequent blood checks, blood and platelet transfusions, IgG infusions;  I think you get the point - the list goes on and on why doctors would need to pump any variety of chemicals or drugs into his body.





This is also especially important as it removes a risk from our lives.  Many of you reading might not know that a surgical access port carries its own set of risks totally outside of cancer.  Any temperature of 100.3 brought with it a mandatory visit to the Emergency Department.  No sports for Cooper - none.  Limited contact with his friends (in a non COVID world), limited PE, risk of complications and infection that could be critical.  Again, all these risk are solely related to the port itself - not cancer.  So today we are thankful that those risk are gone!


Make no mistake,  Cooper will be monitored for the rest of his life.  He will have monthly blood checks and pokes, he will always live with the spector or that dreaded ‘R’ word. BUT today we are not talking about that.  Today we are grateful that the doctors are happy with where he is in his treatment as we work towards end of therapy at the end of October.


Today we celebrate this major milestone.  We are beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

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