Our “Plus One”

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September is Childhood Cancer Awareness month, and today is the 1-year anniversary of DS3’s Cancer surgery, or better put, his 1-year anniversary of being Cancer-free.

I would like to take this opportunity to again thank everyone that has contributed to his recovery, and that of every other child who has had to undergo Cancer treatment. Thanks to you and people like you, we have had one more year with our son. I’ll call it our “Plus One”.

I thought the best way to thank everyone would be to show off some of the fun and amazing things that we've done during our Plus One. But before I do that, I would like to thank some specific people.

Medical City Children’s Hospital. Our home away from home during the summer of 2018. Dr. Ewing was the first doctor in the ER to take us seriously when we were saying that something was wrong with our son, that he wasn’t just constipated. Later that day, Dr. Lanoue was the first to see the imaging results; he gave us the news in the least devastating way he could. Over the following months, our oncologists, Drs. Goldman, Ghisoli, Weinthal, Lenarsky, and Lampson, as well as their amazing staff, and the countless nurses of the 2nd and 6th floors of Building D became our family. All of these amazing people will forever have a special place in our hearts. As strange as it sounds, sometimes we actually miss being in the hospital, because of the relationships we built while we were there. We especially connected with the nurses, who cared for us all day and night.

Texas Children’s Hospital. Where we were exactly a year ago, finally celebrating a complete Cancer recovery. The surgeons, Dr. Vasudevan and Dr. Aldave, their assistants Claudia and Andrea, their fellows and surgery teams, and the many nurses that helped us in the ICU and during our 9 nights on the 10th and 11th floors of West Tower. Our “team” at Texas Children’s was phenomenal, and we feel incredibly lucky that we were able to finish off the Cancer at a hospital ranked #2 in the country for neurosurgery. Thank you to everyone at Texas Children’s for taking us across the finish line!

To everyone I just mentioned, words cannot express our gratitude. You saved our son’s life, and you are the reason we were able to have a Plus One. Thank you. We are also thankful for all of our family, friends, and neighbors that supported us. We would not have survived this without Carson's Crew.

Now, without further ado, here are some highlights from our Plus One. I can't imagine these photos without him in them.

He was Captain Hook for Halloween (I was the Crocodile, Mom was Tinkerbell, and brother was Peter Pan).

For my birthday, we went to a horse race. His first, but also mine!

His first s’more

He helped us pick out a Christmas tree

He ran his first kid's race. Actually, the starting gun scared him and he started to cry, so I carried him.

We rode the Polar Express and met Mrs. Claus

We saw Frozen on Ice (we watched Frozen at least 50 times in the hospital)

He saw his first movie in the theater – The Grinch

Got his first post-chemo haircut

Visited Santa’s Village...

.. and got to try on a fireman's outfit.

Cheers brother!

Always smiling...

Welcome home Baby Sister!

Christmas!

Picked kumquats at Oma and Opa's house...

... and ate one!

Dress up, one of his favorite activities

Visited the Flight Museum

Was stalked by a lion at the zoo...

... and fed a giraffe.

Enjoyed his first fire in the fireplace

Fun at the children’s museum

Rainforest Café (a favorite)

Chuck E Cheese (another favorite)

Picking flowers for Spring planting

Easter Egg Hunt!

Enjoying his siblings

Enjoying his friends, something he couldn't do last summer because of the chemo.

Hot dog with cheese, but no bun! HAHA!

Watching a thunderstorm.

A haunted castle at the Renaissance Fair that scared the bejeezus out of them (I swear I didn’t know it was a haunted house)

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… and a monster museum

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Galveston Vacation: the beach, train museum, Moody Gardens and NASA

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He was afraid to go into the water ("because of the sharks", and later "because of the whales"), so he played in the sand.

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Ice Cream!

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Mail train

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Sweet potato fries, WOOHOO!

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Enjoying a paddlewheel boat ride

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He loves nachos!

His first 3D movie.

Astronaut training facility. I've instilled a passion in them for all things space...

... especially for rockets

Trying on Mommy's shoes

Bunch of random summer fun, and friend's birthday parties...

Neighborhood Fourth of July parade

First Fourth of July Fireworks festival. Last year he was in the middle of chemo, and the year before that he was only 11 months old.

First time in a real pool.

Christmas in July at Scottish Rite Hospital

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He's in love with hot salsa (he’s my son, after all), he licks the bowl clean…

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Daddy’s little helper

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Family Movie Night every weekend

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3rd Birthday

Over the last year we’ve also had plenty of doctor visits for various reasons, but just like during chemo and the surgery recovery, he has been a champ. Rarely complains and almost always has a smile.

Without the context of what we've been through (and ignoring the last few pictures), this year-in-review would seem like part of a pretty normal childhood. But it is our Plus One, and looking back on it brings tears to my eyes that he was able to have these experiences at all, even the simple little ones like playing in the sandbox with his brother.

We have learned to cherish every moment and strive to live in the “here and now” as much as we can. Now, we begin the first day of Plus Two…