Ringing the Bell (Again)!

Today Thomas was surprised by the Oncology Clinic with a celebration of his being cancer-free!

Typically a child gets to "ring the bell" at his clinic where the staff has supported him through his journey, but Thomas rang the bell in the cancer ward at the hospital since he was still in-patient with post-surgical complications. (Watch the touching YouTube video of his first go-round here.)

Some of his clinic staff were able to join us back in February, but not all and they wanted to celebrate him in clinic! I had no idea it was coming, but I did think it was odd when we went from the front desk to the blood lab and then, instead of being directed to the exam room, we were sent back to the front desk because "the exam room isn't ready."

When we were later led into the exam room, we were truly surprised that it was full of ladies bearing gifts with the wall decorated with sloths (his favorite land animal) and a congratulatory sign decorated with a squid (his favorite sea animal).

After our regular visit, as many staff as were available gathered for Thomas to ring the bell.

We want to thank the Correll family and the Stand Firm Warrior Foundation which generously provided Thomas with a monogrammed tote full of toys.

An artist with Star Bright Rocks painted these special rocks in an ocean theme (because Thomas loves it so) with the name of each of our six children on the back of the rocks.

I learned from our oncologist today that, for Thomas's specific type of cancer, 9 months since end of treatment is "by far" the most common time to relapse . . . but Thomas hasn't. Then there is a sharp reduction of relapse by the 12-month scan, and "relapse is almost unheard of" between 12 and 24 months. After 24 months, Oncology doesn't scan for cancer anymore unless symptoms arise.

We are so grateful for this celebration today! On our drive home, sweet Thomas suggested that he wanted to share his bevy of gifts and began listing out, "I'm going to share this one with John and this one with David and this one with Margaret . . ." The celebration is for them all.