Today we travelled to Montreal to go and see Dr. S (or as we call her Dr. S! with our Superman poses). It was a surprisingly long wait considering we had appointment...a little over two hours. Maya played, prepared us pretend meals, colored and enjoyed putting together some nifty Caillou puzzles. At this point, Robbie and I were calm and ready for the news.
When Dr. S! called us into her office, she greeted us with her usual smile and asked Maya for a hug. Maya's relationship with her is interesting because I can sense that Maya likes her, but she also associates her as the person who took her eye. It will be interesting to see how the relationship grows over time. It's difficult to explain to a 3-year old how Dr. S! saved her life.
Moving on. So Dr. S! examined Maya's eye and all is perfect. It's healing beautifully and drops are no longer needed. She then went on to give us the results of the 3 tests:
1-Bone Marrow puncture: clean
2-Lombar puncture: clean
3-Pathology of the eye: optic nerve is clean, back of the eye is clean and the front of the eye, where the tumour was located is iffy.
They found NO visible signs of cancer cells ANYWHERE, but because the tumour was touching parts of the eye that could cause the cancer to spread quickly, they are not sure what to do. Although there is a 99% chance that there is no cancer, that 1% is pushing them to question whether or not Maya will need chemo treatments or not. Therefore, this is where we stand as of today. Dr. S! and Dr. C (the oncologist) have been contacting all the experts in the field in France and across North America to get their assessment of the situation and to see how they should proceed. Since retinoblastoma rarely presents itself the same way twice, the specialists that work in this field often consult one another for advice.
They are hoping to have responses from the other specialists early next week and are hoping to call us in for a meeting sometime next week. Maya may or may not receive chemo, and if she does, we have no idea if it will be for 2, 4 or 6 cycles (1 cylce per month).
What does this news mean for us? A huge weight was lifted off our shoulders today. Robbie and both suspected that this journey was not yet done, but to know that there are no visible signs of cancer cells anywhere is a HUGE relief. If we end up having to do chemo, then at least it is preventative more than anything. We have felt very passive over the course of the last two weeks and now we are back being active. Regardless of the treatment, Maya will be fine. Do we want her to go through chemo? Of course not. But we have seen her strength the past few weeks and we have seen the strength within ourselves as well. We know that we can get through anything.
Maya continues to be happy. She got new glasses today which will serve to protect her eye. She is ecstatic about this new purchase (our wallets our not...hehe!)! We also watched a YouTube video last night that showed a girl removing her prosthetic eye and putting it back in. Maya's comment when the video was done "She's such a pretty girl with her new eye." She is starting to feel excited about getting her new eye! Plus, she discovered last night that she can play peek-a-boo by hiding only her good eye. When she hides her good eye, she can't see us and she now thinks that's hilarious.
The mood is lighter in our house tonight and Robbie is going back to work tomorrow! Christmas is just around the corner and life will continue. Please keep sending us your love and light. It has and will continue to make a difference. I will continue to keep you updated as we have news.
Thank you again from the openness of our hearts.
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