Anniversary August

Drew achieved a few milestones this month. The first being his 1 Year Bone Marrow Transplant Anniversary. It is hard to believe how fast that 12 months has gone and how well Drew has been!!! Touch wood! A whole season of soccer, where he didn't miss a game unless he was galavanting around the world. Drew also had his 'first temperature' and cold since he was diagnosed where we didn't have to do anything - no rushing off to John Hunter - just a panadol and two days off school (his first all year due to illness). He was due to have his last bone marrow aspirant since his transplant, but this had to be postponed due to his cold. Another huge milestone was Dr Frank finished Drew's last 2 medications on 30, so Tuesday 31 August 2010, was Drew's first day without any medication since 14 November 2008. He went off on school camp the next day, for 2 nights and 3 days - he had a great time, and Mum survived too. The further we go in this journey and the more people we meet, the more I realise how 'fortunate' we are, there are so many complications during treatment, that can happen which Drew didn't experience, and Drew and I have had the opportunity to go overseas and with the rest of the family, as well as just spending time at home, that many others don't get. Drew isn't classed as a survivor until he has been in remission for 5 years, so we still have a long way to go and then they start to look at late effects of the treatment. It can be depressing in some ways, because you start to realise that although the treatment has finished there really is never a 'finish line', it is never really over, but the either side of the coin is that to suffer late effects you have to be a survivor - to be a survivor you have to be living and that is worth everything.