NOOOOOO Cancer!!!!!!!!!!!! Our doctors may not have said it with as great an emphasis as we perceived it, but what a powerful message. Nathaniel has been declared leukemia-free by the evidence of the eternally postponed genetic tests, which finally arrived yesterday afternoon.  Nate's bone marrow is comprised of 100% donor cells, and the genetic anomaly which was picked up six long weeks ago was nowhere to be found.

We would have been glad to walk home at that point, but after a frantic twenty minutes packing and a canceled flight or two, we hopped on a flight direct to the Bay Area. Three hours of sitting on the runway while thunderstorms delayed our departure did nothing to remove the smiles from our faces. We finally arrived home at 3 a.m., a.k.a. east coast breakfast time for Ryan, yet everyone immediately fell asleep, exhausted from the travel and tension of the past weeks.

For now, it seems, the future holds nothing but promise. And playing. And eating dirt and raw vegetables and shopping malls and friends and swimming in the river. Nothing but a normal childhood. There is still a small concern of relapse, however Nathaniel has passed many notable hurdles, and his blood, once checked daily, will now be evaluated once every three months.  Nathaniel's visits to the hospital will be infrequent, and we aren't expected back at Duke until next year at this time.  The results of his immune studies should arrive in a few weeks, and at that point we'll have a better indication of exactly when he can commence being a normal unsanitary boy  (we will update this website in the next few weeks with the results of Nathaniel's immune studies and any other pertinent info).  Finally, as soon as possible, we’re going to arrange for Nate’s central line to be removed, that appendage which was a constant and awkward symbol, a reminder that even when things seemed well, nothing could be taken for granted.   It will be a momento that we will keep.

Four years ago at the end of our wedding ceremony, the priest sent us off with the wish that "the grass never grow in front of your house."  Our priest, with that phrase, wished that we would be blessed with visitors, with a line of family and friends who would trample a path to support our new family. We are fortunate that this indeed has been the case and that a path has been well worn, both figuratively and literally, by all of you who shared these past twenty months with us. They have been both the worst, and the best, days of our lives. Thank you, from all of us.

Nate was able to visit the Nature and Science Museum in Durham, and celebrate the good news in advance.