Hello?, Anybody home?....

Yes, we are here. And no, we didn't stop writing all together. I have been dealing with a nasty upper respiratory infection on and off for a month, so writing is not at the top of my list - sleep usually is the priority.

Let's get caught up!

Dante has a CT scan tomorrow, Monday. This will be our 9 month post-chemo scan and AFP. Please melt some ice cream if you happen to read this in time! We are, naturally, hoping for an excellent report. This is the milestone we've been waiting for. Germ Cell tumors most likely recur within the first 6-9 months, and the rate of recurrence drops significantly after that point.

If we get a clear scan, we'll also schedule to have Dante's mediport removed. The scar for his port is hypertrophic (not quite a keloid) and Dante's definitely aware of it being there. I find that he rubs it when he is nervous or tired. Not sure of the significance there or if it just itches!


Dante also had a hearing test last month. The results were not expected and added a darker cloud to our "anniversary" time. It seems that since his hearing test in May, Dante's hearing has decreased. He has moderate to significant hearing loss in the upper frequencies, particularly 2KHz, which is where most speech resides. The doctor recommended hearing aides. We have noticed a difference in him being able to recognize subtle sounds we make or subtle differences in words he seems to misinterpret. His volume has increased a bunch - but we think that's just because he's 3! No one else really notices, but if you say something and he isn't fully paying attention or watching you, he repeats things incorrectly. We have decided to wait until his next hearing test and next speech and language evaluation in November. At that point, if his speech has more than age appropriate mistakes, we will move ahead with hearing aides. We would love to stall that as much as possible, plus we aren't sure if it's still dropping or if it has plateaued. I know this is minor in the big scheme of things, but we can still hope for perfect, right?

Other than that, Dante is great. He loves school and his new classmates in the 3 year old class. We threw him right into underwear and he's doing pretty well with that. Although he is still being a little stubborn at home, he is fully in underwear until he goes to sleep for the night. He is apparently not the best behaved kid in class, but he is improving. Ms. Vicki mentioned he was being stubborn about some things and I laughed and told her that when he was 6 weeks old we asked Dr. Patranella about his stubbornness and temper.

At home, Dante is reading like a fiend! He reads signs while we are driving. I caught him trying to read the subtitles at Nonni's house the other day. He just loves it and wants to learn more all the time. He is starting to learn to write his name, which he writes SO large that I am running out of paper! (Thanks to Cousin Debbie and the magnadoodle, we practice a bunch!) He's also a bit obsessed lately with learning the states and where they are. I bought a US State placemat a while back. When we went on our trip this summer, we showed him where we were and that was it - he was hooked. Chris is starting to teach him some capitals, but I draw the line at having him learn the highest elevations in each state!

Dante and Carina now have a daily love fest around here. The two of them are constantly hugging and playing and giggling together. It's pretty funny to watch, after how they used to just battle all the time. Today, we were all building a lego house. There is a little lego man and every time Dante would place him somewhere, Carina would look right at him and grab it, knowing fully that we would yell at her and grab it back. She just kept doing it. I had flashbacks to the torture I put my sister through doing the same kind of thing! (I'm sorry, Melissa! LOL)

I have been working on cooking with Dante lately, having him help measure and stir when possible. One night, we made homemade fish sticks, which was a fun time for all. He loves hummus, and making it. So, now, everything is "Garbanzo___" (insert Dante, Daddy, Carina....)

Stay tuned for an update later this week after we get our test results from tomorrow.