Since the beginning of the year Joshua has been experiencing headaches and leg pains. At the beginning of the year there were more headaches then anything. His teacher and I had to keep a journal so I could report them to the doctor at January's visit. Two different doctor's looked him over and they sent us home with instructions to call them if the headaches persisted over the next week. The one doctor felt swollen nodes on his groin, but Dr Wollman didnt say anything about them this month and I didnt ask.The headaches are appearing in the same fashion as the headaches he got last year when his spinal pressures were high. The doctors were concerned though because since he's not on chemo anymore, they tell me his pressures shouldnt be up. They said if continued or got worse they would order another MRI to check for fluid or pseudo-tumors.
His headaches did continue, but since they didnt increase in intensity, they decided to wait until his visit this month. One this is for sure, joshua is very resilient and doesnt like for things to get him down. He lives to play and plays to live!
His last visit was on Kenni's birthday, the 24th. While his headaches have seemed to taper some, he has had an increase in leg pain and even complained of his shoulder hurting on one occasion. I have to tell you, since leg pain is how Joshua presented with the cancer in the beginning, this has made me a nervous wreck lately. It's ironic, on one hand being chemo-free is so liberating and dont get me wrong, I am so happy for Joshua, but the security of the chemo keeping his leukemia at bay is gone and I cant help but think about him relapsing at every sneeze, bruise, or 'growing pain'.
The risk of him relapsing is greatest around the first year mark, so hopefully as that passes my nerves will be put to ease some. I have talked to other cancer-moms and turns out this feeling is common and it does indeed lessen as the years build up between the off-treatment date.
Anyway, Josh has also been fighting a cold since January - turns out he has Bronchitis. Hopefully that is where his headaches are coming from. They cant explain the leg-pains yet, but they are going to hold off on any Lumbar Punctures or Bone Marrow Biopsies as to reduce any unnecessary stress to Josh just yet. So far his [blood] counts look good and his platelets are holding strong, so that is very reassuring! So I'm going to take a stance on this kinda of like Joshua in the picture above - one BIG FAT PHEWY to Cancer - enjoy each moment!
