Wonderful Doctors and Beautiful Scans

How do you know what is happening on the inside of a person? I have been thinking about this question repeatedly over the past year. I have come to realize that we often make judgments about people based on what we see on the outside. The fact is, what we see on the outside is frequently a reflection of what is happening on the inside. I had the chance this morning to do a little "people-watching" both at the hotel and also sitting in the lobby area with Gage in the Mayo Building, waiting for Desirae to run and get some coffee. In all of the activity and hustle of the hundreds of people going to appointments or in the process of completing the next task - everyone there had a story to tell. I know all of these have a story because they are in a hospital, and if they are not working there, they are either with a patient or a patient themselves. As we traveled the shuttle from our hotel to our appointments and back or just started to visit with people as we people-watched or stood in line for coffee, we learned that people are usually eager to share their stories with you. I wondered today, as I was watching people rush to appointments, how what they were going through has impacted their relationships and even people's perception of them. One guy who was on the shuttle with us (he was about 50) was telling a little of his story; he said that he had had heart attacks because he continued to get blood clots, and his doctors had not been able to figure it out, so he was referred to Mayo. In his words, he shouldn't even be alive. How does walking through something like that affect one's relationships? What about losing a job or a child? What about little things (in the scheme of things) like trouble at work or financial concerns - how do these matters that trouble our souls impact how we react to other situations and, therefore, affect our relationships with other people?

After my time of "people-watching," we made it up to the 16th floor of the Mayo Building for our appointment with Gage's doctor. We cannot express to you how wonderful she is. Gage thinks so; he is excited to go and see her and says her name pretty well, which is something that both melts our hearts and is a little sad at the same time, as Gage longs to see his oncologist. Our doctor came in and seemed genuinely excited to see Gage, telling us that she had been waiting impatiently all afternoon the day before for the results of his scans. She said that when the results came in and she read through them, she started to cry. I believe she did. We (Gage's doctor and us) were hoping to see some improvement. The last scans Gage had were three months before he started treatment, so the thought was that if there was any improvement or things were about the same, this would be taken as a good sign. In Gage's case, the scans showed more than a bit of improvement, but substantial improvement! There are still lesions around his eyes, but they have significantly reduced in size, and the other lesions on his bones throughout his body are now completely resolved. This is terrific news!

Our doctor certainly has other experiences where she looks at a scan, and it shows a tumor's growth or test results indicate that she will be having a challenging conversation with other parents. I wonder what case of childhood cancer is occupying the rest of our doctor's day and how all of that impacts the relationships she has with those closest to her. I am sure she has learned to deal with these things, but it must have some impact, and I am sure she is very thankful for the occasion to share positive news.

We know that Gage's journey with ECD is just beginning and that there are a lot of unknowns yet to come. In the midst of all these feelings, we are incredibly grateful that the Lord uses excellent doctors who deeply care about their patients and scans that show, without a doubt, that God answers prayer.

The plan, for now, is that Gage will continue taking the same medication, and we will visit Mayo for scans in three months. Thank you all for your continued prayers for Gage -- it truly means the world to us!

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