Back in February, my husband was washing Enzo's hair when Enzo suddenly said "Ow!" He moved his hair aside and noticed a huge lump by Enzo's ear. Enzo was born with holes by his ears called preauricular pits and we assumed one had gotten infected. Our local ENT (shout out to Dr. Proctor in The Dalles!) had him try two rounds of antibiotics but when the bump continued to grow, he performed a biopsy. We received the results on March 8th and headed to Doernbecher the next day.
Enzo's official diagnosis was b-lymphoblastic lymphoma. Our initial stay in the hospital lasted ten days and was filled with an overload of information and lots of pokes for Enzo. On one of our first few days, one of the oncologists told me that Enzo was probably one of the healthiest kids in the hospital. We were and continue to be so thankful that we caught this so early. He had surgery to place a port and received his first doses of chemo. The hospital wanted Enzo to stay home for six weeks and he definitely needed the break. He was exhausted.
Enzo was finally able to go back to school towards the end of April. It was definitely a welcome transition but a tough one nonetheless. He still missed tons of school for his appointments.
He was able to finish 1st grade with assurances from the school that he would not be held back. Summer brought relaxation but also a lot more appointments. The treatment for his cancer consists of many different phases and the most intensive phases happened over the summer. The toughest phase, called delayed intensification, consisted of weekly appointments. By the end of this year, we will have put almost 6,500 miles on our car just for Enzo's trips to the hospital.
By the beginning of August, Enzo was almost completely bald. As any longtime followers will know, Enzo has always had so much beautiful hair. Even knowing that it would grow back eventually, it was still hard to see his appearance change so much. Not to mention the swelling from the steroid he had to take. There have been so many days where he looked so completely different from himself.
August was probably Enzo's favorite month of the year. He had a few weeks off from chemo, got to go to his favorite event of the year, the Neon Nights Car Cruise, and we went on an amazing family vacation to Seaside.
He has been going through a phase where he wants his picture taken next to EVERYTHING. He had to have his picture next to the cars at the car show. He had to have pictures next to almost every tree on a hike to the beach. He had to have a picture next to every airplane at the Hood River Fly-In. It has been so silly, but I know we will love having all of the photographs to look back on.
In September, Enzo started 2nd grade. He was excited to go back and ended up with a really great teacher. His energy levels had improved by this point and so far he hasn't missed any days due to sickness which has been amazing. He's made new friends and doesn't seem to be behind his peers at all which is such a huge relief.
In November, Enzo celebrated his golden birthday with a big party in his school gym. He wanted a bounce house which has always been difficult with a November birthday, but we made it happen this year! He was so spoiled and we were so glad to see him so happy. Even the hospital spoiled him. After his chemo infusion two days after his birthday, all of the nurses in the infusion center sang him Happy Birthday and gifted him some Legos. It definitely warmed my mama heart!
November was also the month where he started maintenance! Maintenance is the final phase of his treatment. It consists of twelve week cycles and only once-a-month trips to Portland! He will be in maintenance for over a year but this is still a huge milestone in his care plan. We are looking forward to less pokes and hopefully returning to some normalcy for him and his energy levels.
Throughout all of this, Enzo has maintained his great attitude and kept us all laughing. We've very much just been living in the day to day and not thinking much about the future and how this has affected us all. I keep telling my therapist that I know I haven't processed any of this emotionally yet, but I'll get there. Right now our focus is on Enzo and making sure that his life is as normal as possible under the circumstances. And despite everything, we've had a pretty great nine months as a family.
