Well I haven't given an update on Mia in quite a while, and since this forum is more dead than the collective libidos of Cheesey, Foster, Wayne, Nick, and Wade - I thought I'd bring up a topic.
Mia's doing really well with her recovery. She has a full head of hair again, she's back to dancing with her Just For Kix class, and she is so much stronger. I'd say she's about average in size, but smaller than her twin - so the chemo hasn't stunted her growth terribly. Obviously she has coordination damage due to the location of the tumor - and probably will never get back to 100%. Just something we'll have to accept.
We do have to take an extra trip to Minneapolis in the next month to have cataract surgery on both eyes. They'd do it in Bismarck if she were an adult, but only one eye at a time. In the cities they will anesthitize her and knock em both out at one time. She was put under so many times under radiation that we want to limit the times she needs it. They'll also correct her nearsightedness and astigmatism then as well. Julie and I aren't even phased by this latest occurrence. Don't know if it is a good thing to be callous to medical procedures, or if it is to be expected with what we went through as parents.
She will have a four month MRI next week as continued follow up and monitoring. There's always a little uneasiness about those, but as time goes by, it gets easier. My daughter Hannah has put together a team of girls who are all going to donate 8 inches of hair to a charity fundraiser called St. Baldrick's Day run by Basin Electric. It's a pretty selfless act for 11 year old kids, and makes me proud.
Now that the hardest parts of caring for a child with cancer is over, it's natural to reflect on the experience. Of course, Julie and I are really tired, and I don't think you ever catch back up. But this amazing thing happened to us - we became a closer couple who put away the bull shit and petty things that consume marriages and focused on being a team that had to suck it up for their child. That's a life experience few people get to have, it's as good as any college degree or a lifetime of gathered wisdom, maybe even better. It's the reason I don't look back on the experience with negativity, because I realize it strengthened us.
Whenever we're at church or a basketball game, I catch people looking at Mia with this satisfying smile on their faces. I feel good about that because I know they cared about what happened to her and what she had to endure to get her life back. I also feel good because I know these people cared about our family and were going to make sure we didn't walk alone. Kind of like that Footprints in the Sand poem - it felt like we were all alone at times, but we had our whole community carrying us.
Anyway, I made sure my little girl survived - but I don't think I'm going to be able to fix the libido problem of the aforementioned ex-hippies. I'm DakotaT, not a miracle worker.