It has been a while...

I thought I would give a little update on our boy. Charlie is getting there. His eye area looks better every week. It is still not fully open. I am not sure if it will open all the way since that bit of plastic tubing is sewn into his skin. His eye "weeps" a lot, but it is still healing inside so that is normal.

Friday afternoon the genetic counsellor called. She was happy to tell us that Charlie has the non-hereditary type of retinoblastoma. What a blessing. She said "just one cell, from one eye mutated." From what I could understand this means that we do NOT have to worry about the other kids. Also, the likelihood of Charlie's children having this cancer goes down drastically. I look forward to reading through all the paperwork.

I called SickKids this Monday to see what was going on and they said no appointment this month. Our next appointment will be on Jan. 11th. The OR is booked and he will be put under again. The Ocularist will be there to measure the eye socket and make a mould. One or two days later we will go to TO again but this time to the Ocularist's office. The visit will be for the first prosthetic eye fitting. After that they will start making his first prosthetic eye. We were told it should be done in 1 - 2 weeks!! Very excited about this!!

I will be honest, the past few weeks have been quite hard. We had a bit of an aftershock. Adrian and I both said that we were exhausted. It is not depression, but I was just tired and so sad for Charlie. I cannot really describe our feelings, its hard to put into words. When Willem told me Charlie had cancer, as cliché as it sounds, it felt like the air was sucked out of the room. I could not breath. At every funeral we are reminded of the brevity of life. But it is still different when you face the possibility of losing your child. We would be having a pretty good morning and then I would check the mail and have a letter from the Canadian Cancer Society and feel it again. I had this foreboding feeling I could not shake. It was hard to believe it was/could be over already. Eye gone...cancer gone.
BUT this week feels like a gift. We are exhaling. Quoting from a new and dear friend...this week we are normal & "normal is amazing." : ) Anytime you hear "cancer", its serious. But each test, his surgery, EVERY result has been good. We are thankful & we praise God. There has been so much positive news. We have met people that have been such a blessing to us.

Charlie is back. He acts like himself again.
We love Charlie so much. God loves us so much more. God SENT His Son to die, for us!


Here is a picture of our beautiful boy today. : )

C had a touch of the flu this morning. So he HAD to put on his hospital gown. : )

We wish you a wonderful Christmas
With love, the Pennings