Two months

When we left the hospital in September, we had no idea how much time Alan had left, and those first couple weeks at home were rather rough. Alan was fighting off fevers before we started treating the infection and we hadn't gotten a handle on his vomiting yet. Frankly we were feeling grim and we had trouble seeing Alan able to hold on until his birthday in November.

Slowly we got Alan stabilized and even improving a little, partly due to different drugs and chemotherapy, partly due to being home as opposed to being stuck in the hospital. We continued our mission of memory making - family photos with Judy's bucket list portrait photographer, Alan's Make A Wish day, making it to the Pajama Day being held in his honour at school, one more trip to the JW Marriott for a staycation, getting to Trick or Treat on Halloween, Santa photos, and lots of trips to SeaWorld, Morgan's Wonderland and Chuck E. Cheese.

It's been two months since we've come home and we've made it to his birthday! Now we are looking forward in small increments, hoping to stretch out to the grand opening of the Holiday Illumination at the JW Marriott next weekend, perhaps one more trip to the pool, Thanksgiving attended by his teacher Ms Anna, making it to December and maybe an Elf Tuck-in, Christmas, and (dare we hope?) the New Year.

A lot of people remark on how well Alan looks and right now, he is very happy and active for the most part. He still has bouts of pain, and each time he has one we wonder if this is the beginning. But for the most part, we have been able to manage the pain and let him go out to live life to the fullest. We have indulged in a little denial while enjoying these times but realistically, we have to recognize that we have these good times because of multiple drugs to control his pain, tubes going in and out, and a lot of medical support.

We haven't stopped praying for a miracle, and while he is still with us, we can still hope. But we also realize that perhaps we have our miracle. Not the one that we have been hoping for, but a miracle nonetheless - that Alan has been able to fight this long, made it this far, experienced so much love and touched so many lives.