CT scan: I passed

Ahoy! Happy New Year! Back from Christmas in England and 3-month CT scan, and I am still disease-free. Nothing better than hearing those words from the oncologist this morning, because even though the chances of Hodgkins coming back are barely in the double digits, I find myself wondering. I find I have a new tic of feeling my collarbone where I first felt the swollen lymph node, postulating on whether it's growing again, and I have twinges of guilt at drinking alcohol or eating sugar, thinking 'Am I feeding the cancer? Am I fertilizing it with these special treats?' So far the answer is no, and I'm thankful.

Here's Julian at Sam's family's farm. These two weeks contend for the best of his little life, filled with paths and hedges to explore, nine cousins to meet, and grandparents and great-grandparents lavishing love on their cross-Atlantic grandson. Julian started pointing for the first time in the airport, ecstatic to have a wide open space to trot around, lights to look at, and people sleeping on floors to poke. At the farmhouse, he pointed heavenward each time the clock struck the quarter-hour, and his Grandma England patiently brought him to watch the on-the-hour chime. The eats were top-notch as well:

Not sure how much Daddy actually got to consume of his steak and kidney pie and chips, but he managed to keep the pint to himself. For now.

Yay, Mommy managed to get in a picture! (Is anyone else an iPhone fiend for picture-taking? I continually robbed Sam of his to click pics, never once using a real camera.)

Though I'm currently just about the center of little man's world (edged out by remote controls and puddles), I know the years are coming where I'll need some extra leverage for his cooperation, so I'm stowing away this pic with his cousin Bethan for the appropriate time:

There's more to say about it all, but I'll post this so as to have something up that I won't save in drafts and forget about.