Amos Ross Updates

Dear Friends and Family,

Thank you all very much for your prayers, texts, emails, and calls these past five days for Amos’s most recent MRI last Friday. Overall the actual scan went very smoothly, even though it was a bit later in the day and Amos was not allowed to eat until afterwards. Thankfully, he’s gotten very brave and capable with these sorts of things, and has even learned to wake up from the anesthesia without being too grumpy (just hungry!).

MRI Scan Results

To cut to the chase, the scans from the MRI showed two small points of concern. They are, quite literally, very small white points on the images that are difficult to evaluate. Our head oncologist suspects they could be blood vessels. You may recall that happened back in January when Amos had a “spot” on his first post-chemo MRI, and a subsequent scan showed it was nothing to worry about. On the other hand, Amos’s neurosurgeon Dr. Loudon does not seem to think these two spots from Friday are blood vessels. They are located right in the region where the tumor was. Because it takes approximately six months for the chemotherapy drugs to be purged from the body, if there is going to be any recurrence of the cancer it would likely be around this time since Amos is now in that window. However, Dr. Loudon is not certain these two small spots are in fact tumor recurrence. When we asked him how concerned he was on a scale of one to ten, he said “a two.”

Obviously, the most important thing for Amos right now is a very high degree of vigilance. The kind of cancer that Amos was diagnosed with, which is called ependymoma, is certainly known to recur, and if it does, swift action is necessary. Thankfully, everything else in Amos’s MRI looks very good, and overall Amos is doing wonderfully.

Much like before, in order to determine whether these two spots on the MRI are cause for concern, Amos will need a follow-up MRI for comparison in six weeks. Because we received these results so soon before returning to Cambridge, and because you need to use the very same machine for a follow-up, Amos and I (Will) are going to make a trip from Cambridge to CHOC in six weeks’ time. This is not what we had planned or hoped for, but at the moment it is scheduled to be a very brief trip – three or four nights. Please, however, do be praying

• That these two spots on the most recent MRI scan are not cancer recurrence.
• That the follow-up MRI in six weeks would provide a clear answer about whether there is any concern.
• That the travel necessary to perform that follow-up would happen safely and easily.
• That Amos would not be anxious (or us).

Take-Off is Coming Friday!

We are now officially out of our apartment in Irvine and temporarily with Gigi and Grandpa down in Dana Point. Tuesday Amos had his final routine appointment here with his eye doctors. We are so thankful that both his eye surgeon and vision therapists are extremely happy with Amos’s progress. Presently, they do not think that any further surgery will be necessary, which is fabulous news. Amos is seeing out of both eyes clearly, and is using both eyes simultaneously to focus. He recently got a special pair of glasses that, although they are not prescription in the normal sense, have lenses that are “yoked prisms.” From what I understand, essentially these alter the “timing” of how the eyes perceive light, which acts as constant vision therapy. Amos will have to have new prescriptions every six to eight weeks to adjust the prisms, but the idea is that they phase out and eventually he will not need any glasses at all.

Aside from the manic packing that we are involved in at the moment, we are also managing to have some fun. This past weekend “Auntie Em” came to visit us again from Seattle. Emily has been a wonderful help to us this past year and so generous with her time and love for our boys. While she was here we managed to take a group trip to a nearby aquarium, which the boys absolutely loved. Otherwise, we are soaking up the last bits of sunshine, selling cars, paying bills, etc. etc. for the relocation to Cambridge this Friday at 5pm PST. Please pray

• That all the details of our move back to Cambridge come together in the next two days.
• That our eleven (!) hour flight to the UK would be easy and enjoyable.
• That resettling in our home would be a manageable transition for Amos and Luke
• That Kelli – now 21 weeks pregnant! – would have the strength and energy to persevere these tiring times.
• That the Lord would bear us up through the coming six months of very demanding circumstances.

In Other News…

It’s a boy! 🙂

In the peace and hope of Christ,

Will, Kelli, Amos, Luke, and Baby Boy Ross

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. Phil. 4:6

[Click to enlarge pictures]