Touch Your Nose

Because Chase’s cancer was in his brain, he goes through a series of “games” with almost every doctor he sees…
“Touch your nose”…
“Touch my finger”…
“Squeeze my hands”…
“Push me as hard as you can”…
All small exercises in game form to help understand his cognitive function.
Yesterday, Chase had an appointment with his neurosurgeon and it was apparent from the first moments of interaction that Chase was in rare form (even for Chase).
He solidly refused to even think about playing any games until the doctor -an amazingly sweet man who seems to understand Chase’s energy- said “I bet you can’t…”. Ah, Chase’s motivational love-language: The Dare.
When asked to play “Touch my finger“, he insisted on alternating his hands so that he’d touch his nose with his left hand and the doctor’s finger with his right hand (foiling the attempted exam intent of using the same hand for both nose and finger). When his doctor kindly suggested that he switch hands (thereby participating in the one handed goal of the game), Chase simply switched hands and the right hand went to the nose while the left went to the finger.
(How I wish I had a video of the entire exchange… It was hysterical!)
That any cognitive neurological conclusions were reached yesterday is a miracle to me, but it was apparent that Chase had no lack of stubborn ingenuity and the doctor, no lack of humor. One needs that sort of perspective when confronted with a bald three year old who, when asked to touch his own nose, calmly retorts: “No, you touch your nose!”

The final word on the MRI continues to be good. We did discuss some spots on the images which are small leaks – another side effect of Chase’s many treatments. If the veins continue to leak and bleed in his brain, there may someday be complications (more seizures, surgery to remove), but for now, Chase is fine and his doctors will just continue to watch the areas in question.

Never a dull… Moment by moment.