All Clear

Today was Cole's quarterly abdominal ultrasound and physical exam.  By the grace of his fantastic medical team at Children's National in Washington DC, we were referred to an excellent pediatric oncologist at the University of Leuven Hospital in Leuven, Belgium.  This meant Cole did not have to travel back to DC shortly over a month after we moved and also right before starting kindergarten.
The experience in a world of socialized medicine was very pleasant, though to assuage the universal healthcare doomsdayers, there are tiers of service based on what you're willing to pay above and beyond what the state provides.  From a precursory glance at the lobby, everyone present had private insurance or some other wherewithal to pay for the specialists at this medical facility.  Registration was done en masse in the main lobby organized in DMV fashion by taking a number.  The queue moved 36 numbers in 20 minutes and although we do not speak a word of Flemish/Dutch (I use the / because I can't tell which is which), every single person, from the lobby attendants to the radiology staff to Dr. Van Gool himself spoke fluent English.  The facilities were not state-of-the-art, but the care provided was on par with anything we've experienced in DC.  Cole will return home in April and October 2014 to visit his regular oncologist but limiting the trips home while we're overseas is a tremendous help.
After we left the hospital, we drove Jesse to work in Antwerp and as a treat, I rode the train back to Brussels with Cole.  After lunch at McDonald's.  Anything for my amazing baby boy!