Still Looking Good

We went to the Hospital for her scans again. Everything still looks "clean" as the Doctors put it. She is still doing really well. We have been so blessed. We came upon our year mark to the day that we found out she had cancer, and look back at the past year and are truly amazed at what we have all been through and the growth we have seen in each of us. We held her a little tighter and gave her a few more kisses and hugs realizing that not everyone diagnosed with cancer is as lucky as she has been.

Many Thanks

Our family feels it is appropriate at this time to thank everyone for the many thoughts prayers, acts of kindness and tears shed for our sweet daughter. I suppose at this point we can say that her cancer is not present in her body. She does have some abnormalities at her cancer site and 4 enlarged lymph nodes, but for now they are thinking it is scare tissue. We feel so blessed. Our path continues with consistent blood draws, scans and check ups to make sure that her cancer stays at bay. As I have reflected over the last 9 months my heart is full of emotion. I can honestly say that this has been the most difficult thing I have ever had to go through. I know that in this life we all have our challenges, and even as difficult as this has been I wouldn't trade my trials for anyone else! I truly believe that we are faced with specific trials for specific reasons. In the beginning, before the diagnosis was given to us I was praying and praying that there would be nothing wrong with her. I really thought that I couldn't handle anything major coming into our lives at the time. Now I don't believe that my prayers were completely for not, but I do believe that my Heavenly Father had a bigger plan for my husband and me, our daughter and our family. After this experience I know that I have learned things that I couldn't have learned without an experience similar to this. I am so much stronger than I ever knew. I am more knowledgeable in terms of medical procedures, language and can say that I quickly became a professional at broviac line care and giving shots. My resolve to help others in their times of need has been strengthen. My testimony in my Savior Jesus Christ and in my Heavenly Father has grown tremendously. Even in the darkest hardest times I was lifted up and given strength and comfort that were not from any earthly power, but were from a higher power. My family has been brought closer, I have a renewed compassion for my children and the difficulties associated with growing up, learning and changing. My relationship with my husband has been taken to a new level. I love him so much and through this process have seen a side to him and to me that we never new existed. We have learned better communication with one another, we have learned how to listen to one another and to buoy each other up when we are sinking from the weight of our trials. We learned to turn to our Savior to carry us when we have done all that we can. We have been touched by the love and support of others, even people we barely know and those we don't know at all. We have had a shift in our perspective. Instead of focusing on the daily monotony of tasks to be done, our focus is on an eternal perspective. There are so many things that seem so important now and when we look at the whole picture we realize that what is important is not the things that come and go in this life, but the things that remain with us forever. I have learned to "dance in the rain". When life comes at you you're given a choice, that choice is to moan and complain or to look for the good that is somewhere within all things (even as little as it may be at times). I know that when we are able to focus on the blessings we have, the love that we share, the small steps in progression we can be lifted up even in the toughest of times. I know our unfamiliar path has not come to an end, but it has taken a small turn and as we continue down this path with many unknowns in the future I know one thing for sure....We are not in this alone. Our daughter, our children and my husband and I will always have the comfort of the Spirit with us and the strength and love of our Savior Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father!

Unchanged.....Good News

We were up at the Oncology Clinic on Tuesday. I have been nervous for this appointment for a while now. As I started my day I planned everything out to the minute. I got my babysitter early so I could run my errands and make it up to the clinic just in time. Like always I got off a little late, had to fill the car up with gas and make an unexpected stop. I was amazed with myself when I got to my last stop with plenty of time to spare.........the only thing is that I was 30 minutes off of the time I really needed it to be. I quickly left for the hospital and realized that I had no idea how to get to the hospital from where I was. I called my Sister In-Law for directions only to have to get the same directions from her three times. As I was driving I had a dizzy spell and barely made it down the road (the dizziness only lasted about 30 seconds). I was really out of it all day. I think that I was having some serious anxiety about what we would find out from her scans. Well after my crazy morning I am happy to report that we did make it to our appointment. Dr. Wright, our daughters oncologist met with us and informed us that her scans were unchanged from her scans 6 weeks ago. She said that the thickening of her uterus is probably from scar tissue. Her AFP (tumor marker) is back down to 2.3. So the next step from here is to continue post chemo checks. She will have her next MRI, Chest X-ray, blood work and Audiogram 3 months from now and she will only have one blood draw 6 weeks from now in between scans. This is great news. We are sooooooooo relieved. Thank you again to everyone for your support, love and prayers.

Update

We went to the Children's Hospital on Friday and had another MRI done. Unfortunately we don't have any results. The hospital usually has two Doctors doing the MRI's and we are able to have one of the Dr. come out and tell us what the results are, but there was only one Dr. working on Friday. Our Oncology Clinic visit isn't until Tuesday of this week, so we won't know anything until we meet with our Oncology Doctor. It is crazy how long a few days can feel when you are waiting to hear what the next couple of months will be like for your daughter!!! Without knowing what is going on inside her little body she looks great. She has a spunky little attitude and a beautiful smile. I love being with her. You would never know that she had had anything wrong with her. Her hair is coming in so thick, it is great. I finally decided to put a little clip and a little gel in her hair. So this is what it turned out like (sorry I am not a photographer and they are not the best pictures):

It Is Time For Another Blood Draw....... Again

I have been wanting to put this picture on my blog for awhile now and finally it is on. We were given the name of a very talented man that has decided to put on an art exhibit displaying his works of pastel. His theme is children that have either passed away from or are battling with a life threatening illness (he is donating the portraits to the families, WOW). His show will run from the end of December to the Middle of January (I believe). I was completely amazed with his work. We have the portrait hanging in our home until the art exhibit. I love it! Every time I look at it I am reminded of how strong she is, lessons learned, difficulties overcome and the sweet spirit she and her illness has brought to our family. I feel so blessed to have come in contact with such a wonderful human being that has taken his amazing talent and is using it to bless the lives of others. We will be forever grateful to him for allowing us to have such a wonderful keepsake in our home.
This week we we took our little one up to the Children's Hospital again for blood work. We were anxious to see the results of her Tumor Marker. Her count is up from 2.6 to 3.1 but still within normal range. I think that I will be anxious again until the next three weeks pass and we head back up for her scans. I never would have thought that I would actually look forward to her Scans, but I really like knowing what everything looks like with an actual visual picture rather than a number from her blood draws.

New Hair

I thought it would be fun to put on some pictures of her new head of hair. I get asked often how her hair has changed. It is a lot thicker, but when she lost it she had just turned one and it was still baby fine hair. I think the color has changed to a little less strawberry blonde to more of a sandier blonde (neither of the colors were very dark, but just a real subtle change). We haven't noticed any curl yet but it isn't very long so I guess we will still see. I will take some more over the next couple of days and also add them to the blog.

Scan Results

Monday went well for Alyssa, other than the girl that did her IV had a really hard time and she had to poke her three times and it felt like it took an eternity for her to finish. Her hand has three pretty good bruises on it. At clinic on Tuesday our Doctor gave us her results. Her AFP (tumor marker) came back normal again. Her MRI is showing that the enlarged lymphnodes have not change since last time and they think they may just be large because of scar tissue and they may never go down in size. The size of her uterus is enlarged from last time. The Doctors are not sure why, but they are going to adjust her road map for the time being. Instead of rescanning in another 3 months they will rescan her in six weeks. Her blood draws will be every 3 weeks instead of once a month. Her Doctor wants to watch her a little closer to make sure that the tumor is not coming back.