Let the Sun Shine!

We've had a great day! All of Julia's scans today were clear, praise God for such an amazing blessing! 

We had a really good day at the hospital.  I know that sounds crazy, but it really is like home to us and today was great.  Julia had her x-rays first and has mastered the posing and freezing by now.  She knows the drill of this whole process.  Then we headed to ultrasound.  Calista did her scan today whom we have had before.  She was happy to see us and the time we spent catching up made the hour go by much faster.  Julia was super-cooperative, as usual.

Then we put on her emla cream and headed upstairs.  The clinic was surprisingly quiet today.  Sadly, 3 kids didn't make counts and were being sent home to try chemo again next week.  But the calmness was a welcome change to the busy week they've had.  She had Ms. Besty to herself and started a painting project while I checked in.

They triaged her and then took us back.  Ms. Karen wasn't there today :( but Ms. Tammy did a great job.  Julia didn't flinch or wimper a bit and the line still works great.  We have been so fortunate she has such a great portacath line.  It has only clotted once in the past year.

Ms. Diane came in to do her physical and let us know the scans were all clear- yippee!!! Now we can breathe and finish the rest of our visit.  Julia was very full of herself today and was making faces and rolling her eyes at Ms. Diane's humor.  She doled out a few furrowed brow stares, too.  Ironically enough not directed at any of the people that actually did the painful procedures.  She was laying on the charm pretty thick, too.  She spent most of the exam trying to frantically down her goldfish crackers around what Ms. Diane was trying to do.  Not being allowed to eat is one of the hardest parts for her.  She was planning her lunch the whole drive in this morning.

They have not heard back from Dr. McMullen about her bowel issues.  They considered sending her for an abdominal x-ray series, but really feel like it is unnecessary.  Between the double doses of miralax she was getting and the bug she had this week, we are pretty confident she is cleaned out.  At thus point she has not gone since Tuesday.  She is doing everything she should be, so this defies all logic.  The only real variable left is that something happened during her abdominal surgery or some sort of adhesions/scar tissue have formed.  Unfortunately not a whole lot can be done about this because going in again would create more.  The next step will be sending her to the GI specialist.  That decision will be made on Monday.

We were not able to get in to see Dr. Pranikoff today about her port removal surgery.  They are working on sometime in February.  At this point the risk of a port line infection outweighs the benefits.  So we'll wait to hear on that one.  A bandaid and a sticker later, we stopped by the art table to finish her painting and were heading out the door to finally get some lunch.

When we picked up Carter the kids were able to get outside and enjoy the beautiful 65 degree weather.  A huge snowstorm is supposed to be rolling in tomorrow, so hard to believe.  But historically, when we get warm days like this the snow follows close behind.  The kids are loving the sunshine...

Thank you to all of you who have prayed, called, commented, and emailed today.  It is the love of all of you that helps carries us through.  Knowing we have so many interceding on our behalf is a priceless gift.  So now we live in the space again.  Her next scan day will be April 22nd.  All her other appointments between now and then are up in the air, so we're not exactly sure what the next few months will look like, but we know she is doing remarkably well.  She is growing stronger everyday and she is one courageous kid.