Hi to all. What a fun and busy weekend we've had. It started Thursday when Nana & Pop-pop (Andy's parents) arrived from Pennsylvania. On Friday we took a trip to Bronner's in Frankenmuth. For those of you not familiar with Bronner's, it's the largest and nicest Christmas store there is. Paige really loved it! While Santa was a big hit, she was a bit more interested in the big rabbit from the "Guess How Much I Love You" book. We were relieved when the bunny finally took a break so we could move on through the store. Anyone who's familiar with our home knows we're very traditional with our Christmas decorating. While the big inflatable decorations are fun to look at we've never taken much interest in them for ourselves. Needless to say Paige has changed that. We are now the proud owner of a 8 foot Grinch who lives on our back porch. The look on her face was priceless when we hit the switch and he came to life.
Today we went to brunch at the Speakeasy, a nice local restaurant Thanks to Aunt Chris's connections, Santa was able to make a surprise visit to see Paige. We're sorry Aunt Chris was sick and unable to enjoy all she had orchestrated. We'll just have to do it again.
The relief we feel about Paige's scans last week is indescribable. On Thursday we received a call from her oncologist at U of M to say that he had spoken with her Hurley oncologists, as well as the surgeon at U of M who will be removing the primary adrenal "tummy" tumor. They have decided to complete two more rounds of the Topotecan/Cytoxan and then go to surgery. If all goes as planned, she will have the surgery sometime in mid February. The stem cell transplant could be as soon as 3 weeks after. Paige will have her MIBG scan this Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. When we return from her scan on Thursday she is to be admitted to Hurley to begin the first round of chemotherapy. The dye that will be injected on Tuesday will "light up" any neuroblastoma cells and give us a better idea of what we're dealing with. We're still planning the trip to Disney between these two rounds of chemotherapy. Hopefully somewhere around mid January.
We hope to be home by December 23rd. We look forward to celebrating Christmas with our family and counting our blessings.
Love to all,
Andy, Sandi & Paige