Sunday, February 26, 2006

Leah and Tina were able to come home from Iowa City last night with the help of Aunt Suzanne. Tina and I traded places Fri. night. Her last fever was Thursday night, so she was discharged a bit early. Leah helped herself out by running up and down the hallway on Sat. morning in front of Dr. Loew. After witnessing her spunk, he looked at a resident doc and said, "Why is she here?" They then proceded to write up the discharge orders for 8:00 pm, if she remained free of a fever. The only thing missing was a car seat for the ride home in Aunt Suzanne's new car. She went shopping for a booster seat before arriving in Iowa City and all was well.

Once again, we were blessed with the finest of care for Leah over the past three days. There were not any major hitches (the G-CSF shots were not fun though). Leah even smiled at and joked around with her nurse, Roshaun, for awhile on Thursday night. And of course, James Brown, was able to interact with her at times too. It is nice to see her real personality at the hospital. It makes it much easier on us and her providers. Although she is still a bit skeptical of Dr. Rahdi and some of the residents. Poor Dr. Rahdi, Leah is still playing "hard to get" with him partly because of our pressure and joking with her about being his friend.

Speaking of Dr. Rahdi, he did speak with me Friday about Leah's sitution. He mentioned that the surgical department was impressed with the progress that has been made with regard to the tumor shrinkage. Surgery would be a possibility at this time, but everyone (oncologists & surgical) agreed that a 5th round of chemo would be beneficial. Therefore, our schedule is to have a five day chemo regiment starting Friday and then when it has run its course we will be in surgery. Most likely, this will take place the last week of March. Dr. Rahdi said it will be a delicate and "heroic" surgery that is being estimated to take nine hours. Though it may sound gloomy, we are pleased to get to this stage. Our prayers were answered! We needed tumor shrinkage and received it after some doubtful weeks. Now we can move on and pray for Leah to remain strong and the surgeon's abilities to perform a miraculous, successful surgery.

I was able to follow the Iowa State Wrestling Tournament via the internet and a few cell phone calls to Steve Walker. I did even talk a bit of wrestling with Roshaun becuase she is from Belle Plaine and her cousin is Wartburg Nat. Champ, Dustin Hinschberger. Anyway, congratulations to W-SR and the Denver participants for their fine performances. I fully expect to be able to report a D-III National Championship for the Knights next week.

I must stop now. It is family nap time. We were all up late last night celebrating Leah's arrival home after a her short stay. Please continue to pray for Leah and all families afflicted with children's cancer. PRAYER IS VERY POWERFUL! More than I ever imagined.

Blessings,

Chris