June 2, 2006

I promised everyone I talked to yesterday that I would not delay posting the AFP results. Usually they have taken hours to get the results back (maybe because with numbers in the hundreds of thousands it takes a long time to calculate), but her number is so much lower, it was back in 30 minutes. Her new AFP is 11.3. Still not "normal", but getting much closer. We are only 2.4 away from normal. Now of course I can worry for the next two weeks about whether the chemo. drugs are working, if the AFP is stagnating, or going up, or just not doing what it needs to do. UGH! However, had it been normal today we would not be doing chemo. That would be good, except I am all for killing every shred of cancer in her body, and if another round of chemo. will help with that, I am all for it. She tolerates the chemo. very well, so even though we know it is killing good things in her body along with bad, we also know she is a tough cookie. We are hoping to start chemo. soon, otherwise we will be leaving Monday morning. If that happens I am pretty sure Leah will want to shop on our way home. She has already told me how boring this place is today since she is hooked up. Our laptop is having a little technical difficulty right now, so I am in the hall using the one we all have access to. Liz, Leah's Dance Marathon friend, is coloring with her. We also had a nap since we were up quite early and did not sleep well at all last night.

The floor is busy today- 22 of 24 beds are full, so we have a roommate. I doubt we get to be friends, because they only speak Spanish. Oh,well. The little girl is adorable. Child Life has already talked to me about the party they have planned for Leah when she finishes chemo. for the last time. However, since we don't know when that will be, we are holding off. It would be more depressing to have a party and then have to come back again.

We are so close....we can feel remission and "normal"life, but we are not there yet. I have said many prayers of thanksgiving myself for the continued effectiveness of chemotherapy, but in the next breath am asking God to please, please let this continue to work and let Leah's AFP continue to fall quickly-and remain normal for forever. We thank everyone for their continued support-phone calls, letters, cards, and most important your prayers that we still need very much.