Busy, Busy, Busy!

     These last few weeks have been overwhelmingly busy for our family.  But unlike what our life has been like for the past year; filled with stress from life-threatening side-effects, hospital visits, medications, time apart, etc., these weeks have been filled with much more "normal" things.  We have been going through normal day-to-day life of a family with four young children and a pregnant mommy (which is busy all on its own!), all while packing up our entire house and making arrangements to close escrow tomorrow!  So suffice it to say, life has kept us extremely busy; but in a much more normal and welcome way, and for that I am so thankful!  We also took part in several wonderful fundraising event, and I will share about them, with lots of pictures, in the next post!

     Our little Hazelnut has been feeling well, but is quite a bit more tired after this last cycle of Immunotherpay than she was after the first one.  I also think the two-times daily dose of Accutane is beginning to take its toll on her little body.  Amazingly enough though, she has still been enjoying her life as a normal 3-year-old to the fullest.  She has LOVED being home for this long and keeps saying things like "I'm so happy" and "I feel good, and healthy, and strong!".  It truly blows my mind to hear these things come out of her mouth, because it makes me see how much she truly understands of her situation and how remarkably well she has adapted to it and taken it in stride.  In addition, we have received a couple pieces of good news!  Hazel had her GFR test (kidney function test) to determine if the last cycle of Immunotherapy caused any irreparable harm.  Those results came back only a little low, but still within normal range!  The doctors believe we can still proceed with treatment as planned, but just quite a bit more cautiously.  Also, as some of you may possibly remember, we requested last June(!) to have Hazel's tumor sent away for genetic testing to determine if she has a case of hereditary Neuroblastoma. This is because on my father's side of the family, there are two family members who also had this same disease around 40 years ago.  To even have one other case is an extreme rarity, so to find out that we have two is alarming.  In children with Neuroblastoma, only about 1-2% have this genetic component, so our hope and our prayer is that Hazel is NOT among those select few, and it has killed me to wait this long for an answer.  While we do not have the answer yet, we found out today that after all the red tape has been broken, her tumor has finally been sent away and we should have results in a few weeks!!  So please be praying for these results!

     Hazel and I check in for Cycle #3 of Immunotherapy Sunday night.  This cycle only is composed of Chimeric, so although not easy, it will be better than the last cycle and will only be about one week of inpatient stay.  If all goes smoothly, we should head back home on Friday.  Please pray for minimal side effects and for strength and stamina to handle what is to come.