Awesome News!

    We got some awesome news yesterday and thought I would share with you all!  When our little Hazelnut was first diagnosed, one of the indicators that led to it was a urine test that measured something called Catecholamines, that are organic compounds/chemicals released through the nervous system.  Since Neuroblastoma is a nervous system tumor a doctor who suspects a patient may have a tumors will check their urine for any elevation of two specific catecholamines: Vanillylmadelic Acid (VMA) and Homovanillic Acid (HVA).  In April, Hazel's VMA was almost 5 times normal and her HVA was 11 times normal!  This was one of the determining factors in her diagnosis.  Now that she has had three rounds of Chemo, we asked to have this test done again so we could have some small indication that her tumor may be shrinking.  We just got the results yesterday!  Her VMA went down to 3.6 times normal and her HVA went down to 6 times normal!!!!!!!!!!
   Needless to say, we were so elated to hear this news, even if it is just a small piece to the puzzle.  We will know more when she gets her next scan, which will be sometime before her surgery (which comes between Cycle 5 & 6); so we should have some more information soon!  Thank you all for your prayers, God has been lifting us up with them tremendously and is doing a work in our little girl!!