Monday, May 21, 2012

A sweet sweet summer

This weekend was INCREDIBLE for our family, we enjoyed the hot muggy Michigan weather. We are feeling at ease with the place that Mallory is at finally, she did better than the doctors thought she would. She endured horrible chemo, surgeries, fevers, the whole nine yards and here we are "remission".

Remission is tough for me, they saw a few small spots on her liver still but they have no reason to believe that it is "active neuroblastoma" at this point. Because of these small lesions that are left she will have scans every 2 months to make sure that they are not growing. Her tumor is over 50% smaller than its original size and there was no MIBG take up on the scan so currently there is no reason to believe she would benefit from any additional treatment and that to the best of there knowledge she is in remission.

Remission is tough, we still have 3 years to wait before the deem her fully "cured" of cancer.

For now we are just thankful she made it this far, that we get to have a normal summer, once we get the broviac out she will be able to take a bath, go swimming (in her new 2 piece bikini), and lay around in just a diaper. After all that she's been through she totally is going to be "just a baby" for once. She's rocking some awesome peach fuzz now, she's almost crawling, and she's doing AMAZING. We are going to do our best to not dwell on "what if's" at this point, we're going to take it a day at a time, and just be thankful for the many many blessings in our lives.

Did I mention Mal is totally going to rock a 2 piece bikini? How awesome is that!

My birthday is on Tuesday (the 22nd), last year on my birthday we were blessed with the good news that we would be having another Daughter! A DAUGHTER! In ranks in one of the top moments of my life. I am so very lucky that I have 2 amazing kiddo's and my life is just so much better because of them. My birthday's are much better, holidays are much better, I couldn't imagine what we did before we had them. The past 6 months have been totally worth every tear, every fight, every breath, I wouldn't trade either of my girls for a "normal" life. My life is pretty stellar even with the chaos.

I am so amazed by how much we can breathe again, the past 6 months have been no walk in the park. Ryan and I had an amazing weekend, we are feeling great about where we are at, we climbed a giant mountain and we are making it. Things were rocky but its bound to just get better from here. He's an amazing hubadubs, my best friend, and the BEST DAD in the whole world. We're back to normal, we're happy, we're so lucky to have each other. He's my rock. I love him with all my heart <3

Jillian makes us laugh all the time, we totally have her saying "Sissy Goofball" now. She's been through so much too, 6 months of her Mom and Dad leaving all the time, no stability, and more diet coke than any 2 year old should ever have. We're getting back to the swing of things and she's bounced right back into place, and each and everyday we are just taken back by how awesome she is. We can't say enough good things about her, she's smart, she goes with the flow, and she is constantly making us laugh. We love our Jilly Bean! :-)



I will update again as soon as I talk to Mally's nurse hopefully tomorrow. I've got my fingers crossed that they can get her broviac out ASAP!