Praise God!

Two weeks ago I would not have thought that the news we received today would be considered good news.  But given all of the bad news we heard last week, I would consider the news we received today to be great news!  So thank you in advance for all of your thoughts and prayers.  We still have a long road ahead of us, but it's starting to look a bit more manageable.

Anna's tumor is definitely Medulloblastoma.  The treatment for this kind of cancer requires surgery (done!), a brief respite for Anna's body to heal and recover a bit from the surgery (2-3 weeks), then a 6 week intensive treatment of radiation and chemotherapy, another respite (6 weeks), and then a 6 month course of chemotherapy, four days a month.

Are you ready for the good news?  All of the radiation and chemo is outpatient!  That means that Anna may be home in a few weeks time and the first intensive treatment will be "done" by summer ... hooray! (Matt thinks the oncologists told us this when they met with us last Wednesday, but for some reason I don't remember that part of the conversation.)  Of course, all of this is dependent on things continuing to progress smoothly.

Matt and I will have a tough decision to make this week, however.  We have two options when it comes to the radiation therapy: a newer type of treatment referred to as protons and the more traditional radiation referred to as photons.  Without getting into the messy details, the protons treatment has the potential for fewer long term side effects.  It hasn't been around long enough for published studies to show this, but the theory behind it backs up this idea.  Unfortunately, the closest facility that provides the proton treatment is just outside of Chicago.  Anna would need to be in Chicago every Monday through Friday for six weeks.

So ... we have to decide.  It will be a difficult decision, but we believe that God will lead us to the right one for our family.

Speaking of long term side effects, here's what we're in for.  The biggest concerns are related to the intensive radiation needed on Anna's whole brain and on her spinal column.  Anna's brain and spinal column will be effected negatively by the radiation.  First it will affect Anna's growth.  Her spine isn't going to be as long as it would have otherwise become.  Then it will also affect her brain.  To say it simply, the 25 year old Anna after this series of events will be different from the 25 year old Anna that she would have become if this hadn't happened.  To what extent her cognitive abilities will be altered, no one can say.  We do know that Anna has a few things in her favor with regards to this.  She's pretty smart for a 6 year old and she is normally in very good health.  Plus, we already have evidence to how amazing her support network is.  We'll just have to wait an see how she is affected.

The radiation has other potential side effects, but they can be monitored as Anna gets older.  The doctors are pretty good at treating most of them.

Time for prayers

Thanksgiving
Please give thanks for the good news that Anna will be home probably within a month!
Please give thanks that Anna's catheter has continued to stay out!
Please give thanks that Matt and I were able to have our wits about us for our meeting with the oncology/radiation team.  We were amazed at the kinds of questions we were able to ask.
Please give thanks for all of the little things that have just fallen into place during the last few days with regards to the details of our everyday lives.
Please give thanks for the uplifting dinner I just had with a fellow PICU mom.  We met randomly (okay, God planned it) in the kitchen, struck up a conversation, and ended up praying together.
Please continue to give thanks for the amazing care Anna is receiving here.

Requests
Please pray for wisdom and guidance as Matt and I make our decision in the coming days.
Please pray for continued strength for Anna, physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.
Please pray for a good night's rest for our whole family; we all need it.
Please pray for a little baby girl, Avyn, and her family who have been in and out of the PICU for a few months now.  Her mom is the woman I met at dinner.
Please pray for strength for my mom.  She's not used to being the caregiver for Ethan and Kate.  It was tiring for me on normal days, and these aren't "normal" days.

Thank you again for all of your support and prayers.  The last week has been a rough one, but I think things are beginning to look up.