Happy News! Amelia’s scans are clean. We just returned from a quick trip to New York for quarterly scans and all is good. Bone marrow and urine results will come in next week. Dr Kushner wants Amelia’s hearing tested again now that she is really talking. He senses she has more hearing loss that we thought. We will get that tested the end of February. My opinion is that the loss is minimal.

It was nice to see our old “N” friends and officially meet Mark Dungan, aka Sydney’s Super-Dad. Unfortunately we didn’t get to meet Sydney this time. Amelia was suffering with a cold and so we had to keep our distance from many folks. Poor timing for a cold. It was nice to see Matthew, Emily, Tripp, Kevin and all of the other kids we hadn’t seen in a long time. It was also nice to see their parents.

Latisha and Cat looked great and were busy as usual and Vicky was constantly appearing with more stickers for Amelia. We even got to see our fantastic surgeon from Hopkins who is now working at Sloan-Kettering, Mark Kayton. Maybe we’ll let him remove Amelia’s medi-port one day…

Aside from a few days of discomfort from the bone marrow biopsies, and an annoying cold, Amelia enjoyed her trip to New York. We will return for the next round of scans in May. By then she should be able to work the elevators at the RMDH herself to go visit with Ms. Joanne…she’ll be three. Yikes!

It’s hard to believe that we are approaching our two-year mark since diagnosis. I am thankful for every minute we have been given. She is delightful. Kathryn and Ben are beginning to enjoy her more and more as she is now able to really communicate and play with them. Today I sipped my coffee as the three of them just sat on the floor in front of me playing with legos. For a brief moment it was as if nothing bad had ever happened.

Thanks for your concern and kindness. I am now going to exhale. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh………………….

Happy New Year! I have been waiting for the New Year to come so we could jump right into our quarterly scans. Let's just do it. Well, after careful thought and after having the scans set up at Hopkins, I have decided to go back up to Sloan for scans this time. It's a constant battle in my head as to what is best for Amelia but that doesn't make the decision-making any easier. I just feel like this is what I have to do this time. It will be strangely nice to see the Neuroblastoma family up in New York. There isn't another place in the world with as much Neuroblastoma per square mile around. I find it a comforting community. So, scans have been cancelled at Hopkins and are being set up at Sloan. I just want it done yesterday.

Ben began the New Year with a stomach virus. So far the rest of us have been spared. Kathryn is coming down with a new ailment daily. It seems to be attention seeking and breaks my heart. I remember wanting to be sick when I was young too. My older sister needed to be hospitalized and she sure got all the attention. I am trying to get Kathryn through this "illness" she has created without hurting her feelings. I need a full time therapist...

Amelia is doing great. She is really blooming into a beautiful little kid. She is looking forward to going to New York. Innocence is wonderful. All for now. Thanks for checking up on us. Please pray for clean scans.