Surgery is scheduled

... for June 1st at 8:30am. Please mark your calendars to remember to say a prayer for her and for the doctors that are operating. She will need to be admitted on May 31 at 10:00am to start her lovely "bowel cleansing" in case any intestine will need to be involved in the surgery (90% sure it won't be, but better to be "clean" just in case). I'm not sure what will be allowed in the hospital room post-surgery, but I will check in case anyone wants to send her flowers or balloons.

Thanks again for your prayers. We are truly blessed to have reached this point. Although it's scary to be facing another surgery! Scared and grateful at the same time... quite a combination!

BRACELETS ARE IN!!

Yes, the bracelets have arrived. They are $2.50 each. Please add $0.50 for shipping on every 5 bracelets ordered.

We are currently taking orders. If you already contacted us about buying bracelets, you will be receiving an email today confirming what you want with mailing details. If you haven't, but want bracelets, send your request to eahill88-blogger@yahoo.com with BRACELETS in the subject line. Currently all of the baby blue bracelets have been reserved, but if you want one should any become available, let us know. Otherwise, we have plenty of the following:
Large WHITE (8")
Large PINK (8")
Small WHITE (7")
Small PINK (7")

Our digital camera is having "issues" right now, so sorry for no pictures... but the text on the bracelet looks like:
Pray for Elizabeth +
and the "+" is actually a little cross--I don't have symbols in this program.

Most of the bracelets are pink, so if no color is specified, that's what you'll be getting!

Dr. Stein and MRI

We met with Dr. Stein on Friday, May 20. He took the time to review the actual scan images with us on the computer and discussed what he planned to do during surgery. He is very confident that all of the large tumors can be removed, and wants to schedule surgery for sometime during Memorial week--YIKES! That's soon!!

Elizabeth celebrated her 5th birthday yesterday! YAY! She got to spend half of it getting an MRI... I wonder how many 5 year olds get to spend their birthdays doing that?! Dad took her in for it and was able to bring home a copy of the images on CD-ROM. Mom and Dad spent some time looking over them, wishing there was some kind of crash course available for rudimentary radiology so we could interpret it better! From what we were able to see, there doesn't appear to be anything new anyway, so that was good. Now on to surgery...

We don't have a specific date for surgery yet, but we know it will be next week sometime, as early as Tuesday we imagine. That doesn't give much time!

As part of her birthday celebration, Princess Elizabeth will be spending Sunday and Monday nights at Disneyland with her family, courtesy of Grandpa Terry and Grandma Mary. Thanks guys! She has a bit of spending money from her birthday, too, which we guess she will use to purchase more Princess attire like she did after last year's birthday. Princess Elizabeth will be sure to sport her beautifully embroidered t-shirts from ChemoAngel Amy that say "Happy Birthday" and "Princess Elizabeth"... Thanks Angel Amy and Crew!! And she will probably wear the pretty dresses from Grandma Kirsten and Uncle Luke for dinners... Thank you Grandma Kirsten and Uncle Luke! Mom and Dad also got Elizabeth a new Ariel ballerina dress up set that we're sure will get some wear, too. We'll be sure to take plenty of pictures to post after the weekend!

Please keep Elizabeth in your prayers. This is a very critical time. We are praying that the large tumors can, in fact, be removed without complication and that Elizabeth recovers well. We are also hoping that this is the last surgery she will need to remove the cancer from her body. She is such a brave girl. She talks about going in for her surgery as if it were routine--and she does remember her surgery before, and still isn't fearful. We know she has angels surrounding her.

Today's Chemo, AFP, and Tomorrow's Consult

Today Elizabeth had Day 2 chemo administered. To say she didn't want to get chemo today would be the understatement of the year. We're just happy she didn't succeed in pulling out her Hickman chest catheter during her "fit of rage". Perhaps Dad will need to accompany Elizabeth on her next round of chemo (she may need more before surgery... keep reading) and Mom will stay home with Matt and Danny.

We got the AFP results from yesterday's blood draw. The AFP is up to 2390 from 859 on May 3. We don't know what this means yet because we haven't talked to Dr. Marcio about it. We are expecting to talk to him tomorrow after our surgery consult. It's hard not to panic, but panicking wouldn't do any good and would probably be for nothing anyway. We could be seeing simple, not extraordinary, fluctuations. Perhaps this just means we will do more chemo before surgery. Hard not to think about all the "what-if" scenarios with all the different paths this thing can take, but we're trying to take it all day-by-day... Dad is much better at that than Mom is!

We are meeting Dr. Stein tomorrow about Elizabeth's surgery and discussing what our options are. He is the head of the pediatric surgery department at Children's Hospital. We are still waiting to hear from Dr. Farmer at UCLA, Elizabeth's head surgeon from her first surgery. Dad dropped off the most recent CT scan images for him at UCLA on Monday and we were expecting to hear from him late this week. I guess that means tomorrow since we haven't heard from him yet.

No one ever promised us this wouldn't be a roller coaster ride! Just when we think we are doing better, we hit that peak and start plummeting down again!!! We're praying this AFP rise is simply a small set back in the grand scheme of things. Afterall, there are only two possible long term outcomes and all that matters is which one happens. This little stuff won't make much of a difference!

Keep praying... we still need prayers.

CaringBridge.com is down

Just wanted to let anyone who may be checking Elizabeth's Caring Bridge web page...

CaringBridge.com is currently down... I'm sure only temporarily! We tried checking our other friends' caring bridge pages, and they won't load either.

Anyone who clicks on the link will get an error screen... try back later~ BUT read all you like here!!!

A Bit of Good News

Just wanted to post really quickly with a short update...

Thank you every one who is praying for Elizabeth. We truly may be witnessing a miracle!

We met with Dr. Marcio Malogolowkin today at Children's Hospital Los Angeles before Elizabeth started day 1 of her round 4 chemo. This is the short story:

Dr. Marcio and Dr. Stein (the CHLA surgeon, most famous for leading the twin separation surgeries that go through the hospital... which is most of them!) as well as the CHLA radiologist think that there is not, nor ever was, peritoneal tumors. They believe that all we are dealing with are the liver metastases. What had been interpreted as peritoneal tumors at UCLA(tumors of the abdominal lining) may be simply small bowel loops. They also think that Elizabeth may not have the 15-20 "lesions" in the liver, either. These are opinions based on the imaging taken in March and May. The only way to be sure is to do surgery and actually look at the organs.

The surgeons at UCLA back in March also said they didn't see the peritoneal tumors, until they met with the UCLA radiologists and oncologists who conviced them otherwise. This whole issue of widespread metastases could simply be one doctor's mistaken opinion... and we're praying it is just that--a mistake.

If the tumors are confined to the liver, our prognosis becomes much much improved!! If we ARE dealing with peritoneal tumors, they haven't changed during chemo, which could be a bad thing. BUT, the fact that there is no change (neither in size nor density) makes it very likely that they are NOT tumors. If they were actual tumors they would have responded similar to the liver tumors.

We thank God everyday for giving us our daughter and we pray that we are making the best decisions for her. We are so grateful for being led to Dr. Marcio and to a facility that will never give up on Elizabeth. We pray that this is truly the good sign that it seems to be.

BRACELET UPDATE: Bracelets should be here in another 2 to 2.5 weeks. We ordered plenty!! Everyone who contacted us by email to place tentative orders will have priority. We got a volume discount which made our total cost $2.50/bracelet. The following colors/sizes will be available:
adult baby blue (no child sizes were carried by the manufacturer--sorry!)
adult white
child white
adult pink
child pink
We will be contacting everyone who made "reservations" in order to confirm what you want (changes are fine!) and get your address.
IMPORTANT!!! This is NOT a fundraiser. This is simply an "awareness" campaign. We would love for everyone to wear a bracelet as a reminder to pray for our princess, and to help spread her story when others ask about your bracelet.

Anyone in the LA area can donate to the Children's Miracle Network at Costco during its annual fundraiser going on NOW. You know, those hot air balloon cutouts that you put your name on?! The Children's Miracle Network supports programs at Children's Hospital Los Angeles (as well as some other "Children's Hospitals" around the country). Elizabeth liked signing the large pink one with a "thank you" (available for a $25 donation... smaller ones are available for $1) and seeing it posted on the Burbank Costco wall!

Thank you all again for your prayers. We hope that Princess Elizabeth will get her miracle and be an inspiration to other people faced with this crisis.

Thank You's!!

Princess Elizabeth would like to take some time out to post a few grateful words to all of her generous supporters out there... (These are Elizabeth's words, Mom is just her typist until Her Highness' spelling and typing improves.)

ChemoAngel Princess Amber: Thank you for all the gifts that you sent me and the flower. For all the cards, too. I like to play with all the princesses and dress them up in the princess book. My favorite Disney princess is Ariel. I like Cinderella, too, and my Mom likes her, but she says her favorite princess is me. Cinderella is her second favorite. I like the princess book a lot and thank you for the princess book. That's it! Love, Princess Elizabeth

ChemoAngel Amy: Thank you for the fishy bracelet. I like it a lot. I like the glowy angel pen because it glows and I like to draw with it. Matthew put the spider tattoo on the leg and then when he didn't want it to come off he drew on his leg where the spider was and then next it will be that Mike put the scorpion on his arm. That's it! Love, Princess Elizabeth

ChemoAngel Stacey: I like the Belle stickers. My cat's name is Belle-a-Dora because my favorite princess was Belle and I like Dora the Explorer. Thank you for sending me postcards. That's it! Love, Princess Elizabeth

Sweet Miss Ellen: Thank you for all the stuff you sent me. I like it a lot. I liked the candy a lot and it's my favorite. And the scarf is my favorite, too, because it's pink and furry and it looks like a rainbow. Thank you for the hat and it's my favorite color. That's it! Love, Princess Elizabeth

Share the Love Ms. Janie: Thank you for all the notes you send me. I like them a lot and I'll send you some, too, someday maybe. Thank you for signing my GuestBook a lot. Mommy said you were the first one on my map from Louisiana. That's it! Love, Princess Elizabeth

Princess Jodi: Thank you for the email letters. I'm a fairy ballerina princess, not a regular one. Mommy said that your mommy has boobie cancer. I hope she feels better like me soon. Do you have any brothers or sisters? I got a new brother and his name is Daniel Hill. I think Mommy and Daddy should have named him Eric because the little mermaid's prince is named Eric and my old swim teacher. That's it! Love, Princess Elizabeth

Mr. Neal Weichel: Thank you for sending me to the Tippy Toes Tea. I had a really fun time but that frog was a little yucky and I liked the dancers. I ate a lot of cucumber sandwiches and they were really good and the ham ones, too. It was fun and my mom liked it. That's it! Love, Princess Elizabeth

Ms. Sue Hoefflin and Ms. Lisa DeLong and Ms. Candye Rucker and all my Girl friends at the Michael Hoefflin Foundation: Thank you for inviting me and my mom to the tea. We had fun. And I like going to meetings and playing and seeing Abby. I like eating cookies and snacky stuff. And it's fun to hug you sometimes but sometimes I don't like to when I'm tired. And Candye likes Dale Jr. like me. That's it! Love, Princess Elizabeth/Tinkerbell

To Everyone Who Has Been Praying For Me: Thank you for praying for me and sending me notes on my map. Sometimes I feel yucky and then I feel better. ("What do you think about your cancer?" says mom...) I don't like it but I'm beating my cancer and when I get surgery they will take all the yucky stuff out! That's it! Love, Princess Elizabeth

We have a never-ending list of Thank-you's that can go on and on, but we'll post these for now!!
Thank you from the Hill Family! We love you guys!

Movin' Along...

Well, this past week is quickly becoming a blur...
So sorry to have been so quiet here--I know a lot of you all were getting worried!

Elizabeth is doing well.

We had round 3 of her gemcitabine/oxaliplatin (GEMOX) chemo last Thursday and Friday (5/5 & 5/6). Elizabeth got sick and had 2 pukey episodes on Friday afternoon, but that was because our nurse was absolutely sure that Elizabeth only needed benedryl for nausea, and not the benedryl/regalin combo she usually gets on day 2 of chemo. Mom disagreed, and Nurse X (who shall remain nameless, but Mom knows which one it was... grrrrrr) said she talked to the doctor and benedryl was all that was necessary. Well, next time Elizabeth will be getting regalin, too--even if Mom has to go find it and put it in the IV her darn self. After a $22/pill dose of zofran Friday night Elizabeth was fine. No more puking.

Elizabeth was pretty zonked out during and after chemo. She was still lounging on the couch watching PBS most of the time. We had a nice quiet Mother's Day at home and Mom was thrilled to get the extra hugs and kisses. The house still has some yellow and pink tulips and roses scattered about. Mom loved Mike's poem, Matt's "diamond" necklace he picked out, and Elizabeth's present--her own favorite necklace. We've got some really good kids!!

Monday night, Elizabeth finally put on some clothes (well, her Minnie Mouse dress up outfit, but at least it wasn't jammies) and we went to the Michael Hoefflin Foundation meeting. We go every 2nd Monday of the month. We are so grateful to have a place to talk to other families dealing with the same thing, and the kids get lots of attention in their own meeting/crafty time next door.

Tuesday we went to CHLA for Elizabeth's blood draw. Her CBC was normal (for her), so no transfusions (YAY!). She had an AFP drawn, but somehow it was lost between the nurse's station and the lab, so we won't be able to get those results. We were hoping to see the AFP dropping below the 859 last time, but we'll have to wait until next time for that... hopefully.

Elizabeth had ballet class yesterday, Thursday. We got her costume for the recital. It's beautiful and worth every penny. It's mostly lavender, but with plenty of pink, so Elizabeth is happy. She will have professional pictures taken at the dance studio (Center Stage Dance LA--I'm putting the link on the right so anyone local who wants classes can take a look) on Sunday in costume. We'll be sure to order plenty! Unfortunately, the recital is scheduled for June 12, and it looks like Elizabeth may not be able to participate. Why? Well, surgery...

Here is the update: Dr. Marcio has spoken with Dr. James Stein (the CHLA surgeon) and they both feel she is a candidate for surgery. This is great since UCLA docs thought she may never be operable. BUT, it will be another 3-4 weeks before it can be done. In the meantime, she WILL get another round of chemo (round 4), and it will be bumped up a week. SO... we will be in for more chemo NEXT week already! Elizabeth is scheduled to go to CHLA on Wednesday for blood work, an appt. with Dr. Marcio, and then (if blood work is clear) starting chemo. Looks like surgery will be sometime near the very end of May/beginning of June. So we don't think the ballet recital will be something Elizabeth can do. But, hey, getting the cancer out takes priority over everything else! There will always be more dance recitals--two months ago we didn't think we could say that. What a miracle!

Yesterday was also Daddy's birthday. When we went shopping, Elizabeth picked out a tropical Mickey Mouse shirt for Dad. She insisted on getting the matching little girl dress for herself, so now Daddy can match his little Princess for our visit to Disneyland hopefully for Elizabeth's birthday. She's been insisting we go celebrate her birthday (May 24) there again. We took Daddy to Red Lobster for dinner--he is the only one who really eats seafood, but it was his birthday afterall! One lady remarked on how well behaved our children are as she was leaving... if she could have only seen them earlier that day!! They must have gotten all their naughtiness out earlier and lowered their "badness levels" (Lilo and Stitch anyone?)...

I'll post more pictures next time... just trying to get the update up for now! I'll also be posting "Thank-You"s to all our special friends who have been so thoughtfully making Princess Elizabeth smile in the past 2 weeks.

Please keep praying... we're not in the clear yet, and it's your prayers that are truly helping us get through this. It is nothing short of a miracle that we have been able to go from hopeless to hopefull!

Article written by our friend Lisa DeLong...

Don't forget to read about Princess Elizabeth's scan results below!!
I forgot to include this link...

http://www.insidescv.com/features.php?id=147

It is to an article written for Inside SCV magazine by Lisa DeLong and Andy Gallardo, who both work for the Michael Hoefflin Foundation. While we've never actually met Andy, we have talked to him on the phone, and he's extremely nice. We do know Lisa well. We get to see and talk to her every "Wings of Hope" support group meeting sponsored by the MHF. She has been a wonderful source of support and inspiration because she has been through the "cancer mill" as a parent before. Sadly, she knows what it feels like to lose a child.

Please, when you can find the time, read it. It talks about Mikey Traba, a friend we met at UCLA when Elizabeth had her first cancer occurance. Mikey loved riding his IV pole like a scooter when he had the energy. And he teased and taunted the nurses all the time as well. His little sister, Emily, visited him a lot. Make sure you read through the entire article. Elizabeth is briefly mentioned, much to our surprise! We didn't know it until we saw it in print when Lisa gave Michael a magazine. Thank you!!

The MHF does so much for us. If anyone is looking for a worthwhile charity to donate to, please click on the Michael Hoefflin Foundation link on the right and consider donating to them. We know first hand where the money goes.

GREAT NEWS!!!

We have gotten some great news today...

Princess Elizabeth's AFP levels are down to:


That's right! You are reading that correctly! Down from 3900 (3 weeks ago), to 3250 (2 weeks ago), to 859 now!! This is a significant decrease and means we can continue with the chemo we are using since it is, in fact, effecting her cancer.

Also, her CT scan results came back as somewhat favorable. While the large liver tumors she has appear to be larger, they also appear to be more necrotic (dead) than before. There currently appears to be only one peritoneal tumor, whereas before there were two. This is progress!

As far as the smaller liver lesions go (she originally was thought to have 15-20 throughout the liver, both lobes), they are not showing up on the CT... but they didn't show up on the CT the first time--we saw them on the MRI. So, there may still be evidence of cancer growth in these nodules, but they haven't gotten large enough for the CT to pick up, which could mean that they are dead and have stopped growing. Lots of assumptions there!

Elizabeth is going ahead with round 3 of the GEMOX chemo scheduled for Thursday and Friday mornings (eek! tomorrow!), and then we will be talking about surgery. Surgery?!? you say...

Well, yes, surgery. Elizabeth's necroses in her liver tumors appear to be quite liquidy. If we continue to use chemo on them, at some point, they could burst and spill cancerous cells everywhere. Hence the rush to get them out as soon as possible. We think that the surgery may be to stop further spread, not necessarily to be a cure.

To see this response is truly a miracle! We are not in the clear by any stretch of the imagination, but we are sure headed in the right direction. Please keep praying for Elizabeth, our continued sanity (if that's what you could call it!), and for guidance in our future decision making regarding treatment.

Thank you, all of you, for your kind messages and your prayers. We thank God for the blessings we received today!

Waiting for Results

Elizabeth did have her CT scan yesterday. She also had blood drawn to check her AFP levels. We should know later today what the results are. I have to keep telling myself that at least we'll know what's going on, even if it is not what we want to hear.

Once we have the results, I'll post them here. I know there are some of you checking in for them! I'll send out the FoPE (Friends of Princess Elizabeth) notice to your email when they are in.

Please pray for guidance in deciding what to do from here.

Logging More Mileage to CHLA

We've had a very full few days since Wednesday... so full that I haven't inundated you all with more postings! I'll try to keep it to just the basics to get you caught up, but there will be lots of pictures because we had a very fun event.

Thursday was our home nurse visit for a blood draw. We love our nurse, Denise, as we've mentioned before. This time Mom got a picture.


Princess Elizabeth also had ballet class. She had still been pretty under the weather at that point, but managed to get off the couch long enough to make it to class. I'm not sure how, but Elizabeth made it dancing through the entire 45 minute class! Here she is with her teacher Miss Rosie:


We also made it to McDonald's after picking up Mike from school. Elizabeth had a vanilla shake, Matt had a strawberry shake, and Mike had an M&M's flurry. Danny just watched!

Friday we got a call from Patricia, our nurse case worker at Children's Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA). Elizabeth's blood panel came back with high white blood counts (WBC). That is usually a sign of infection somewhere. So we went in to CHLA for another blood draw to check her WBC again. Her temperature was very high when we arrived (103.5F). SO... we were admitted to the day hospital for examination. She ended up with a 30 minute infusion of antibiotics (ceftriaxone). Her WBC came back still high, but lower than it had been on Thursday. Blood and urine were taken for cultures (takes 2-3 days for results). Thankfully, because Elizabeth didn't show any symptoms of infection, we were allowed to go home instead of staying over night. Good thing since Elizabeth and Mommy had a special event on Saturday to go to. Mommy was very proud of how well Danny, Matt, and Elizabeth all behaved while we were at CHLA for 5 hours. They were happy to have dinner at McDonald's (of course... we were at the hospital afterall) after. Here's Matt playing in McDonald's:


When we arrived home from our first visit to CHLA of the weekend, we were excited to find a package waiting! One of Princess Elizabeth's ChemoAngels, Princess Amber, sent a very large box that was sitting on our front doorstep. Visit http://www.chemoangels.com to sign up as an angel or get your own angel! Elizabeth was so happy to get a letter written just to her from Princess Amber, complete with pictures of Amber, her cats, and her neice and nephew. Elizabeth thought it was cool that Amber's neice is named Emma... afterall, if Danny had been a girl, Elizabeth insisted we should name her "Emma". There were little presents in there for Mike, Matt, and Danny, too! Mike ran through the house with Dad playing with the sticky frogs, Matt laughed uncontrollably when we read the book together, and Danny now has a new chew toy (a soft little piggy). Elizabeth got the most beautiful (and SOFT!) ballerina bear from Build-A-Bear (one of our favoritest places!). Princess Amber sent it complete with Bearth Certificate stating that bear's name is Princess Faith Elizabeth. Elizabeth is very pleased with bear's name, as is Mommy! Thank you, Princess Angel Amber! Here is a picture of Princess Elizabeth and Princess Faith Elizabeth taken Saturday morning:



Saturday was very, very busy! Elizabeth and Mommy were invited to a special event through the Michael Hoefflin Foundation. A friend of the Foundation, Neil Weichel, purchased an entire Princess Table (!) at the Santa Clarita Ballet Company Tippy Toes Tea fundraiser (that's a mouthful!!) and donated it. Princess Elizabeth was very happy to go and socialize with the other princesses that attended. Princesses, ballerinas, and fancy tea cups... if it was planned especially for her, it couldn't have been more fitting! Grandma Kirsten bought her a fancy dress for the tea, and our friends MaryAnn and Amanda Brown bought her matching gloves and a purse. She looked absolutely beautiful!

WARNING: Lots and lots of pics. I'll try to keep the descriptions as brief as possible (HA!)...

The theme of the tea was "Cinderella" so Mom and Elizabeth got matching "glass" slippers to wear to it.


There were beautiful ballerinas dressed in white who served us scones. And a bullfrog even sat at our table for a while, much to Elizabeth's chagrin... she said Matt would have liked it, but she didn't.


But, our friend Abigail Duran (Abby) didn't mind!


Abby and her sister, Haley, sat with us at the special Princess Table. They were nice enough to bring their mom, Lindsay. (As all you moms know, we're always just along for the ride!) Abby has ALL (a form of leukemia), which requires almost 3 years of treatment. Here is big sister Haley:


Another little princess sat at our table. We met Marissa (and her mom Sandra), who had her last chemo treatment the day before. She was awarded "Best Hat":


Here Elizabeth shows off her new hat, made for her by our hostess M.J.


A beautiful Nutcracker ballerina show:


All of the girls with Bloom, a winged fairy:



Elizabeth by the pool:


Abby, Haley, and Elizabeth in their special hats from M.J.


Princess Abby:


A sea of princesses!


Elizabeth wants to stay


We also got to sit with Sue Hoefflin who started the Michael Hoefflin Foundation with her husband, Chris. Sue teaches Kindergarten and one of her students is M.J.'s (the lady who made the girls' hats) daughter. I think her name is Talia, but I'm not sure. There was a raffle for various little girl items that Elizabeth got to put tickets in vases for. She wanted the handpainted roses child table and chair set so badly that she put all 20 of her tickets (courtesy of Sue and M.J.) in the vase for that drawing. M.J.'s daughter won that raffle, but since M.J. painted and donated the set, she talked to her daughter about giving it away. Talia willingly and generously gave it to Elizabeth, knowing she wanted it so much. The next raffle was for a huge Angelina Ballerina stage, doll, and wardrobe playset. And Talia won that raffle, too! She was so very excited, and opted to keep that one! It turned out that she wanted to win that one most, so it was very nice the way it all worked out. The tea was a complete success and now Elizabeth and Mommy have another day full of wonderful memories. We are very thankful that we got to go.

After Elizabeth's nap her temperature shot up again. We went in to CHLA and had yet another infusion of ceftriaxone. Elizabeth, Danny, and Mom spent a rather uneventful 3 hours in the ER. Unfortunately, Elizabeth did have to miss another event, the Michael Hoefflin Foundation Annual Bowling Party, but at least we made it to the tea. Elizabeth did not see it that way, however, and was very upset that we weren't going to make it. Dad was able to take Mike and Matt, though, and they had a great time. Elizabeth is still griping today that she didn't get to have pizza like her brothers did, so I think we all know what we'll be ordering for dinner tonight!

So... it was a rather full weekend. Elizabeth's blood and urine cultures still do not show any sign of infection, so the fevers are still pretty unexplainable. Most likely it is just a reaction to the chemotherapy (a notable side effect of gemcitabine). If she keeps on with the fevers, though, we're afraid it may interfere with our chemo schedule. Hopefully we'll still be able to get it on Thursday. Elizabeth is still on track for her scan on Tuesday regardless. We're eagerly anticipating the results of that so we can see if the chemo is doing anything to the cancer. Please pray for clear results so we can make the best decision for subsequent treatment. Of course, we'd love significant reduction in the tumors! But as all of you already know, we're grateful for whatever blessings come our way, even the small ones!

Keep Elizabeth in your prayers, especially on Tuesday afternoon when she is getting her scan. Thanks!