Cold Stone Creamery Make-A-Wish Event TONIGHT!!

At LA County Cold Stone Creamery stores tonight from 5 - 8 pm, the month long Make-A-Wish Foundation fundraiser will come to an end. We will be serving as Wish Ambassadors at the Burbank store if anyone out there wants to swing by for some ice cream. Here is the exerpt from the Make-A-Wish website:

Cold Stone Creamery Ice Cream Social
Friday, September 01, 2006 — Thursday, September 28, 2006 Throughout Los Angeles County
Cold Stone Creamery® will fulfill more than just ice cream wishes and waffle cone dreams in September as Cold Stone Creamery stores across the United States launch a month-long fundraising effort to benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation. In addition, for a $1 donation, Cold Stone will also invite ice cream lovers to inscribe a message on a special Make-A-Wish star to be posted on the store wall throughout the month.
The event will culminate on Thursday, Sept. 28, when participating Cold Stone Creamery stores throughout Los Angeles county will hold special family activities from 5 to 8 p.m. and will give those who donate to Make-A-Wish a free piece of yummy ice cream cake!

9/15/06 CT scan results

Still working on getting all those Cruise pictures uploaded to an online album (half way done), but soon they should be available for viewing and even ordering from Walmart.com. Once I'm done, I'll post a link so you can be inundated with all the cruise pictures! Until then, here are a few...

All the kids with Pluto
Mike and Matt in front of the Flying Dutchman (Davey Jones' pirate ship from Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest) anchored at Disney's private Bahamian island, Castaway Cay
Elizabeth with her new mermaid (from the Atlantis Resort in Nassau), pooped out. No, that is not a hospital bracelet on her ankle--it's one of the bracelets every child gets to wear on the ship!
Elizabeth hand feeding a ray at Castaway Cay. She wanted to be in charge, so the instructor let her have his spot! This was by far one of Elizabeth's very favorite things we did. I'm so glad we had the opportunity for it.
Happy Princess!

So that's the good part of this post.


Elizabeth's scan results weren't good. She has multiple new nodules in her lungs--both right and left. The original nodule appears unchanged, whatever comfort that is supposed to be. There are changes to her liver which her doc seems to think is tumor. Because her liver has been getting more and more fatty, the appearance of "normal" liver density tissue has him thinking it is tumor and not new regenerating liver. I'm praying that the results are because the Milk Thistle I've been giving her is actually detoxifying and improving her liver. Her bilirubin level is 0.2 (GREAT!!), which is much lower than the over 3 she had been in July, so the Milk Thistle is at least improving something even if there is tumor in the liver.

Elizabeth's AFP levels had been increasing 6000 every week, and were 51,100 on 9/8.
On 9/15 they were 44,600--a DECREASE of 6000! So that is good news, although 6000 is more like a drop in a bucket among a level of 45,000.

Every day I am continually astonished and touched by the generosity and care shown to us by the ChemoAngels. Elizabeth is being special-angeled again by these incredible ladies, and just about everyday she gets something else in the mail. The beautiful, sometimes hand made!, cards that come filled with love (and STICKERS!!) not only give her something to look forward to, they also make her smile and giggle which makes me look forward to mail time as well. Thank you so much.

Things just don't get easier on this road. I'm getting so tired of all of it. The continual barrage of bad news, the constant worry, the waiting for things to get worse... I want a miracle so desperately.

quick update

Still working on getting cruise pictures uploaded to the website. Hopefully this week.

This morning we are meeting with the LAUSD (Los Angeles Unified School District) doctor to discuss Elizabeth's possibility for starting first grade next week. All she wants right now is to go to school, and she never has. I'm getting her in.

On Friday, the 15th, we will have the dreaded "what the hell is going on with massive increases in tumor marker levels" scan. I'm terrified. Please pray that whatever is there can be treated, either by surgery or going back on Sutent.

On the same day we also have Elizabeth's IEP (Individualized Educational Plan) meeting with LAUSD. We are hopeful that everything will go smoothly (but prepared just in case it doesn't), and that Elizabeth can start going to school for a few hours a day next week. Without knowing the results of the scan and how bad her cancer has spread, we don't know how long she'd even be able to attend school. She wants it so bad, and I want to give her as much time being a student as possible.

Take care and thanks for the continued prayers.