| December 31, 2004 Well Happy New Year everyone! I sure hope the New Year finds us all with good health and happiness. 2004 was not a very good year for us health wise but we sure did meet a lot of beautiful people and have gotten much closer to some that I now cherish as great friends. Again, thank you to all that have touched our lives in some way. We can’t tell you how much we appreciate the hugs, notes, phone calls, etc… We sure did receive a rude awakening during this past year but we have learned so much and we must reflect on the positive things that have come out of this living nightmare. Besides, there is always someone worse off. The relationships that we have built this past year are such a blessing to our lives and our spirituality has blossomed as well and we are taking a long hard look at our lives. It is definitely time to get closer to God. Leah is doing well and is full of energy. Her hair continues to fall out and her bald spot is getting larger everyday. We are hoping that means the cancer cells are still being killed. May they all be gone forever!!!! We continue to give her vitamins A, and E along with enzymes and weekly we give her 2-3 hours of treatment sending energy frequencies to certain parts of her body. We feel that it is helping and they do this a lot in Europe. We also have daily prayers with our children and we bless Leah’s head with water from our Lady of Lourdes. We love you Leah so much!! We were fortunate to have Father John from Wyandotte (St. Stanislaus) stop by for a 4th visit. He prays over Leah and blesses her with healing oil. We also had a really nice conversation with him while having lunch. We need a miracle here and we believe it will happen. Father John tells us to pray to St. Raphael and St. Michael the Archangel for healing. We still have not heard from Dr. Black in California. We even paid the $50.00 consultation fee and have not heard a thing. A call to his office is in order for the first week of the New Year. We are checking with a top radiologist in California as to whether or not he recommends the cyber-knife. More to come on that. What else can we do? Burzynski is still an option but not totally convinced that it is the right way to go yet. Still researching and contemplating it. It is very expensive and we must bear in mind that not only do we need money for the medicines and treatments but we would need money to live and pay our house/car payments, Kylie’s school, etc… We still need to maintain a lifestyle for Kylie as well too. Lot’s to think about. Another medicine, Poly-mva, is a medicine that is supposed to help tumors shrink and sometimes die so we will be researching that this month. Kylie is doing as good as can be expected. She has her days but all in all she is just your average high-spirited 8-year old. Me, (Karen) well I just went off of my anti-anxiety/depressants and am suffering from some withdrawal symptoms. It’s very horrible and I can’t seem to lift my head off of the pillow. I’m very serious; the withdrawals from this medicine are intense. You may see me crying more often or not sounding as strong when I speak about our journey so bear with me. I believe the medicine slowed down my metabolism so I want to TRY to go without and see what happens. My father, who is one of the most brilliant men I know and one of the best speakers ever, once told me when I was bothered about something someone said about me. “Opinions are like ---holes, everybody has one.” Thus here is my opinion so take it for what it is worth. Some people will never get it; some will live their lives wrapped up in themselves, their careers, material things, popularity contests, etc…and pay little attention to the tragedies going on all over the world. It’s sad to look at these people and know they are missing the meaning of life. We see now that life is about relationships and caring, it’s not hearing about sad things and letting them go in one ear and out the other. We now read the sad emails sent our way and at the very least stop and say a prayer for that person, or send an email. We no longer live in a tunnel vision world. Phil and I received a big slap in the face this past year to wake us up. Many of you out there that DO GET IT have been our angels helping us thru, helping us carry this heavy cross. We just want to say THANK YOU to those angels for you know who you are. Feel as if I’m babbling on so I will end for now. Happy New Year to all and God Bless You! Thanks for reading our web-site and caring about what happens to our little Leah. Her 5th birthday is January 11 so we must now start planning her party. Seems like it never ends. |
| December 20, 2004 Just a short note to give you an update. I am extremely tired and Christmas is coming. We’re very frustrated right now for two reasons. Last Saturday we received a letter from U of M hospital stating that our insurance will no longer participate with U of M effective January 1, 2005. Thanks for giving us all of 2 weeks notice. I can’t believe they would do this when a 4-year old girl has cancer and is comfortable with her doctors and hospital. Nothing like giving us lots of notice, especially when we have an MRI scheduled for mid-February. Phil will work on trying to switch insurances and I will see if I can change my work hours which should then allow me to add a dependent which would be Leah. Currently the girls are only under Phils policy and since his birthday comes before mine, they would always bill his first anyway even if they were covered under two insurances. This is something we will be working on right away as it is very important!!!!!!!! Geesh….unbelievable, nothing is ever easy. The next thing is that you may recall us talking about potentially doing the Cyber-knife treatments in Boulder Colorado. I met one of the nicest doctors that I felt a connection with back in August. He had told us to wait for the next MRI and send him the results. Well, we were told today that he is on a personal leave and is ill. Now what? I guess I will look around for other doctors that have a ton of experience with the Cyber-knife procedure. Can’t help but wonder if this isn’t a sign that we shouldn’t do the Cyber-knife??? We are still faithfully doing some alternative treatments weekly and I’m feeling pretty good about it. I talked to someone about Poly-mva and am going to do a little more research on that. I need to find out if I can mix it with what I am doing now. As a parent you have to do what you are comfortable doing so I do appreciate everyone giving us advice but in the end we must make the decision and I'm confident it will be the right one. Leah is doing well but still losing hair. Poor little pumpkin. She saw a video of herself and said to me, “I have a hole in my head”. She was referring to the circle of baldness in the back of her head. Everyday I find more hair on her pillow and in the hood of her coat. Her knees hurt when walking up stairs and still can’t walk too far without tiring out but they think that is from the radiation. It should get better with time. She is excited for Christmas and having Santa Claus come. She is still in school almost everyday and enjoys playing with her friends, especially Katie and Emily G. She is such a joy to be with and she is so beautiful. Kylie is doing well also and is still growing her hair so she can get it cut in March and donate her long locks to “Locks for Love” which is an organization that makes wigs for children that do not have hair. Trinity Health – Thank You! Father John – Thank you. Again, thank you to all of you for your prayers and support. Enjoy the Christmas Holidays with your loved ones for being with our loved ones is what is important, right! Have a safe and Blessed Christmas and New Year. Remember, if you and your family are healthy enough to complain about the little things in life, it's a beautiful thing. Please check out the Disney photos on this website and sign the guestbook if you haven't already. |
| December 8th, 2004 Well we are both back to work and I must say it feels good to have some sort of routine again. Sure hope it lasts for a long time. Leah went to her oncologist yesterday and they are amazed at how well she is doing. Still the slow blinking in one eye but that is all that was recognized. We just received the MRI cd so we will make some copies and send one for sure to the “The Cyber Knife Center” in Colorado. We are going to send copies of the reports and disk also to the Schachter Center in New York which is all alternative type medicine. We are still waiting to hear from Dr. Black in California. We sent him $50.00 for a consultation so we are certainly entitled to one. We must be patient. We are trying some energy therapies for Leah and also doing some Reiki healing along with lots and lots of prayer. Your generous donations help us try all of these things which we will only do if there is a history of success from curing cancer. So there you have it. Many appointments for Leah and myself but we will manage. Leah is feeling good but is still balding on the top/back part of the head. She is back to 35 lbs. which was her weight before this horrible nightmare began. What a joy she is! She is such a good girl and we love her soooo much!!!! She went to the North Pole with her Dad today at Metro Airport and had a good time. They went on a Northwest airplane (with the windows closed) which taxied around the runway but never left the ground. They were all fed ham sandwiches on the plane and they arrived at the airport hotel which was the North Pole they say. A party was held there with Santa Claus, Elves, Frosty, Rudolph, clowns, gifts for the kids and a magic show. The only odd thing was after the party you walked to your cars and Leah asked why they weren’t going on a plane. Phil ignored the question and we weren’t asked it again……..YET!! Thanks to Greg for telling Phil about this wonderful event that the retired airline workers’ (The Silverliners) host every year. Some wonderful people had us over for dinner on Saturday with the kids. Everyone was so supportive and they also invited a family over that has been thru a similar journey. It felt so good to be around such loving, supportive fun people. Thanks Kelly and Doug for a wonderful evening and a delicious dinner!!!! I hope we can all get together again soon. Kylie is doing fine but we just haven’t had the time to go to her social worker. With her gymnastics, Leah’s appointments, my social worker appointments, homework, and just plain living there hasn’t been enough time. We will send Kylie back again perhaps after the first of the year. I love you Kylie! Hang in there honey. That’s all for now. Next MRI scheduled on 2/24/04. God bless you all and God Bless Leah. I love you Leah! Forever!!!! |
| November 30th 2004 Hi all, Well since Leah's MRI I have gotten way too many phone calls to even begin answering so I thought I better give an update immediately. Not bad news, not great news. The tumor is measurably smaller. Across it used to be 5.7 cm and now it is 5.2 cm. From top to bottom it used to be 4.1 - 4.4 and it is now 3.9 - 4.2. The area of the brain stem is showing smaller than it used to be. Now there is one area where there used to be tumor that is now enhancing which means one of two things. 1) necrosis is going on which means the cells are being killed which is a good thing, or 2) the enhancement could mean it is becoming more aggressive. The oncologist thinks in this case it may be #1 which means tumor cells are still being killed off. This is mainly because Leah is doing well nuerologically and her hair is now beginning to fall out which means the radiation is still working. Her bald spot on the top back of her head (where men usually lose it...sorry guys! :) ) is getting larger everyday. Poor thing. Anyway I guess the good news is that it hasn't grown any. Another MRI should be done in 3 months. Her doctor does know of a couple of kids who have tumors and are remaining stable. Oh God, please let Leah be our miracle child. Leah did very well during the MRI as she was sedated but when they put the IV in she screamed MAMA, MAMA at the top of her lungs until they were completely done with the IV. They did put the elma cream on but it didn't seem to have enough time to work for her (thanks for the tip Val, and Sandy). It broke my heart to hear her call my name out over and over again. When the MRI was all done we did our usual coffee stop, and on to the toy store for her to pick out a toy. This time she picked out a game called Cat and Mouse. Dr. Abbot from Montefiore hospital in New York called today and agreed with the diagnosis. He said it was very puzzling though that Leah is not showing other symptoms such as vision problems or paralysis on the face. He said if she continued to be without symptoms it may call for discussing what else it could be. He also said that all we can do now is pray and hope that she falls into that small group of kids that live with these tumors and remain stable. There is a very small percentage of children that this happens to.......it is not the norm which we've known from the beginning. He also agreed that there are no trials going on right now that would help. It's so upsetting that just because these tumors are so rare, more research and money is not put into finding a cure. I think it is one of my missions in life to make people aware of this horrible fatal disease that doesn't give kids a chance. I am determined to help others in some way during my lifetime. Well, Phil and I have a sick feeling inside today.....a reality check for lack of better words. We love Leah so much and she was such an angel today. She is always an angel and such a cutie. I really feel like I want to help people everyday....I have a strong need for that right now. Isn't it funny how I need so much help myself right now but I want to help others. I love talking to people as some of you already know. Well, I guess that is about all for now. Praying for a miracle! Peace to all and be thankful for everyday you and your loved ones have good health and safety. Never take one minute for granted. Feeling thankful for the great friends we have and have made along this journey; feeling thankful also for our daughters schools for they are both wonderful! Goodnight. p.s. - Tim, thanks for the cookies; I'm going to get even fatter now :O |
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November 29th, 2004 Well, we are back from our Make-A-Wish trip and it was a great time. The girls had a lot of fun but Phil and I need a vacation now. We really didn’t have any down time as we went to at least one park each day. Up at 6:30, shower, go to breakfast then off to the parks until 7:00 or so. Not relaxing, but after all it is Leah’s wish! We stayed at Give Kids the World which is a resort strictly for ill children. They have a carousel, movie theater, arcade, restaurant, ice cream parlor, miniature golf course, a magical castle filled with toys and art tools and everything is free to those that stay there. Half of the staff is volunteers and they are all so kind. We stayed in a villa that had two bedrooms and two baths and the village is run by a rabbit named Mayor Clayton who comes around and tucks the kids into bed if the family wishes. Fun time but now I sure would like to relax on the beach. Ahhhhh!!! Short summary of the parks below: Magic Kingdom- very crowded but we got to go to the front of the lines for all of the characters. Leah’s favorite ride – Splash Mountain!!! She went on it twice. Epcot – just ok, not really for kids. Best part – the interactive movie with Crush the turtle from the Nemo movie. The movie was held in the SEA area. Sea world – Beautiful day. Leah’s favorite part – the Dog and Cat show at the Pet theatre. Mom’s favorite – feeding the dolphins and touching them. We fed the stingrays too. Typhoon Lagoon – great wave pool but Leah didn’t want to go on much. She loved the family tube ride. Mom and Dad snorkeled with the fish and sharks. Cool! Animal Kingdom – The Lion King show is magnificent. MGM studios - awesome parade that we had a front seat for. We got to sit in the VIP seats for the Beauty and the Beast which was great!!!!! The Little Mermaid show was great also. Another cool thing is that we were picked up in a big black limousine at our house to take us to the airport and when we returned a limousine picked us up at the airport and took us home. Yes, we are now spoiled. Thank you Make a Wish!! We are a bit anxious today as Leah is having her MRI at 9:20 am and we have to leave our house at 7:00 in order to get Kylie to school and have Leah at the hospital by 8:15. She will have to be sedated so it will be a little nerve-wrecking for Mom and Dad. Grandma James is coming along with us for support. I just received some bad news about a little boy named Tyler who is 6 years old and was diagnosed with the same thing as Leah during the same week at U of M. He is now in ICU and in a coma so that was a sad thing to hear. We will keep him in our prayers. Hang in there Tyler buddy. Leah still wants to meet you and play with you. Another little girl (11 years old) has been battling brain tumors for 8 years. She went through radiation 8 years ago and the tumor kept coming back. This last time it moved into the brain stem and she passed away just 2 weeks ago. Please keep angel Olivia in your prayers and well as little Tyler who is currently fighting this horrible disease. I will close by also asking for more prayers for our little Leah as well. Please pray that her MRI goes well and that the doctors find a cure for this monster soon. p.s. - We are still waiting to hear from Cedars Sinai and Montefiore hospitals. Leah will return to her holistic doctor on Friday for some more rife therapy. Once we have the MRI scans we will take things from there. I’m going back to work next week but not sure if I’m ready. I just don’t know if I can do it but I guess I won’t know unless I try. There is so much still that needs to be done and I just don’t know how much longer I can go on being a rock. Thanks to Mom James for helping me with some thank you’s. I still have more to go. Thanks to Anne, Sue, Lynn, Josann, Denise, and Cindy for always being there for me. Sister Joyce – you’re awesome. I could go on and on as there are so many of you that I think of daily. Many more then I mentioned here and one of these days I will get around to having a Thank You section created. |
| November 16th, 2004 We just got back from our oncologist appointment today and everything so far looks good neurologically. They drew blood to check her blood count and she cried quite a bit as she has only had that done once before. (Little does she know we have to do it again this week for another alternative type treatment) We did our usual routine of going to U of M, stopping and getting a coffee and sandwich on the way back and then going to White Rabbit toys where Leah picks out a toy. Leah was actually happy to see everyone at the hospital again and to see the fish in the aquarium. Everyone was so nice there. Leah is losing quite a bit of hair now. There is a bald spot at the top of her head and if you lift up her hair behind her ears it is also bald. It makes me so sad. She is having symptoms of being tired so they think it could just be that the radiation is finally getting to her. All during her treatments she had tons of energy and didn’t lose any hair and now it seems to be getting to her a bit. Hopefully it will get better soon. So sad to see my beautiful tiny little blue-eyed Leah with bald spots on her head, a slow blinking eye and a crooked smile. We love you Leah! On a good note, we signed Leah up to take a trip to the North Pole at the airport. Retired pilots and flight attendants take 20 children that are ill along with one parent and host a party for them in December. They put them in a plane and taxi the runway quite fast and tell them they are going to the North Pole. They arrive at a terminal and they tell them it is the North Pole and there they visit with Mr. and Mrs. Claus where they receive presents and have lots of fun. Should be a fun day and all children going believe in Santa Claus!! On a daily basis we have been having fun playing family board games with the girls and I’ve been painting Leah’s nails for her quite a bit. Not something I used to take the time to do often when I was working. I get on the web quite a bit to do research. There is so much to do and follow up on. We still need to contact Dr. Black at Cedars Sinai and Dr. Abbott at Montefiore Medical Center who are Neurosurgeons and are interested in seeing Leah’s scans and reports. Dr. Burzynski’s paperwork needs to be filled out as well. We also are going to have Leah’s DNA analyzed thru the Canadian Cancer research group but we have to get more blood drawn. This center believes that the cancer is as unique as the patient and they do some type of immunology. We are all getting excited about going on our Make a Wish trip. We will be going to Disneyworld and we are looking forward to getting away with just the 4 of us. Please pray that everyone stays healthy on our trip and that it is a safe one. This could be my last update for a few days. Thanks to those that are still sending us cards. We still need to do so many thank you notes so if you did not get one, please do not think we forgot about you. It is just so time consuming!! We will get to you eventually and I’m hoping to add a Thank You section to this website. We have so many thoughtful friends and we are so grateful to know you. I never realized quite how important my friends were until now…..I love you all! Times like this really show you who your friends are and they have taught me a lot about being a good friend also. Well, I’m blabbing on because I’m getting tired so I will close. Please continue to pray for Leah and I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving! I will be back to work soon so to all my Ford friends, see you soon! You thought you got rid of me! Ha, not a chance! Bye-Bye. |
| November 11th, 2004 What would you do if a dozen or more surgeons/hospitals told you that your daughter had less than a year to live? How would you live your life with her? Would you live life as normal, working and sending the kids to school or would you go on family excursions and spend tons of time with her? But the quality of time is what is important. This is what I/we are struggling with now. How do we go on? How do we go on without feeling guilty later in life about how we spent this time? Ask yourself these questions and you will have a taste of what we are feeling. Leah is still doing well. She said her legs get tired when she walks long distances but is that because of the tumor or is she just being a typical 4 year old. Her one eye blinks slower than the other also which is another symptom she is having. Other than that, she is having fun playing with her friends at school 3x a week, and is just your typical fun loving kid who wants to stay up late and watch TV or video games. Speaking of video games, Allie’s Angels stopped by and brought Leah her wish of having a Nintendo Gamecube. They were such nice, people (Molly, and Kelly) and they brought 6 games for the kids, 3 for Leah and 3 for Kylie. They also brought a Sponge Bob couch for the girls to sit in while playing their favorite games and included a Toys R Us and Blockbuster gift certificate. Check out the Allie’s Angels website at www.alliesangels.com. Allie was a beautiful 5 year old who lost her battle with a brain tumor several years ago. I met her Mom who is just the nicest lady and they formed this organization called Allie’s Angels to bring smiles to the faces of children battling the same type of illness and to help raise funds to support the research of pediatric brain cancer treatments and preventive measures. They are a blessing to us all and I’m so glad I have gotten the opportunity to meet these wonderful people. Thank you Sandy, Kelly, Molly and the entire Allie’s Angels staff. You guys are truly angels and I believe Allie’s spirit is inside of you all. We went to the circus last night and we were able to see this fun event in the luxury of a suite. A very nice couple donated their suite to us and they stayed and enjoyed the evening with us. They were such nice hosts and we thank you for a great time!!! It was the first time both Leah and Kylie saw a circus and I could tell by the smiles on their faces that it will not be their last. That is all for now …..I am feeling very blue today and I just don’t feel like writing anymore. Please pray for Lovely Leah! Next step….Cleveland healing rooms; MRI on the 30th and many more phone calls to be made. I have never been so busy and the days have never gone so fast. As you read this, be grateful for having a healthy family and as bad as your day may seem, be glad that you are able to be at work for hopefully that means things can’t be too darn bad. Peace. |
| November 2, 2004 Feeling depressed today. Wow where did the day go? Phil and I sent the girls to school went to vote and then sent out Leah’s medical reports, CD’s and a letter to three more doctors. This time we sent to Cedars Sinai hospital in CA, The Barrow Institute in Arizona, and Emory University Hospital in Georgia. The doctors/hospitals were all given to us by people who had similar experiences. We did not receive any good news from the hospitals we sent to last week. Dr. Teo in Australia whose motto is supposed to be “never stand back and let the child die” turned us down saying Leah’s tumor is too intricately diffuse within the pons. It is still so unbelievable. Our lives will never be the same. They changed dramatically ever since that dismal day at U of M when we found ourselves standing in our own personal ground zero, lost, and helpless. We are beginning to fill the paper work out to go to Dr. Burzynski’s clinic in Houston. If all doctors turn us down and we do not find any other type of non-toxic medicine out there we will jet off to Burzynski’s clinic where Leah has a glimmer of hope. Not all cases are successful but there has been some patients with brains stem glioma’s that have lived over the 5 year mark and are still alive today so we feel it may be our only chance. Another fundraiser may have to be held after about 6 months of treatment as it is VERY expensive. We have enough to get started thanks to all of you very generous people out there that have given to Leah’s fund. Leah looks great and is feeling great. So far so good. We take it day by day. God, we love her. She is glad to be back to school 3x a week and playing with her good friends, Katy, Emily G, and Rachel. Allie’s Angels organization is stopping by this coming weekend to grant Leah’s wish of having either Playstation 2 or Gamecube with video games so we are looking forward to that. Both Kylie and Leah had a good Halloween weekend. We attended a party on Friday the 29th, and Saturday, the 30th which was a lot of fun. On Halloween night the girls got to trick or treat with their best friends. Leah was dressed as a cheerleader and was with Katie and Kylie dressed as Lizzie McGuire and was with Caroline. Thank you all for your continued prayers. Together we can move mountains. Next MRI scheduled for 11/30. |
| October 25, 2004 Leah is doing really well; they call this the honeymoon phase of this disease. We are hoping this is a honeymoon that lasts forever. She has started back to school 3x a week and loves it. She missed all of her friends so much! Leah is back to looking the way she did before this horrible disease and she just got the cutest haircut. Leah went to a holistic center where they hooked her up to an electronic device that does electric-physiological scanning. www.qxsubspace.com. We are also trying to get her to take certain homeopathic medicine which is not easy with a 4-year old. How do you tell a 4-year old you must take this even though it tastes horrible? We have also done some REIKI energy healing and we have taken Leah to a community healing room and a Catholic church that does the laying on of the hands. Leah sat on Phil’s lap while the priest placed his hand on Leah’s forehead and began praying. She fell right asleep as the Holy Spirit was moving through her body. It was a beautiful thing to see as her eyes closed first, then her left arm flopped down as her legs were still kicking, seconds later her legs stopped kicking and she was dead weight on Phil’s lap for about 15 minutes until she awoke. We think that is a good sign. Leah is not one to fall asleep with a strangers hand on her forehead plus her sister was running around the church as this was going on. We are also going to start taking Leah to a chiropractor next week as this week is filled with doctor’s appointments for Mom and Leah. Leah is awaiting her next MRI which is scheduled for the end of November. I will not find out the results until my first day back at work (December 1st). What timing!! It may not tell us very much because sometimes the tumor will continue to shrink for up to 6 months. We will just have to try and take things day by day. The main report we want to hear is that the tumor has not grown. We are still searching for that medical miracle. We sent out reports and MRI scans to 4 more doctors last week. 2 so far turned us down and told us it is a grim outlook and the other two will get back with us this week. We even sent one to a doctor in Australia that does non-invasive surgeries. We still want to check into another 2 hospitals and if we do not come up with anything we are thinking we will do the Burzynski clinic in Texas. Dr. Burzynski is very expensive so it may mean having more fundraisers next year but if that is the only choice left we may try it. We will be getting a P.O. Box soon and meeting with an attorney to open up a non-profit type fund. Kylie is doing just ok. Her behavior is still showing anger but that is to be expected. We will post more pictures very soon. Thanks to everyone for your phone calls, cards, donations, etc….. We are so blessed to have such good friends, family, and schools that our daughters attend. Our next fundraiser is on November 1st at Crystal Gardens in Southgate and is a Spaghetti Dinner with a D.J., lots of raffle items (approx. 50) and bake sale. Tickets are $15.00 for adults and $5.00 for children. They can be purchased by contacting JoAnn Pischke at (313) 291-8876. |
| October 8 Leah is now done with radiation therapy. We have mixed feelings now and Karen is even more depressed now. With radiation we at least had a sense of direction and now we are just feeling lost in this world of tragedy not sure in which direction to turn next. We did a little research on clinical trails and today we keep coming across web-sites that tell us that the radiation will prolong things for awhile but 6 months is the median survival rate. Now what? Do we live life as normal for a couple months? Can our emotions let us pretend life is good? We have to keep a normal life for Kylie and she is having a hard time. She is very angry and it makes life even more difficult in our house. On a happy note, we had a great time last night. The Livonia Fire Department picked Kylie and Leah up yesterday evening and took them to McDonalds in the firetruck (after tooting their horn). They stayed for awhile at our house and let the kids in the neighborhood see the truck and explained a few things. Our two girls sat in the back seat of the truck facing the rear. Their smiles were worth a million bucks as we drove next to them looking up at them with their little firehats on. It was precious. The firemen were so nice; We all enjoyed them very much. Thank you Livonia Firefighters! Thank you Lee for setting this up for us. It was great fun! |
| September 28 Wow did time fly? Leah only has 7 more days of radiation therapy and she will be done. She is still doing well and has not had any side effects from the radiation yet. She will then not get an MRI until the last week of November. The oncologist said that it will not tell us much because some tumors shrink and the kids still have symptoms and others will not shrink but the symptoms go away temporarily. Clear as mud I know! It will be very scarey for us and difficult to try to go on with a normal life. We will always be wondering in the back of our minds if Leah will throw up today or have a severe headache. It will be like standing on the edge of a bridge and waiting for someone to possibly push you off. We went to a community healing room today where 3 people prayed over us for about an hour. That was an interesting experience and we will continue to go every week. There is one in Spokane and another in Cleveland where they say many cancers have been healed. I believe we will plan an overnight stay in Cleveland very soon. |
| September 23.2004
Leah has been undergoing radiation therapy at U of M and is now halfway |
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