Finally, some (actually LOTS) of news to report

Amanda spent Monday, Wednesday and Friday of this past week having lab work drawn. Following her transfusion last Friday, it was necessary to carefully check how her body was responding. I am very thankful to say that she suffered no negative side effects. By Monday her counts were all on the rise and by Wednesday they were very good. Friday's lab draw was a final check to make certain that she was ready to begin the second round of chemo that MD Anderson (the Houston Cancer center) requested she receive before we travel down there. Amanda will receive the first part of the transfusion Monday morning and the second half one week later. She was very happy to learn that it will be done on an outpatient basis.

The news that I now have to share came first from Kim, our "assigned" nurse. She had spoken with the primary Dr. from our new "Houston" team and had preliminary information for us. Then, following a long, long (three week) wait, we finally received a call from Denver at 10:30 Saturday night. No kidding. 10:30 Saturday night. Gotta love it. She apologized for the time...we said "not a problem", we were just so glad to talk with her.

(I am going to borrow Larry's technique for posting lots of information...he is better at it then I am!) So...

• We will travel to MD Anderson in Houston, Texas following Amanda's recovery from this round of chemo. The anticipated date for our first appointment is the 11th of June. We will meet Amanda's new team, some scans and tests will be completed and then we will meet back with the Doctor to get their decision on what they would like to do. They have requested the scans and tests from Denver be sent down. That will eliminate the need to repeat some of them. This should cut our first visit time down from one week to 3 days or so. (Yeah!)

• The biopsy comparisons were very positive. They confirmed their belief that the chemo Amanda received had a very negative effect on her tumor. Although it did not shrink, they can now shift some of the attention to reducing the negative effects of an intrusive surgery rather than still focusing on the destruction of the tumor.

• A spot in Amanda's right thigh, which drew some of the radioactive sugars from the PET scan to it, was not cancer. The draw came from activity that was in that area as her body was reproducing new white blood cells. (This "spot" had been of great concern...this is the most wonderful answer to some very fervent praying.)

• Houston shared information regarding a new drug/radiation combo that is having very good results in reducing large, pelvic area osteo tumors. The testing actually comes out of Russia. Our Dr. in Houston actually reads Russian and shared some of those reports with us (the English version!) It is very exciting for us to learn of these new medical discoveries.
  

• We also learned that the radiation treatment they are considering for Amanda is done on an outpatient basis. She would go in each day (Monday - Friday) for a very short amount of time and then would be released again until the following day. Our Dr. also anticipated that the treatment time would probably be between 3 - 5 weeks. Although we will have to be in Texas for the radiation, the chemo that they would use in combination with it can be administered here in Columbia. That was wonderful news to us as it shortens the time that we would have to be away from the rest of our family.

Although the information seemed to take forever to get here, overall it seems very positive. We are so thankful. Amanda is very excited that she will be able to remain in Columbia for the rest of her school year and participate with her classmates in all of the end of the year activities.

For each of you who has repeatedly checked this site, waiting along with us to learn this news, thank you. Your prayers and faithfulness helped give us the ability to hang on during these long, last few weeks.

Chemo first, then it's time to google "Houston, Texas"