As you might be able to tell I like to wait until I see Natalia for myself before I do a post. She had a good weekend at home. The water was warm enough for her to go swimming on Saturday. She loves all forms of water, whether it is the pool, river, lake or her favorite the ocean. She spent the first five months of her existence in my tummy onboard the Ocean Princess. She has always been drawn to the ocean. When she first started to show what we now know were symptoms of the tumor, she insisted that we had to go to Monterey so she could walk on the beach. When we finally learned that it was a stage 3 anaplistic astrocytoma we took the girls to Monterey before coming home. Natalia and Sophia walked along the beach and Natalia was straight into the water before we could stop her.I am remembering all this because a friend asked me tonight if I really thought she was making progress in her treatments. Your views change quiet a bit when your child has a lifethreatening illness. Every moment become precious and even the smallest bit of progress is huge. After her biopsy, they lowered her steriod dosage and her syptoms became extremely pronounced. Edgar and I became very worried and Thanks to God they started her treatments. The symptoms began to lessen and those who know her well could begin to see the differences. Now they have once again lowered the dose of steriod because they need to see how the radiation and chemo are doing. But now the difference is she is fighting it more. She has her laugh back. She wants to be involved in things rather then just be content to watch the world go by. She walks on her own without having to hold tight to your hand. Her face shows how she feels once again and those who know her yes the sarcasm that is part of her comes through in those expressions. When Sophia jumps on her she pushes back. These otherwise small steps are giangantic to us.
It was warm in San Francisco today so Edgar and Natalia went to the beach after treatment. What did she do...walk straight into the water, with no one holding her hand, laughing all the way!
Love to you all,
Roni
