Significant Shrinkage!!!

Hey all,

It has been a busy week around the Valle house. Monday we headed to San Francisco. After getting her bloodwork and a nap in Natalia wanted a dinner of her newest fav...SUSHI! Edgar asked her if she wanted to walk or drive, she said walk. As we were staying at the Family House on 2nd & Irving, right across the street from the hospital, we were about 3 blocks from the resturant. Natalia made 3/4 of the round trip on her own steam. After a goodnights sleep, we went over to her MRI at 8:30am. At 9:30am, we were told it would be another hour before they could do the MRI. She was scheduled for chemo at 10:45am, needless to say we didn't make it. We were told to go straight in to see Dr Banerjee when we finished the MRI and then to chemo. Sophia was not impressed that we left her sister with the MRI people but at least we got some food down her while we waited otherwise she would have been impossible to control. Natalia got out of imagining at 12pm and we got up to Dr Banerjee's by 12:30pm and waited. Finally, Lizzie, the nurse practitioner, told us to go get Natalia some food because we were in for a long wait. Yes very long...Just before 4pm the doctor came into to see us. Asked how Natalia was doing and Edgar gave a run down on all she had been up to. When he ran out of steam, that is when we heard "well all this concurs with what the MRI shows. There has been significant shrinkage in the tumor. Enough that you can see even with the naked eye." Praise to God! Chemo started at 5pm and finished just before 8pm. Since we wanted to celebrate at home we left San Francisco just after 9pm and got home just before 1am.

She was too wiped out to go to school on Wednesday so our first day back was Thursday. Boy was she glowing when we picked her up at lunch time. She had accomplished a lot more then we expected her to be able to. She is excited and happy to be back. She will have another 4 treatments of the Avastin & Irinotecan (chemo). So 8 more weeks then another MRI. By the end of the 1st week os September she will be off the steriods and hopefully her body will produce its own.

Love to you all,

Roni