Life is Strange..but Wonderful

Hello all, long time I know. First off, the Stories of Light campaign for the Central Valley Make a Wish was a huge success. They raised over $94,000 to give children with life threatening illnesses a wish of a lifetime. Thank you to everyone for your support. Natalia and Edgar even did our local morning talk show, Central Valley Today with Alex Delgado, to promote the event. http://www.ksee24.com/programming/cvt/35394954.html?video=YHI&t=a Check out my little comedian.

Our Thanksgiving was wonderful. It is always a fabulous time when family and friends gather together. Not to mention the excellent food. I had a sinus cold that felt like my head was going to collapse at any moment but that was not about to stop me from having some pecan pie. Priorities you know...Both girls have decided Mama is correct, while pumpkin and apple are very tasty, pecan is the best pie.

The latest UCSF visit was interesting to say the least...Mama didn't sleep much between Thanksgiving and last night. Natalia had an MRI on the 9th. I always get tense while waiting for these. I have flash backs to others that weren't so good even thought I can see she is doing better. Dr Banerjee told us that the results were puzzling considering what she could observe Natalia doing. She was going to hold off on giving Natalia chemo until after the tumor board met on the 11th to see if a different course of action was needed. Finally, the morning of the 12th we had news...I love the tumor board. The great thing about the doctors at UCSF (in our experience) is that they get all the most experienced people into one room to go over cases and give you the benefit of their combined knowledge. The new spots that the radiation people had seen on Tuesday were not new at all. They were showing up more because contrast die had escaped into her spinal column. We are going to stay the course because it is working. While the main tumor has not shrunk in the past month it has not gotten any bigger. Natalia & Edgar will head up to UCSF on Monday for the regular dose of chemo. Also....Natalia has been steroid free since Thanksgiving day. She is taking increasingly smaller doses of hydro cortisone and is doing very well. She is becoming more active, while still not walking on her own, we finally got her to start playing Wii. Cooking Mama is her favorite.

Christmas fast approaches...thank you Marcy & AJ for the Snoopy counter, I don't have to answer how many days until Christmas. The girls know it, even down to the seconds(12day, 15hours, 4minutes & 26seconds). Sophia is hysterical...she wants absolutely everything advertised on TV...for her Birthday.(Not Christmas) I finally got Natalia to nail down their Santa wishes to only one thing, thank goodness. Pia wants everything, Natalia wants a My Little Pet Shop coloring book and special markers...I think Santa can handle it. I also have Santa's phone number on speed dial if any other parent requires it. It is truly amazing how quickly ANY undesirable activity stops when you look at them and raise the phone at this time of year.

Talk to you all later. Much love and kisses to you all,

Roni