Radiation therapy

We began radiation therapy last Tuesday. Anna receives internal radiation called brachytherapy twice a day for five days. She receives treatment at 7 am and 1pm everyday and can not eat until the second treatment is complete. She is doing great! We try to stay busy in between treatments so she doesn't think about food. We have been able to go to the zoo and to the McWane Center (a science discovery center) both of which she enjoyed a lot. We will be finished with radiaton on Monday. She will have a short surgery Thursday to remove the radiation catheters and the stitches from her surgery. She will also be admitted to the hospital Thursday to begin her next round of chemotherapy. Please continue to pray that she responds to the chemo having as few side effects as we have seen so far. Thanks for all the prayers we received while she was having surgery and beginning radiation. Everything went so well and her doctors were extremely pleased. We will just endure the remaining 10 chemo treatments and end this year CURED! Praise GOD! HE has continued to bless us through this entire ordeal. And the Lord has also placed so many loving friends and family along our path to ease this journey. We thank you all and wish joy and blessings for your family!

We are home and our prayers have been answered!

Anna had surgery Thursday. It lasted about six hours. Her doctors are extremely pleased with everything. There was no nerve damage at all during the surgery. They were able to remove the remainder of the tumor! The radiologist placed the catheters for radiation therapy after the tumor was removed and he said the placement of the catheters was "better than perfect"! I'm not sure how something can be better than perfect, but I'm glad Anna is. Everytime a surgeon came out to give us an update during her surgery the news was encouraging. We could not have hoped for things to be any better than they are now. She is doing great. Showing very few signs of pain and discomfort. We are glad to be home for a couple of days. We will return to Birmingham for her radiation therapy next week. She will receive radiation twice a day for five days. They will be out patient treatments. We have a great place to stay associated with the American Cancer Society. They offer transportation to and from the center for treatments. And then in two weeks we will return to her regular chemo schedule.

A huge thankyou to all for so many prayers. God's hands have been in this from the beginning. We continue to feel His presence in it all. We know He has answered all our prayers for Anna. We can truly testify to the difference prayer can make. He is an Awesome, Amazing God.

We will continue to keep you updated.

The next step

Our next step involves surgery and radiation. Anna is scheduled for surgery on the 16th. During that surgery the radiologist will implant small catheters in the tumor bed. These catheters will then be used to give her internal radiation therapy called Brachytherapy. She will recieve radiation for about two weeks every two to three days. In between which we will be able to come home. Yeah! She continues to do wonderfully. She had her 2nd birthday the 25th of January. We will not know the next step until her surgery and radiation implants are complete. But we will keep you posted on her condition. We ask for your continued prayers especially the day of surgery.