8-17-06 Update

Hello,

Well we went to Children's today. The tumors have grown, and are now all connected up the spine. They are about 2 inches away from the danger area. The area that will effect her breathing. She is having a lot of pain in her shoulders now along with the weakness. They told Valerie that their was no sense in continuing the IV chemo because it was going to make her sick and she has not had any signs of the tumor grow being slowed down. They gave her the option again to do nothing but treat her pain and symptoms OR to try another chemo pill form that would not make her as sick as the other would have if she had keep taking it. Another chemo that has worked for some with this type of cancer. She chose not to give up, so we are going to start the new chemo as soon as Walgreens get it in. We also increased the dose of her pain meds to help her. We also are going to start her on any anti-depressant medication. I know you must all be saying that will not take away the depression she has every right to feel. YES that is very true, however she has shut down to others and does not want to do things to have some enjoyment or go out of the house for much of anything. So this medication will be a helper. Kinda like a ladder in the deep end of the pool, you need it to get out but if the pool is empty you can not reach the ladder. So the medication will be the water way to the ladder. So I am hoping the medication will give her a boost, so she may have better quality of life.

As you all know if you have ever been or know someone who has been very ill, you see many different doctors. Some are like good cop/bad cop. Meaning some give you the glass is half empty response and some give you the glass is half full. Well anyway Valerie's two main doctors are that way, both great but their outlooks differ a bit. Valerie asked them both separately how much time they though she had before losing her arm function and breathing issues to begin. One told her any time now for the loss of her arm function and not far after the breathing problems. The other said I don't thing it is going to be like next week. He felt a month or two. So I guess we need to ask God for the answer to that one.

Valerie will not be returning to school. Going to school for the day is out of the question. We talked about home school, however Valerie's hands are weak and her hands shake. That makes it hard for her to write. She also can not read for very long before getting a headache. So school at this point is not an option. We would like to give our very best to all the teachers, staff and students at Thomas Stone High School for all their love devotion for Valerie for the past 7 months.

Thanks for your prayers,
Bernice