Great News!!! And Picture Overload!!

I have been needing to do this post for quite some time but was kind of waiting for one final bit of information before writing it. As you know, Ella finished her last round of chemo on December 20th. Then the following week, she had one final bone marrow biopsy to make sure she was definitely in remission. Part of what they look at in the bone marrow biopsy is called Cytogenetics which basically is looking at the chromosome of the bone marrow cells at the molecular level. If there are still some chromosomal abnormalities at this level, then that can mean that the treatment didn't completely work. We got the primary results on the marrow back last week and everything was clear but we were still waiting to see if she was in remission at the molecular level as well. This would tell us if the treatment was successful. Well, I am happy to report that SHE IS IN REMISSION IN HER BONE MARROW AND THE MOLECULAR LEVEL!!!! I definitely breathed a big sigh of relief today followed by many Thank You God prayers!! I know that it is completely normal during this transition period to worry about the leukemia coming back and we will never be able to stop worrying about that as nothing in the world of cancer is certain, but for now, all is good and we are planning on settling in here at home. In my heart, I knew that Ella seemed so full of life and energy and looked better than ever. But then my mind takes over and you talk yourself out of feeling very confident. I pray that I will be optimistic more than not from now on but of course relapse will never be far from my mind as is the same with any parent of a child with cancer.

So now what? We are waiting for a referral from our insurance to get her central line taken out. This will be an outpatient procedure but she will need to be sedated. I am hoping that this will be able to take place in the next couple of weeks as the worry of a line infection is always present. How nice will it be not to have to flush her lines everyday, change the dressing once a week and worry about it getting wet in the bath. Without her central line, she will be able to enjoy the swimming pool and beach. Unfortunately for me, this means that I will have to put on a bathing suit this summer :( No more excuses!! Right now, Ella has three lines of tubing under her shirt. Two for her central line and one for her G-tube. It will be so nice to only have one to deal with and then hopefully, someday when she decides to eat, she will have none!!

Once again, I thank EVERYONE for all of your support, love and prayers through this whole process. We seriously couldn't have gotten through this without you. But please continue to keep Ella in your prayers as we need to fight against this nasty cancer forever!!!

Now on to a major overload of pictures to catch you up on the last couple of weeks. Hope you don't fall asleep by the end!!

I call this her "Staying Alive" pose

Ella has taken to feeding herself already :)

Don't you just love the true happiness on her

face in this photo?

Nothing beats riding on Daddy's shoulders!!

All snuggled up after a bath

My new outfit from our local Ds group.

Ella's nun pose

Ella delivering home improvement flyers door to door

Daddy and his mom who was visiting from Montana

Our three girls

The girls with Grandma Vollmer

Ella and Grandma...this was her first visit to meet Ella

The "OH MY GOSH" pose

We reorganized the living room and now Ella has a play area.

Sisters swinging!!

Ella had a playdate with her friend E-V who is a few months

younger and also has Ds. They were so cute together but were

very hard to photograph as they rarely stopped moving!!

Ella being silly for E-V's mom's camera.

Just barely sitting down on the couch...

Here E-V, would you like me to read this Elmo book to you?

No? Well then I guess I will read to Elmo instead.

Taking a stroll out front

Enjoying lunch at Applebees.

Boy, are we tired!!!

Ella giving her big sisters a big squeeze!!

Ella and "that thing" settling in on her new Dora couch/bed

(anyone know the name of that thing from Dr. Seuss?)

Ella really likes this "thing"

I mean, she REALLY likes this "thing"

These days at home sure do wear a girl out!!!