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A Wonderful Weekend and Scans

Julia received a transfusion of platelets on Friday morning and was discharged from the hospital around noon. We arrived home at 1:15 PM with enough time to shower and get dressed for the wedding rehearsal and dinner.

Julia was excited to be out of the hospital and even more excited to have the wedding weekend upon us. We went to the rehearsal and Julia concentrated on everything she had to do for the wedding. “I didn’t know being a flower girl was so much work”.

The rehearsal dinner was held at Maggiano’s and Julia enjoyed being with everyone, but she soon tired and we thought it was best to head home early. It was important that she got plenty of sleep so she would be well rested for the wedding. It must have been good to be in her bed, Julia slept for almost 11 hours.

The wedding was beautiful and Julia was so thrilled to be part of it. I was even told she asked the girls to be quiet so she could “give a toast” while they waited for the ceremony to begin. During the processional, Julia concentrated on her flower girl duties, making sure all the rose petals were thrown perfectly. The wedding was beautiful. Pictures and dinner followed, but the highlight of the reception was seeing Julia dance.

A few slow dances with Pop Pop and Daddy, and then the real music started. The Black Eyed Peas, “I Gotta Feeling” came over the speakers and I watched Julia run to the center of the dance floor. Dancing, singing and jumping – this was her song and she felt well enough to celebrate. The night continued with the Chicken Dance, Cha Cha slide and so many other songs for Julia to dance to with family and friend alike.

By 9:45PM, Julia tired out and headed back to the hotel with my sister. After the reception ended at 10 PM, we soon returned and brought Julia back to our room. She was tired, but insisted on changing and going down to the lobby where everyone was sitting, not wanting the night to end. We spent a short time with our family and friends and then urged Julia to go up to the room as it was past her bedtime.

Heading to our room, I asked Julia what the best part of the day was for her, “besides John and Amanda getting married and getting a new sister, it has to be….. shaking my booty”. It was a very good night.

As good as the weekend was, Monday brought with it anxiety and worry. Julia first CT-scan was scheduled since beginning the Topotecan. Julia knows the drill all too well. Nothing to eat or drink before the scan, make sure not to wear anything sparkly, laying on the CT table, holding her breath, the first image taken and then contrast given for the second image – it is all too familiar. Then comes the waiting for results.

The news is good. The radiologist said there is significant improvement since her last scan. There is still mass and fluid in the bottom of Julia’s lung, but it has definitely gotten smaller in size. The doctors cannot tell what part is fluid and what part is mass from the CT, so there is no real way to tell how much the mass has decreased in size. The Topotecan is working.

Julia will continue to have chemotherapy and she will have a scan at the end of two cycles to see if there is additional progress. We are all cautiously optimistic. At the end of the next cycle, Julia will go through a process to harvest her stem cells in possible preparation for a stem cell transplant. We need to take it day by day, treatment by treatment, but today the news is good.

It was a good weekend and a better Monday.

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© 2013

Julia's Grace Foundation  |  PO Box 1081, Royersford, Pennsylvania 19468

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