Sorry it's taken a while to update!

Ok, I've gone about a month since my last post. Life has been pretty non-stop since we've been back. It's been much harder getting back into the swing of things than I thought it would be. Emily was not as active before so she's definitely occupying more of more time. Rachel has started her therapy back up for PT, OT, & speech. Before this week, she had been doing great. This week has been a pretty rough one for her. She is having some trouble with her right hand and leg. That side of her body is a little spastic right now and she's having some problems using her hand and also with her balance. I took her to the clinic immediately when I noticed what was going on. They did a CT scan on Friday to check her shunt, everything was fine. They think that the radiation caused some inflammation in her tumor and it's pushing on some new nerves. The problem is already starting to look a little better and it's suppose to go away on its own- hopefully! I can't express how scary it is to see your child having trouble controlling her own body!! We have a MRI on the 7th and that's going to give us a better idea of what's going on. It's too hard to do it now because we won't be able to get a good reading due to the inflammation. She has also been very tired all week. She spent the whole day on the couch and now it seems like she has a low grade fever. We were at clinic 3 times last week and if that fever doesn't get better this week will be the same. I'm really hoping for an uneventful Christmas so hopefully she'll be feeling better in a few days. Please just keep her in your prayers because she deserves to have a fun and carefree holiday!

Celebrating Cade's Birthday

Cade turned 4 on Dec. 14th so we helped him celebrate at Chucke Cheese. Rachel loves it there! She thinks chucke is her friend. She dances up on the stage by him and she was so excited when the live chucke gave her a hug. She doesn't care much for the games or rides just chucke! Emily loved trying the food and she does enjoy the rides. She's all about keeping up with her cousins!

Cade loves to chase Rach around to give her kisses. Rach does not appreciate how sweet her cousin is!

She loved carrying around the tickets so she could get a sucker.

Emily discovered pizza crust and absolutely loved it! She also loves having aunt Robyn around. :)

Mike had to come by after work but he was there in plenty of time to help the girls use up their tokens.

Rare smiling moment! She had a hat on but she doesn't like to wear them. She thinks bald is beautiful and doesn't mind being bald at all!!

Last Day of Radiation

The last day of radiation was a big day for Rachel. Anna and mom came up to go to her graduation ceremony and we worked it out that Penny could come too. Emily had to stay outside and one of Rachel's nurses stayed with her. :( They wouldn't let her in because of hospital policy. It was a really nice day for us and we are so thankful that Rachel was able to do it.

We had lots to carry in with us. We gave a basket of goodies to the staff and we brought butter braid and fruit for everyone in the center. It's tradition to bring food for your last day.

Rachel has pretty much stopped carrying around Sweetie and Hippo. Now it's lipstick. The radiation therapists gave her a whole pack of lipstick the day before and she had to carry every lipstick with her. She's such a pack rat!

Getting her vitals done. She's really good at it. She tells the nurse where to do it and she knows what comes next.

Last day for anesthesia for a while- YEAH!! She got so use to getting her port accessed that she helped with the procedure. She would hold up her shirt and try to help remove the emla cream from her port. (the cream numbed the skin so it didn't hurt when the needle went in)

Cynthia and Dr. Porsche did the anesthesia on the last day. Rach liked both of them a lot.

This is Marge. Her husband was a patient at the center. He was getting radiation for Prostate cancer. Marge and I would sit and visit for at least an hour everyday while they were both getting radiation. It was nice to have someone to visit with. Thanks Marge. Hope all is going well!

This is her team for the last day. The team would change daily and they were all wonderful. As you can tell, it takes a lot of people to run the machine and take care of the patient. They gave Rachel a certificate that said she could now officially say "all done" since she would always tell them that while they were trying to get her to sleep and she didn't want to do it. They also gave her balloons and lots of presents. She also got to keep her mask and molds of her brain and spine they used for the plates- they're pretty cool.

Rachel got to hit this gong when she was done. It was pretty emotional for all of us. She was still pretty out of it from anesthesia so I had to do it. I have a video of it but I can't get it to post. :(

Emily chilling outside.

Houston Zoo

When Becky and Sony came to visit we decided to go to the zoo again. The girls had a great time and I think Becky and Sony did too!

Vsiting Kemah

On the last weekend that we had before we were done, mom came to visit and we decided to go to Kemah. It's a little town by Galveston that has a boardwalk. We had a great time riding the rides and eating some seafood. Mostly Mike and I rode the rides because Rach was too tired and Em too little.

Wishing at the fountain

The Proton center had a large fountain in the waiting room. Everyday Rach had to throw money into it so we taught her how to make a wish. We told her to kiss the penny and say better. So she would kiss her penny and say better before she tossed it in. When we would leave she would say "bye money", "bye water". It was really cute!!