Visiting The Park

Diagnosis

We finally got the results from Rachel's biopsy today. The results were not as great as we had hoped they'd be but it's not hopeless. Rachel has Ependymoma a rare form of brain cancer. The best ways to treat are surgery and radiation but Rachel doesn't qualify for either of those. The neurosurgeon is looking at possibly removing the tumor from the spine but that won't take care of all the cancer. Our first approach at beating this is going to be chemo. She will start at the beginning of next week. The odds are 50/50 that the cancer will respond to chemo. Our hope is that it does and she will continue on with chemo until she is 3. At that age, she will be developed enough to receive radiation therapy. We are definitely trying to stay hopeful but this is going to be a tough cancer to beat. The odds over the last 25 years are that 1 in 4 kids have survived it. We're praying really hard that Rachel falls in that 25%! Please keep praying for us we need it right now. Rachel has recovered well from her surgery and today she got to play and move around all over the hospital floor. She is in very good spirits and you can't even tell anything is wrong. I'll have to post pics later because they are in Michael's camera at the hospital.

Not so Merry Christmas

I am sure that many of you have heard about Rachel. On Dec. 26th we decided to bring her in to the ER and have her shunt evaluated because she was pretty fussy over Christmas. Her shunt was not working properly and they did go in and fix it on Friday. She has had several CT scans and X-Rays since we have been here and the doctors noticed that there was something on her spine. They did an MRI and there appears to be a tumor at the bottom of her spine and she has tumor cells throughout her spine and brain. They are pretty sure that she has some form of cancer but we don't know what yet. They won't even give us a guess. Today she is getting a biopsy done and in a few days we should have a diagnosis and form of treatment. At her age, it's going to be hard to cure cancer so they will probably try to control it with chemo until she's older and they can do radiation. There are many unknowns right now and that is making all of this hard. We have decided to treat her in Texas because we definitely need our family right now. Michael is going to put in for a transfer to San Antonio and I am going to go home and quit my job before the second semester begins. Everything in our life is pretty much in limbo until we get a diagnosis and even then everything has changed. Rachel is actually feeling a little better since she got her shunt fixed. Last night she was jumping on the bed and crawling around her crib. In a way it's a blessing that she's too young to understand what's going on. She has decided that anyone that walks into her room gets a dirty look until they have proven that they are not there to poke her. She has had so many needle sticks that her hands, arms, feet & neck are bruised! They finally put in a more permanent line and that's worked better. The next few days she is going to have to be sedated because the doctor is cutting into her lower back and spine today and she has to lay on her stomach and stay flat for 2 days. We appreciate everyone's thoughts and prayers- right now that's all any of us can do! We will keep you posted when we know more hopefully mid-week.

Jost Christmas

Santa Came

Krug Christmas

Rachel was tired of having her pic taken by the end of the night!

Playing with Cade & Grandpa

Grandpa Malford trying to entertain Rachel before Christmas Mass.

hanging out by the fire pit

We had a picnic outside by our little fire pit before we went home for Christmas.

Playing in her car

Rachel got a car for Christmas that she loves to ride around in. Mostly daddy pushes and she just rides along.

Family Christmas at home

We let Rachel open up some of her gifts before we left. The care bear was a favorite because she loves to cuddle!

Rachel's First Haircut

Rachel's hair was getting long in front and it was pretty uneven in the back due to her surgery so we decided to get it evened out. She loved every minute of her haircut- especially looking in the mirror!

Michael's Finally Home :)

It was 184 long days apart but Michael has finally made it home in one piece! He left us in April for training and left for Iraq in May. We are all getting use to living together again. Rachel really likes him and he is definitely her new playmate! Today, they spent the day together in their pajamas while I worked. Michael has off of work until the 2nd week in January so he's relaxing and spending quality time with both of us.

About to dive on daddy! (Michael's on the floor)

Michael put his cap on her and she loved it!

Thanksgiving in Texas

We spent Thanksgiving in Texas because Michael still wasn't home. Rachel and I flew in on Thursday morning and got there just in time for lunch! Uncle Kent, Karen, Mary, & Ann came to visit from Arkansas so we got to spend some time with them.

Rachel posing with Cousin Marissa

Hanging out with Mary

Quality time with Great Uncle Kent & Great Aunt Karen


Having fun with Cousin Ann

Rachel is use to getting all of the attention so she doesn't like sharing grandparents with Cade!