Abby's Journey Archive

Our meeting with Dr. Kaplan went well. Dr. Shafron wasn't able to join us in person, but the two doctors had met earlier in the day to review Abby's case and the MRI's. Dr. Kaplan spoke very, very, very highly of Dr. Packer (both as a friend and colleague). Dr. Kaplan is the "link" between our Arizona team and Dr. Packer in DC that we have been praying for. He is the head of the neurology department at Phoenix Children's Hospital and he knows Dr. Packer very well.

So, our next step today is to do a PET (C.R. will have to tell you what it stands for) scan. We will go to Good Samaritan this afternoon. We were glad to tell Abby that it is a "no poke, no sleepy medicine" way of taking more pictures of her brain and we get to be with her the whole time. We are told the machine is similar to the CT scan equipment and it doesn't make noise. She has to lie still for about 20 minutes with her eyes closed. (I'm glad we're asking Abby and not Daniel to accomplish this!) This scan will make it very clear whether another resection of the original tumor bed is necessary and if so, how much. It will also give more information about the new nodule. We are praying that God would choose to show His power by having the new nodule be gone or smaller and the original tumor bed be inactive (no signs of residual tumor). However, we're praying more for His will in this. We know that His plans are much greater than ours and He has a reason for everything that is happening. May He be glorified in everything that happens today.

This morning Josiah and Abby are off to choir camp to practice Holy Moses! They are so excited. Abby knows she will have limited participation, but she is still thrilled to be going today.

We had a good conversation with Abby and Josiah about the radiation side-effects. Thank you all for your prayers. I will post a more detailed report on this soon.