another MRI.

another good night's sleep.

i have been worried, for months, about this MRI.

i called last week, after her teeth surgery, to ask if the bruises on her head could possibly be the tumor growing and busting out.

they said no. and slightly giggled at my having to stifle my OWN laugh while asking. i knew the answer, sort of. but i had to ask for peace of mind.

i didnt sleep that well. i prayed a lot. i asked others to pray. i worked to relax and to trust God.

today EJ brought reese in early so clinic could access her and get blood drawn, i dropped ASM off at my parents and headed down - got here about 9:30ish. she left for the MRI at about 10:20a or so.

we went and ate breakfast, came back up and sat... at about 12:30 i was like "uhhhh... its been a long time", but she was done soon after :)

when we got into her sedation recovery room, she was already sitting up, and not really in that bad of a mood. we packed her up, went down and got her lunch, and headed back up to chemo clinic to get ready to start that and then get a room.

thats when i started to get nervous. bc that is when the oncologist comes in and goes over the MRI.


long story short - tumor smaller. noticeably smaller. :))))))

the *reason* the MRI took so long today was because one of the oncs accidentally marked "brain and spine" and not just brain. so then, of course, the *other* oncologist (who we really have met maybe, oh, once) mentioned how on the spine, all looked good, minus a small spot, but they really dont think its anything and arent worried at all - and they'll "recheck it some time in the future". eta: she doesn't know me bc, um, she could have left this whole thing out. lol please see first few sentences for how ::twitch:: i get about little things ;)

i trust their... rush or not rush, honestly. when she had fluid/blood on her MRI a few months ago, they were like "ok MRI in a month!!!" there was no real waiting, ya know?

anyway, i googled, like a good neurotic mother and it *seems* that there are dozens of reasons that could happen and none of them make me want to vomit. and since no one is worried, im not either. and ALSO, itd be kind of weird for chemo to be knocking this tumor our of the park and then something else pop up. i'll make them accidentally mark that same box in 3 months ;) don't you worry.

so here we sit. she's had her chemo - now mesna and fluids. we'll leave tomorrow.

thank you God for shrinking my baby's tumor. thank heavens we have figured out her "cocktail" to where they see a noticeable shrinkage each time.

this leaves a bit of ::exhale:: for her to be evaluated for PPCD this year --- its a few hours a day, OT and PT would be combined, she'd be with other kids, its with the school district, and she'd get used to going to "school" a bit while getting therapy. i, of course, would go nuts without her here all day, but it really is only like 2 hours? :)

also, the MRI results confirm why she's been doing so damn awesome. and everyone around us has noticed. i love when people tell me that they notice awesome changes in R.

thank you for praying for and with us today. i am beyond grateful to have an army of #gingerfight warriors behind us - praying, sharing her story, and loving us like family.