We recently got 6 baby chicks!

They were so cute and tiny, but are growing up fast!

Phillip and Marcus built them the most awesome coop! It's been so fun and we can't wait until they are old enough to start laying eggs.

Our dog also just had 4 tiny, super cute baby puppies. They are so adorable and Lily is completely in love!

We are loving this (somewhat) cooler weather. Time to put in our winter garden! I love that I can garden year round in AZ. Here Lily is standing by watermelon plants that she planted this summer.

We camped at the Christopher Creek Lodge this weekend and had a fun time playing at the creek!

 The boys stayed home with all our new babies (we have puppies and chicks!), so it was just the girls :)

Lily was able to spend time with three of her great aunts, her grandma, her great grandma and her mom.

 The water in the creek was low, but the weather couldn't have been better! We had a great time.

Amazingly Wonderful News!

Today we got the results of Lily's MRI and PET scan and they were fantastic! The doctor said her PET scan was perfect and is simply amazed at how well she is doing. He wants to do one more test- a bone marrow biopsy- but said the chances of that showing something the scans do not is very slim. Lily also had an Echo and EKG done on her heart to make sure it has not been damaged by some of the chemotherapy drugs, but everything looks great.

This picture of Lily's PET scan is just a photocopy, but you can see when you compare the first image from January to the image from this week what a difference there is between the two. Lily's first scan revealed cancer in her foot, knee, pelvis, spine, shoulders and arms. The second image is completely normal.

Words really can't describe how I felt after meeting with the doctor today. Joy. Gratitude. And a surreal feeling that I can't explain. The doctor actually said the words total and remission.

Lily will continue her scheduled chemotherapy treatment for the next three months, but it will not be as intense as it has been in the past. Monday she will have a transfusion with overnight hydration, but then she will get two weeks off from chemotherapy. This cycle will continue for the next 9 weeks, followed by even "easier" chemotherapy drugs. Once Lily has completed her treatment, she will have another evaluation. If everything still looks good, she will only need to be seen periodically to be evaluated. 

The doctor reminded us today of how far Lily has come when he mentioned the night, nearly 9 months ago, when Phillip and I sobbed in his office as our world came crashing down on us. I never could understand how anyone would want such a terribly heartbreaking career, but what a difference today's visit was. Now it makes a little more sense. 

When I thanked the doctor, however, he said, "Don't thank me. It's all her," and pointed at Lily. In a way, he is right. Lily's strength of body and mind is something simply amazing. But I also know where we would be without the doctors, nurses, medical science, holistic medicine, family, friends, love, prayers and human kindness (in no certain order) working for us. And for this, I am thankful!

Cousins!

Lily is quite the little mama. She has always loved babies so much. Since she is the youngest in our immediate family, it's lucky that all her cousins are younger than her so she can get some baby action!



Lily holding the smallest addition to our family. Isn't he sweet?



These 3 goof balls have so much fun together :)

We have another new addition on the way that we are excited to meet- Phillip's sister is having a baby girl!

Lily has been fighting a horrible cough and congestion the last few weeks and even ran a low grade fever this past week. Her white blood counts were extremely high due to the daily Neupogen shots I had to give her. When they are high like that, she feels sick and achy.

This week, even though we continued the shots, her white counts came crashing down because of the chemo. Her hemoglobin and platelets were also low, which makes her feel weak, tired and headachy, so today she had a blood transfusion. Although she has had several transfusions of hemoglobin, today was the first time that she needed a transfusion of platelets and she ended up having an allergic reaction with hives and itching. Today was also the first time I wasn't at the clinic with Lily during a blood transfusion.

I am so thankful to my mom for volunteering to go with her, as I had a lot of work I needed to do. It was a long day for them both- 6 hours! Thank you momma.

Today's transfusion should help Lily feel better and she has next week off from chemo for evaluations.