I'm back to work, so the last few weeks have been busy. I'm so thankful that I am able to work from home. I just might have the best job ever!

Lily finished radiation to her foot and the skin in that area is healing very well. In the time that she was off from chemo, her hair also started growing back. After 5 days of chemo last week and 2 days next week, it probably won't last, but she looks really cute right now with a fuzzy head. Her white blood counts are low this week, so she is cooped up at home and I have to give her daily shots to get her counts back up in time for next week's chemo. She's so resilient, though, it's amazing! She is full of energy and literally bounces around the house (on my aerobic ball).

One of my fellow teachers put together another fundraiser for Lily!  Are we not incredibly blessed in terms of all the support we have received from so many people? Your love and kindness keeps us going! Thank you Cameron! Here is the info:

The “We Love Lil Clothing Event”!!

We are holding a “Back-to-School Clothing Drive” on August 6,  from 10: 00am-2:00 pm for Lily Lopez.  The Clothing Drive will be held at the LDS church located on 1010 S Recker, between Warner and Ray.

In order to help offset the cost of her treatment, and try and ease the burden of her family, we will be holding this clothing drive.  It will be really easy to participate.  As you clean out your children’s closets in preparation for school, please bring clothing that you no longer need to Cami Kistemann’s house, 2895 E Cathy Drive, Gilbert, AZ 85296.

We would like to have all donations before August 6.  If, however, you also want to bring your clothing to the church on the day of the event (August 6), it will be happily accepted at that time.  We will be selling the clothing by the bag.  All the clothing you can stuff into a bag provided for $5.00.  Please donate your clothing, and come to buy a bag or two.  Even if you don’t need the clothing, please come and lend your support.  Please forward this to anyone who you know would like to participate so that we can make this beneficial for everyone.   If you would like to help out further still, please contact Cami Kistemann at 480-626-1405. 

It's been a long week for Lily with chemo and radiation treatments every day, but thankfully she is doing well so far. Her appetite and energy have been relatively good all week.

She was so happy for the weekend, though- no doctor visits and her port de-accessed. When Lily's port is accessed, it's uncomfortable and she has to make sure she doesn't get it wet. With it finally out after the whole week, the first thing she did when she got home was go swimming with our neighbors. Then she had a sleepover with her cousin. Tomorrow will be more swimming at Jessy's house.

Next week Lily has only one day of chemo and the following week she gets a break from chemotherapy completely. Radiation will still continue for the next few weeks, however.

Lily is getting 5 chemo infusions this week and because of the holiday Monday, she has appointments Tuesday through Saturday. So far this week she is doing really well- she has had energy and a good appetite.

Today we spoke with the radiologist, who recommends treating Lily's foot with radiation therapy. A few months ago when we met with the radiologist, she recommended treating Lily's foot as well as all the areas of metastasis. This was very upsetting because the areas with disease were so extensive and could have caused Lily many serious long term side effects. However, because Lily's most recent scan shows almost no metastasis, her doctors have decided that radiation only to her foot is the best course of action and we are so relieved!! I'm still nervous, but radiation to Lily's foot shouldn't cause too many problems and we do want to make sure that the cancer in this area is completely gone. Our other option is surgery, but the surgeon has said that he would not be able to be completely sure of removing all cancer cells and that more than likely Lily would lose at least a couple toes. Even with surgery, radiation to the area is recommended. She has an appointment with another radiologist tomorrow.

Meanwhile, we've been working on the dollhouse when we can. Lily gets so excited each time we add another part. We just got the roof up and next we will be adding windows. I realized after the last dollhouse how much easier it is to paint the pieces prior to putting them together.



This week is another loooong 5 day chemo week. Lily gets two chemotherapy drugs each day- Ifosfamide and Etoposide and comes home with a hydration pack and Mesna to help protect her bladder from the chemo. She has been tired and sick off and on the last few days. There are several anti-nausea medicines that she takes, but she really doesn't like taking them either. One causes headaches and another "makes her feel funny." Her counts are low too, so that also contributes to her fatigue. She is scheduled to have a blood transfusion on Thursday on top of getting chemo that day. Friday we will meet with the naturopathic doctor. Next week, Lily won't have any chemo so that she can recover from this week. She will have daily neupogen shots to help get her white blood counts back up, though. In two weeks, it will be time for another evaluation and Lily won't have chemo that week either. She will have another PET scan and an MRI of her foot. At that point, her doctors will recommend her radiation treatment plan.

To help raise her spirits this week, I agreed to build Lily a new bigger and better dollhouse. We went to Hobby Lobby and she picked out the biggest one they had. She was so excited and now has something fun to look forward to when she comes home from the doctor.

I've been super busy with work, but that should be winding down a bit in a few weeks. I am really looking forward to Lily having a few weeks off from chemo too, although there will still be several doctor visits during that time. I am NOT looking forward to the idea of Lily getting radiation treatment. This is not something that we have yet experienced and the whole idea of it really freaks me out.

Today; helping pick veggies for dinner