It's been 3 years

It's been 3 years since the day they did an ultrasound and found the tumor. I can't help but remember that day and the shock, fear, and anxiety associated with it. It was one of the worst days of my LIFE! I say one of the worst, because there were too many awful days ahead that I didn't know how my heart could take it without literally breaking in bits. What an amazing child we have. I can hardly bear to even remember what she has been through. The hard part is that she remembers it all. If you think about it, she was almost 4 at the time and that is kinda where people start to remember things anyway. especially as tramatic as that. We are so proud of our Amazing Gracie and SO beyond blessed and grateful to have her still with us and doing so well!!!
I am still waiting to hear when her scan will be. They are waiting to get her old scans from TX and OK so they will be able to compare it with the old ones. We thank you for all your love and support these past 3 years. We are blessed to have you in our lives.

19 months post treatment

 Gracie's first ski lesson

 Gracie's first day of 1st grade

Gracie's 6th birthday.

Gracie is doing well and  is growing and happy! She had a great summer and started 1st grade in the fall. She absolutely loves it! and she is a great student. We have moved and recently just took her to meet her new oncologist here. He seemed very nice and I am waiting to hear about when her CT will be scheduled. (It will be sometime this month)
Gracie has had strep throat and a cold and cough this week so she stayed home from school. Every time she is sick at all, it makes her very tired because of her adrenal insufficiency (see: understanding-addisons-disease-) so when she is sick, she has to be on stress doses of hydrocortisone. She seems to be on the mend now, knock on wood. :)But please keep her in your prayers.
A sweet story from this week. She was asking why she had to take this yucky medicine and I told her it was from the cancer ruining her adrenal function so she needs to take it when she is sick. she said "So I have to take this all my life? and pay for this myself when I.m older!?" I was surprised she had put that all together, I said "yeah" then she said  "and adopt babies?" I was caught off guard cause we hadn't talked about that in the recent past. I said "does that make you sad?" and she goes "Heck no!! Like I want to hurt ever again... or be in the hospital!!" She was laughing and I did too. I said "I never thought of it that way" She is too sweet and cute for words. She understands so much and always has been wiser than her years. We sure love her and are so grateful for her continued health and progress!!
I promise to post scan results as soon as we have them!!

One year post treatment!

 Gracie last June

 Wow! It is crazy to think it has been a year since Gracie finished treatment! sometimes it doesn't seem that long, and other times it seems much longer. When I think of all she has done in just a year it simply amazes me. to think where she has come from, and to see her now is nothing short of a miracle. We are so blessed to have her healthy and happy! Our Heavenly Father is so mindful of us. Our faith has played a major role in getting us through these past couple years. I don't know where we would be without our knowledge of the gospel and the power of prayer! Prayers are heard and answered, even when it's not the answer or time frame we have in mind.

 We drove down to Ft worth on Sunday night and got there about midnight. Brandon was able to come with us this time and we brought all the kids. we stayed in a hotel and headed over to Cook's at 8:30 am. and got registered and all checked in. First up was the Ct scan, so she started on drinking the 2 hours of gatorade with contrast. We played on the new playground in the meantime.

 They saw this wishing well that said "wish a child well" and she said "I am going to wish Briley well" She is always thinking about her.

 waiting in the radiology waiting room. She sat on daddy's lap and even had him go with her to get the IV and scan. She adores her Daddy and it was fun to have him come and I was grateful to have his help.

after the Ct, she had and Echo and EKG done, then an appointment with endocrine and lastly an appointment with oncology. Dr. Granger could hardly believe her eyes! We are so grateful for Dr. Granger and the amount of love and compassion she has shown to us. She said this is why she does what she does and this kind of thing is what keeps her going. We would love to continue going to Cook's even after our move. we will have to see if our new insurance will allow it. Gracie has grown 2 inches in the last 3 months! She is playing catch up I guess. :) She is 43 inches and 42 pounds! Amazing.

 Well, as you have probably fihured but now, the news is great! The scan was clear. No evience of disease. The day went smoothly even though it was busy! We were able to get into all appointments on time. After that we headed over to Seymour to visit Briley and her family. They cooked dinner for us and we had a nice visit, although it was much too short!! We hope to come back down for the curesearch walk in September! We thank you for continuing to pray for Gracie. Now we will only go for scans every 6 months. big sigh. :)

Overdue Update

So, I haven't been on in 3 months and they have changed the blogging on me! sorry for the messed up pictures, I can't quite get them where I want them! lol. anyway, Im so sorry I never posted about her March scans!! Hopefully you assumed that no news is good news, as that is generally the case! and it is in this case also!! Her scans were clear once again and we are grateful! Gracie has enjoyed being in girl scouts and Kindergaten this year and has done really well. She got all dolled up to walk the red carpet for the 100th bday of girl scouts. That is the pic in the turquise dress. She looked like a princess :) also there are a few other pics of easter and selling cookies!The other picture is Chloe and I with our 10 inch ponytails we donated to http://www.childrenwithhairloss.us
The picture below is when we were sitting in the car waiting for Chloe's piano lesson, and we found her hair that he had saved from when she first started chemo. My mom had wrapped it in a paper towel and it has been in the console ever since. She held it up to her head and it is the exact same color as before! Later that same day, she lost one of her top front teeth by taking a bite of a doritos locos taco! She lost the other top tooth about a week later. She is so cute with her little toothless grin.

This is an outfit our friend Michelle bought in Europe. She is always traveling and sending Gracie fun things!! Gracie loves to wear it and even wore it to church today! She dances around like a real spanish dancer. We looked up videos on youtube of spanish dancers. :)
Gracie is doing well and will graduate Kindergarten on Wednesday!!! What an amazing year it has been post-treatment. She goes for her 1 year post treatment scans next month! We are planning on stopping to see Briley since we will be moving at the end of June. Also, Briley was in an awful car accident with her brother and Grandmother last week. Her grandmother died instantly and Briley suffered two broken femurs and a broken pelvis. She was able to go home from the hospital yesterday after 9 days in the hospital. She will be in a wheel chair for a couple months. please pray for her and her family and donate if you can!! http://www.teambriley.blogspot.com

February Fun

We took a family trip to Colorado for skiing. Gracie hadn't been feeling very well a few days before, and decided to just play in the snow, and not ry skiing. no problem with me! I was perfectly happy to stay with her and Von. :) I only tried skiing once 10 years ago and i was very bad at it. maybe next year :) well, she loved the snow! We had a great time.

i love this picture of her laying in the snow, she was so happy and making a snow angel.

Gracie at her Kindergarten class valentine party.

Gracie and Chloe at the girl scout slumber under the sea. She wasn't feeling very well this day either, so she just stayed a couple hours.

Gracie had some back pain earlier on this month that was intense and lasted 8 straight days, it just went away after that. we had an MIBG scan done to check for neuroblastoma but it was clear, thankfully. then she has had random times of pain and puking. It seems to be related to the adrenal insufficiency. she does a lot better, once she gets the hydrocortisone. We go back for her 9 month scans next month.

December scans and Christmas

Gracie's hair is long enough for french braids. I'm not the best at it, but it is cute enough :) she loves it.

Gracie had a wonderful Christmas and was happy and healthy. She got a new baby and vanity, a play ironing table and lots of other fun stuff! We felt so blessed to be together as a family and everyone was healthy and happy.

We went down to Fort worth for her scan and Dr appointment. I took all the kids, since we had to stay overnight. We went to radiology at 8 am and she started the 2 hours of drinking the gatorade contrast. The other kids were all great waiting. They had to do an IV for the CT and they left it in for later that day for labs with the endocrine office. They were testing her cortisol levels. They came back as low but not too much. The doc said she didn't need daily hydrocortisone, but would need stress doses when she was sick. The CT scan was clear! It is always a huge relief, although we hadn't anticipated anything different since she is doing so well. :) We had the clinic appointment in the afternoon and made it back home around 10 pm.

Halloween and other fun

Gracie was a ladybug for halloween! she looked so cute! she had a great time trick or treating.

we went to the church trunl or treat a couple days before halloween and it was a little cold that day, so she wanted to wear her warm butterfly costume from last year. Gracie at daisy scouts.

On the swing, when we went camping in October with friends. The weather was perfect and we had a great time!