Mike here again: Sorry for the lack of communication but it most likely means things are going well, as they seem to be. Lisa is now officially a skinny kid. She began a year ago weighing, I'm guessing here, 45 lbs. Today she weighed 37 lbs. and she's probably 4 or 5 inches taller. She's gone from one end of the chart to the other. Not to worry though because she has a lot of energy and her appetite is growing this past week. Chrissy 6 years older only weighs 52 lbs and Tom's kinda scrawny too now that I think about it. They must have the thin gene we all hear about. They really do have access to plenty of food. Really. And they say they like my cooking....

I took Lisa in for a few follow up appointments today. Six "pokes" altogether, three under the skin to test for certain reactions, two getting blood, and one during the CT scan. There were a few tears and after each she apologized to the nurses for saying she hated them. One nurse commented that Lisa made her earn her money today and without missing a beat Lisa said "Well that's your job". There's nothing dulling this girls wit to be sure. We sure missed having the central line in today to alleviate the need for all those pokes. We go back on Thursday and she'll have to get an IV placed to start things off. Thursday's procedure is aphereses to collect stem cells again. Once the IV is in she'll be sedated and another line, a big line, is placed in the artery in the leg. Once aphereses is complete the lines are removed. She might end the day with a new central line, a "port" this time just below the skin in the chest.

On the horizon is Accutane Therapy and Monoclonal Antibody Therapy. These are relatively new treatments added to the bag of tricks that can be thrown at this disease. It's hard not to get complacent when Lisa seems to be doing so well, but in truth stage 4 Neuroblastoma is a tough adversary and the plan is to throw everything we can at it.

Your prayers and positive energy continue to help. Thank you all for that.