Life is good!

September 3 marked the 4th anniversary of Mollie's last day of chemotherapy.   Back in 2010, she had landed herself in the hospital with a severe rash, swollen gums, and fever.  A new hospital, in a new city, with doctors we had never met.   She wasn't showing signs of improvement for about a week, so the oncologists decided to do a bone marrow aspirate and a skin biopsy.  On what would have been her last day of treatment, we should have been celebrating her last chemo dose.  Instead, we were in tears watching her get wheeled off to surgery, and then waiting, scared to death, to find out whether she had relapsed.

We are so thankful that is in the rearview mirror.  An understatement, yes, but there is no way to truly convey how relieved, blessed, and happy we are.

Mollie also had her annual followup with her oncologist here at Children's Hospital Oakland.  She got a clean bill of health and a little medical education from Dr. B.  She got to listen to her own heart, chart her growth, and learned about percussion of her abdominal organs and palpation of her lymph nodes.  She does have some palpable lymph nodes and slightly enlarged tonsils- maybe signs that she is fighting a cold, but nothing worrisome or abnormal given her overall health.

The best news is that she doesn't have to go back for a year!  And she won't need another echocardiogram until 2018 because she received the lowest anthracycline dose and her scans have been consistently clear.

If you are so inclined, please check out our Alex's Lemonade Stand Million Mile Run page.

Mollie and Lucy's awesome cross country coach (Marin) wanted the team to do this as a service project.  The miles logged aren't up to date, but we will get there!  Mollie and Lucy are dedicated to XC.  Mollie loves running and has already shaved 3 minutes off of her mile from last year!

Thanks for checking in…

Sarah