Party Hardy

Finally today Eriana celebrated her fifth birthday in style.  We had to reschedule her party in early December when Kendall's grandmother passed away so she has been waiting a LONG time for this!  She went to bed early last night so she could get plenty of rest for the big day (voluntarily).  She was up early this morning ready to go.  Took a bath, got her hair straightened & nails painted by her sister, even cleaned up her toys with only minimal shouting.  About a dozen of her buddies from school, the neighborhood & Hendersonville came to play with her.  They ate pizza then the Purple Play Bus came & it was awesome to see them all so excited.  You can check out the pictures if you want...
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3278869496769.2158387.1418481843&type=1&l=1366a3e166

 

After that they devoured the chocolate 4 tier cake that Emilia & I created.  We thoroughly enjoyed creating this for Eriana.  Next time I'm doing round though - the square corners are too difficult to make square.  Eri told us she wanted polka dots but she didn't want any input beyond that so Emilia & I came up with the design & built it.  Lots of fun & something we like to do together.

 

So, today was a spectacular day all around.  The parents of Eriana's classmates have been so wonderful to me during the last few weeks.  I just love to see her with her friends, letting loose, playing, being kids.  It made my heart smile and except for people asking me how I am doing, I could've been any old Mom today.  I needed that.

 

I do feel like 10 pounds of you-know-what in a 5 pound bag which is very frustrating.  Emilia makes me laugh because she is so encouraging.  In fact, she insisted on taking this picture to "prove" to me that I look "great".  I'm hoping I get the clearance to exercise at least some when we see the doctor tomorrow.

 

Speaking of which, tomorrow is a big day.  Not only do we have our 2 week follow up with Dr Holt but I am going BACK TO WORK!  Hooray.

 

At the meeting with Dr Holt, we expect to learn all about the pathology of the synovial sarcoma.  Such information as the stage/grade will be critical in determining next steps.  It will tell us how large the tumor was, specifics of the tumor itself, how "aggressive" it is, etc.  We will also learn whether there was involvement in any of the surrounding lymph node bed that she removed.  And we will learn whether she "got it all" - in other words were the margins clear.  We will also discuss with Dr Holt how my left knee ACL reconstruction "lit up" on the PET scan and if there is anything to be concerned about there.  As well, we will discuss the potential P53 mutation and the recent findings on the breast MRI.  Hopefully, it will be a very fruitful and encouraging meeting.  My intention is not to agree to any further treatment until we understand the results of the breast biopsies and the genetic testing.  I do expect her to recommend radiation pending the results of the other 2 studies and to refer us to both radiation and medical oncologists.   We don't meet with her until noon and I'm going to work after that, all being well, so I probably won't provide an update here until tomorrow evening.

 

Its back to just the four of us in our house.  Mike left yesterday morning; I cannot even express how wonderful it was to have this time with him.  Dad left this evening; it was also fabulous to have the time with him.  And time with the 3 of us together is such a rare commodity; I don't recall having any of that since my Mom passed away.  They both made me feel even more special & loved than I already did!

I thought I would share two more photographs today.  The first one is Gus & Arthur having a little wrestling match this morning.  I just absolutely love when they play together.  It is so spirited and fun.  Sometimes they chase each other around the house.  Other times they lay like this & bat at each other.  We have a cat toy called "Da Bird" that makes both of them literally do backflips.

 

 

The final photo for today is my sweetheart & my little baby before her party today.  Not much else to say about this one but I LOVE THEM!!!!!!

 

Thanks for reading, sorry for being a little long-winded tonight.  If you feel up to it, I would certainly appreciate your prayers about tomorrow's meeting with Dr Holt.