All clean and new . . .

Hi everyone,

Scott talked to Dr. Cook this week and Georgia’s bone scan came back clear of cancer (yay!). That nasty kidney is still there, but if it leaves us alone, we’ll leave it alone. As for the neuroblastoma, the next MRI is in mid-July.

The girls are in the tub right now, Sydney is giving orders and Georgia is disobeying them. Even so, disagreements seem to work out better in the tub than on dry land. Maybe it’s the bubbles, maybe it’s the fact that a slap with a wet washcloth doesn’t hurt, maybe everything is just a little more fun in the tub. Maybe everyone should take a bath every day.

I also HAD to include this photo of Georgia on the potty—she found the magazine in Daddy’s ‘library’ and just helped herself. (Gosh, I hope this isn't considered pornography).

















We stopped by the Cancer Society’s Relay for Life overnight event at the Royal Military College on Friday night. We signed Georgia in as a survivor. She was issued a blue T-shirt (which she refused to put on), a yellow SURVIVOR ribbon and a pin. She did wear the pin and carry the ribbon. Scott, Sydney and I were given ‘Caregiver’ pins and we took part in the Survivor lap—the first lap of the evening. I took Georgia’s hand and we strolled past hundreds of luminaria, each with the name of a person who fought cancer. It was almost overwhelming. I was inspired to see all the blue T-shirts in the crowd that night, including a few children not much older than Georgia. It was even more touching to see the people without pins. These are people who’ve given up a whole night of their life to help others. I thank them, although that word seems just too small.

Sydney’s new fundraising promoter, Mr. John Wright, took her around to all the tables at a community breakfast on Saturday morning and they sold bracelets. They raised another $312 that morning. Thanks so much to John for his interest and his compassion and energy. He is planning a fundraising event at his company in Kingston, to benefit the James Fund, and I think he’ll have more surprises for us in the future.

Scott, Georgia and I will be off to Burlington next Saturday for ‘Sam’s Day’. I’m knitting bracelets as fast as I can, and so are my mother and sister. Sydney will be at Brownie Camp next weekend. We gave her the choice, because we don’t want her to be ‘the cancer kid’s sister’ everywhere she goes. We want her to be just Sydney.

The last five months have been, without question, the most difficult of my life and Scott’s. We are blessed to have so many supportive, caring and loving people around us. We could never thank you all in person for your prayers, kind words, cards and e-mails, thoughts and deeds, but do know that we are thankful and that we feel the love and positive energy that surrounds us and some days holds us up.

One more thought about the tub; if you add enough bubbles and give it a good, vigorous stirring (with lots of splashing), everything seems to come out clean and new—just like this week’s bone scan.

Go take a bath.

Cheers,
Faye