This summer has been so fun.  Simone has had an amazing time, especially in Montana.  She stayed outside playing almost the entire time.  Her Dad loves fishing and spent most of his evenings doing it.  He  hadn't caught any fish the first couple of days and was determined to catch one.  Simone saw that her Dad needed a little extra help.  She said quite a few prayers for him to catch a fish and finally he caught one. 

We were lucky. All of her treatments ended up working around these great vacations.  Simone did suprisingly well with her July treatment and she enjoyed every moment hanging out with her cousins. 


1 week ago Simone started school.  For now she will stay at home until her chemotherapy is done.  We're lucky to have teachers come to our house until she is ready to go back. 

Last week she also had her 2nd to last treatment.  Let's just say it wasn't that great.  She was pretty sick for a few days but is feeling better now.  I love how Simone is always excited for life.  She is a good example.

We are so excited she only has 1 more treatment left.  In October we will have another MRI to make sure everything is still looking good.  Hoping for the best!!!

Yesterday Simone had her MRI.  It showed there was no new growth with her tumor.  It just stayed the same.  We are very happy about that.  She was also going to have chemo but her blood counts were not good enough to receive it.  Hopefully next week her body will have recovered enough.  So we are up for a crazy schedule next week with this.  Thanks everyone for your prayers.  We love you! 

Last week was packed with fun.  We were on vacation for part of it in Lake Powell.   Simone and her brothers and sister had so much fun.  They all loved the water and enjoyed hanging out with all of their cousins. Good times with Family!

 Simone is going in for her MRI this week.  Keep a little prayer in your heart for her. We are hoping everything looks good.  If it is she will be getting chemo again and she will only have 2 left.  Hooray!

Just wanted to give an update on Simone since it's been a couple of months.  Simone has been doing pretty good.  She had her May chemotherapy treatment and had to receive a blood transfusions a couple weeks later. Her counts were too low.  You could tell she was really tired.  Lounging around.  The transfusions make her feel a lot better and she is running around again.  She is a fighter.

Last week she had another chemotherapy treatment and it was pretty rough.  It make her sick for about 5 days .  Normally it is 3 or 4.  For some reason it really was tough to get over this time.  The next day  after her chemo we had to go to the emergency room because she had a temp of 103 just to make sure she didn't have any infections.  She received some fluids and antibiotics and the only thing she had was the Rhino virus which is the common cold so we were sent home.  Simone has 3 more chemotherapy treatments.  I am pretty excited about that. We hope and pray that this will stop the tumor from ever growing again.  In July she has another MRI to make sure the chemo is working.  I am pretty sure it is because I haven't seen anything different about her that would alarm me in any way.  She just seems her normal cute self.

On Monday Simone had her MRI.  The tumor has stayed the same.  No new growth.  We are pretty happy about that.  Simone also received chemotherapy the same day and surprisingly it was better than usual.  She had a pretty good night and only threw up once.  It was really amazing actually how well her body handled it this time.  I believe it's because of all the people who are praying for her.  

On Tuesday night around 930 she was having a high fever of 103 so I had to take her back to the hospital to make sure there wasn't any infections. They took her blood samples.  They gave her antibiotics and fluid to take care of any infection that she might have.  Everything looked o.k. so we were able to go back home around 2. 

Every time we go to the doctor or some hospital visit of some sort.  Simone always manages to charm everyone.  People are drawn to her.  She has such sweet spirit about her and I am so lucky that she is my daughter.

In mid March Simone had her 6th treatment.   She did alright.  Just the usual sick for about 3 or 4 days and then feeling better.  She's had her up and downs of feeling tired this month but she is such a trooper.  What an amazing girl.  In this past month she also lost 4 teeth on the bottom in a matter of a week.  She kept the tooth fairy busy!

Next week we are doing an MRI to see if the chemotherapy is still working.  I am a bit of a nervous wreck.  It's funny I can go almost 3 months doing o.k. in between MRI's but the last week is always the worst.  If the chemotherapy is working we will continue on.  6 more treatments to go.
 Keep Simone in your prayers.  She needs them!

Thursday, Jan 14, When Simone woke up.  She looked terrible. She was so pale.  I could tell something was wrong.  She asked me if her legs were broken and said her body hurt.  That made me feel so bad.  I called the Dr and they told me to come in.  Her blood counts were so low.  She had to receive blood transfusions.   I could tell after she received it she felt so much better.  She also had a chocolate doughnut.  That makes anyone feel happy!

 
Jan 23, for Simone's sisters birthday we went ice skating.  I have to share some pictures.  She is so funny.   In these pictures she is pretending to be a Grandma.  It is hilarious.

 Yesterday, Feb 16, we finally had Simone's 5th round of chemo.  She is feeling sick but not as bad as last time.  They lowered her dose a little bit since it took so long for her blood counts to come up.  We were supposed to have it the last week of January. It was hard to get the results each time and not be able to go do it.  It is a bit nerve racking.  She had an entire extra month off because of it. I could tell that she was feeling good to be off of it though.  She was running around more than I had seen her do in a long time.
Yesterday I found out that she has 7 more treatments instead of 1 more. We will finish around October hopefully if her blood counts stay where we can continue each month.  I am bummed about this but we will get through this.  She is the best kid.  When the nurse comes each week to draw her blood he just can't believe how she sits still and lets him do it.  She is so calm and sweet.  I can't get enough of her.  We love her so much.