Thankful

Morgan's follow-up visit last week with her orthopedic surgeon went very well. He was impressed with her range of motion and strength. He told her that she could stop going to physical therapy as long as she would continue to exercise her arm and continue to work on straightening it. I ask about reasons why her arm would not fully straighten and he told me that he believes she developed elbow contraction from wearing the sling. She was put in the sling for seven weeks following her surgery. Looking back, seven weeks may have been a week or two too long.

warning-----proud Mom moment ahead!!!

Next wednesday evening at the high school, Morgan will recieve an award for Academic Excellence. Despite being homebound for her schooling this year, Morgan has managed to maintain a 4.0 gpa. It was a bit rocky at the beginning of the year when she was making her monthly trips to the hospital for chemo but she managed to hang on. She has worked very hard to stay caught up with her class. I'm so proud of her.

David has done very well in school this year too. He has been on the Honor Roll all year. He has had to work much harder than he wanted to which means less time playing quitar. German 2 and Algebra 3 w/Trig. have given him quite a challenge but he stayed with it.

Oh yeah, Jonathan.......lets just say making the honor roll has been a bit tricky for him. Something always happens that puts an end to his quest for good grades. You've heard the excuses-----"the dog ate my paper", "I lost it", "my teacher is mean", "middle school isn't important". Oh well, I'm holding out hope for next year when he begins high school. Keep your fingers crossed..........

I quote this one to Jonathan a lot:

Colossians 3:20 "Children, be obedient to your parents in all things, for this is well-pleasing to the Lord."

May Showers

April showers bring May flowers. Isn't that the saying? But what about May showers? All this rain will surely bring something good. At least that's what I keep telling myself.

Morgan is continuing to make progress everyday. She does have some concerns that her arm will never be completely straight. I am not sure what keeps it from straigthening. I plan to discuss this with the orthopaedic surgeon when we see him again on the 12th.

I attached the X-ray so you can see how amazing her arm is. The surgery is called Arthrodesis with resection, allograft and reconstruction of proximal humerus.

Osteosarcoma is not well understood at present. It is believed that changes in bone forming cells cause this form of cancer. These cancer cells have complex abnormalities that are different in each tumor. One form of treatment researchers are trying to develope are drugs that will attack the cancer cells but leave the normal cells alone. This would be a welcome relief for cancer patients and possibly mean an end to chemotherapy and its sickening side effects.

Thanks for all the prayers. Love ya~