Quick Update

Just wanted to get a quick note out to let you know that Ellie will be going in tomorrow morning for surgery to get a medi-port placed near her collarbone. This will replace the Broviac line that was removed over a month ago. She will go under general anesthesia for the placement, and there will be a good deal of soreness afterwards, but all in all it should be fairly straightforward and minor as surgeries go.

Tomorrow we will hopefully find out a plan for Ellie's future treatments. There is a possibility that she will start a round of low dose chemo tomorrow, but we don't know for sure yet. I'll let you know when we know more.

I hope that you all had a wonderful Mother's Day. All my love to my own mom and my mother-in-law, Pat! Also my sincere admiration to my sister and sisters-in-law: Jenn, Ginger, and Janeene - wonderful mothers to my nieces and nephew. I love you all.

We had a fun day today - we had brunch out, then went to the aquarium on Coney Island, then Ellie got to walk on the beach with John (while I guarded the stroller), then we rode some carnival rides. We spent tons of time on the subway. All in all it was a great adventure! Ethan called to wish me a happy Mother's Day, but John answered first and so he was also wished a "Happy Mother's Day!" Ethan was very excited and had fun telling us all about a new toy and all of the fun he's having. He sounded so happy - which was the best present I could have received. Once we arrived home, Ellie went out with John and brought me back a beautiful bouquet of carnations.

I'll try to get some pictures out tomorrow. I also have some pictures from Saturday. Some ladies from The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society put on a wonderful "Mother's/Caregiver's Day Celebration" for all of the women in the RMD House on Friday night. It was a very special evening of pampering for the mom's and fun activities for the kids. Ellie met a very sweet young lady named Shelby who is training for the New York City Marathon. Shelby asked if she could run in Ellie's honor. On Saturday we went over to Central Park to watch them train, and John & Ellie rode on the scooter along side the runners. Even though Ellie doesn't have Leukemia or Lymphoma, Shelby said that it was nice for the runners to meet her and be reminded of the children who have cancer. They were such sweet people to give of their time to help people that they don't even know. Shelby has been so kind to Ellie and has made her feel special and important. So... needless to say, I have a bunch of pictures to post. I know a lot of people were busy over the weekend, so I'll let you all catch up on all that I did post over the past couple of days. I'll post the weekend's pictures later.

Lots of love to you all!