NO CLINIC VISIT TODAY

We don't have to go to the clinic today! We went on Monday for the echo cardiogram, and blood work. The blood work came back fine, I don't know the results of the cardiogram yet. The doctors like to get a baseline of his heart function before they start the next phase of treatment. The doxorubicin is VERY hard on the heart, and Johnny will get an echo every week once the treatment starts, as well as the rest of his treatment (probably life). Since we opted to do the study when he was first diagnosed, we are lucky that the doctors will have such an intrest in every aspect of Johnny's development. The doctor's will follow him for a long, long time.

Sophie was with us when we did the echo. Both kids thought it was pretty cool to see Johnny's heart on the monitor. As soon as the screen showed Johnny's heart, it brought back so many memories. I remember when I was getting my first sonogram when I was pregnant with Johnny. the doctors looked at his little heart then too. The echo is just like a sonogram, but of course, of a heart and not a baby. When I saw Johnny's heart, I told him it looks like he is having a baby girl. He didn't think it was funny. Either did the girl who was doing it,she probably gets that all the time... The kids watched the sonogram for about 10 minutes. Once they figured out that it was only black and white, they were board and turned their attention to Sponge Bob on a COLOR TV. Spoiled kids! They don't know what it's like to have to wait ALL week for Saturday to roll around to watch Scooby Doo, only to have your mom start the vacuum and the picture goes all fuzzy!

Anyway, it was a good visit, the whole thing only took about 2 hours from start to finish. We were home by 5:30, just in time for dinner.

Next week, we can go to our peditrician's office for blood work. The following week (11/9), as long as all of his blood work looks good, we will start the final and most intensive part of treatment. Johnny will be in the intensification part of treatment for at least 56 days, then it is MAINTENANCE! WOO HOO! I know it is 3.5 years of maintenance, but it symbolizes the light at the end of the tunnel. YES!

We had a AWESOME weekend. We went down to Galveston on Friday night. Mike was in a surfing contest, and we all wanted to see him compete. The Sea Wall was PACKED! Johnny and Joey brought their skate boards and skated up and down the sea wall all afternoon. We saw everyone -- Joel and Crissy, the whole gang. It was nice being on the beach again, the weekend helped us confirm out thoughts about moving down as soon as we can. It just fits our lifestyle. The kids always ask, "when are we going to move to Galveston?". They love the fact that we have tons of friends and there are kids on every corner. I have to admit, it is VERY easy to get on Island time...

Mike did great in all of his heats, he actully came in 4th for short borads! We are all very excited for him. Johnny CAN'T WAIT to get back in the water. He looks at the waves with such longing in his eyes. It will happen little man, I promise! On our way home, I saw a surf board in the middle of I-45. I stopped to pick it up -- if I hadn't, it would have been toast for sure. I'm still trying to track down the owners... Hopefully I will find whoever lost it off the top of their car. They probably didn't bother to even stop. Watching the cars buzz around and over it, I wouldn't have thought it could survive. But it did.

After the contest, we had everyone over at the house for burgers and watched the Astros play. I, of course, made my killer margarita's. Anne and a friend of hers stopped by, and ended up spending the night. It was a full house as usual. The boys skated until they couldn't see anymore. At that point, they were begging us for flashlights so they could see the ground. They all had fun!

We are going to go down again this weekend too. This will be the last weekend for all of us to go, until Johnny gets past the rough stuff. It should be pretty fun. A friend of Mike's just made a film about Texas surf and they are going to have a BIG showing of it on the beach. It is actully a double feature. First James' movie, then it's the 20th anniversary screening of Jaws. It's going to be "drive-in" style, huge screen, lots of cars, doin' it up "old skool" style. We will watch James' movie, then leave before Jaws. We don't want to freak the kids out -- Sophie still talks about Bethany Hamilton's arm being munched off by a shark. And that happened years ago.

Hope all is well with everyone -- I'll blog later! Love, Jules

GOOD CLINIC VISIT

Wednesday was clinic day. It went very well. Johnny's counts are way up, and we really didn't have to go to the clinic, we could have gone to our pediatrician's, but they wanted to check on his mouth sores.

Our PA, Cara, gave me the "411" on what to expect the next few months. One of the medicines called Doxorubicin, really effects the heart. So much so, that on Monday, Johnny has to get an ECCO Cardiogram. The doctors like to do a base line on what his heart looks like before they start treatment. We have had a few people tell us that Johnny has a slight heart murmur. It could be from the treatment he has had so far, or it could be something he has had his whole life and no one caught it. It could also be that when he is anemic (low hemoglobin), he gets a murmur -- I guess most people do, you just aren't at the doctors every week to figure it out.

He will have a few weeks to coast until the big guns come in and start to hit him heavy with the hard stuff. IF all goes well, Johnny will start the last phase of his consolidation on Wednesday, November 9. On that day, he will get another spinal tap, dexamethasone, vincristine and start the doxorubicin (DOXO). The DOXO, is so strong they are doing a study about the amount of movement a person has while on the drug. Johnny will wear a "wrist watch" like band that will monitor his every move and how often he moves. He will only get DOXO for three weeks. It is so hard on a person, that in the protocol, he is scheduled one week off EVERYTHING before he continues on.

Johnny got his flu shot on Wednesday too. We all have to get one. This will be our first flu shot ever. Mike and I usually pass on getting them. Seems foolish. You can still get the flu even if you have been vaccinated. We usually take our chances. But this year is different.

Mike took Sophie and Johnny to the Pediatric Dental Specialist for the mouth ulcers. We have A LOT of prescriptions to fill, orders to follow and food to take off the "favorites" list. Johnny has a MAJOR case of the ulcers. I mean, not right now, but when the doctor classified them, she called them "Aphthous Majors", because they stay for so long and almost leave a scar in the poor little guys mouth. We do have a few new mouth washes to help with the pain -- that will be good.

Today was school picture day. Johnny didn't want to go. I BEGGED him to, but he refused. I think he is still embarrassed about his hair (or lack of...). But tomorrow is an "award" ceremony at school for kids who got straight A's, and Johnny gets to go. YES, JOHNNY, has straight A's! I knew he was smart, but he is like Rain Man smart. Mrs. Hemmen said she is going to try and recommend him for the Gifted and Talented next year.

Joey called me and said he felt dizzy. It was about 1pm. I picked him up from school early. I know nothing was wrong, I think he probably wanted some extra attention, so we had a Joey/mommy afternoon. Mike had the little ones and didn't get home until about 5:30. Joey and I did fun things like check out the new releases at Blockbuster, we stopped by Starbucks and he ordered a choc. cream frozen drink (his favorite), and stopped by Soundwaves to look at new skateboards for him. We stopped and got the van washed too. We just talked and had a nice little visit, just the two of us. I love his wry, quick sense of humor!

THE LORDS OF G-TOWN

We had a very busy weekend to say the least. Friday was Joey's Limo ride to CiCi's pizza to celebrate his cookie dough sales. We met him up at school and followed him to CiCi's for lunch. The kids had fun. Johnny was pretty tired. Usually the "chemo effect" doesn't start to happen until about two days after treatment. We met Johnny's class beforehand to fly paper airplanes that went along with the curriculum they were all working on. I brought the stroller just in case. Good thing too, he didn't even get out of it to be with his friends. You could tell he just wasn't feeling well.

We went home and relaxed the rest of the afternoon. Saturday came and he was really good for his tutor session. Kathleen is really good at being able to tell when he isn't feeling well. She can gauge him within the first 5 minutes of their session and knows what he is capable of and what he isn't. She thought he had enough and called it quits a little early, which gave us some time to chat about what our next plan of attack is, when his treatment gets heavy.

Then we were off to G-town (Galveston). Johnny was EXCITED. He wasn't the "totally wired" Johnny that I'm used to, but I knew deep down, he was ready to see his friends. We were down on the Island by late afternoon, and as soon as the car door he was off. Our friends who took the ramp had put it up and it was ready for action. There were at least 15 kids on the ramp whole time we were there. That means 15 ON IT, and probably another 15 watching, and waiting for their turn. Mike dubbed them "The Lords of G-Town", after the movie and the real Lords of Dogtown (a skater movie). I spent about 3 hours on Sunday just watching the flow of kids on the ramp. I'm glad it's getting used -- the kids are getting good and having fun on it too! I think this is the most action the ramp has ever seen...

Mike's mom and I stopped by my parents new place. Patricia hadn't seen it yet, and since they are still getting it together, I wanted to see all the new changes my mom had made. Kristin and Craig were down too. It's pretty cool to see everyone together, it was an awesome weekend too. The weather was absolutely perfect! Clear skies, full moon, cool nights... aahhh.

Mike's friend Barry came by for dinner. Barry's girlfriend Kim didn't come, she was having her last "hurrah" at AstroWorld. I guess this weekend they are tearing it down to build condos or something, so she wanted to be one of the last patrons to ride the Texas Cyclone! We chatted and talked about the Astros. By dinner time Johnny was so exhausted he couldn't eat. I tried everything, nothing sounded good, expect Chex Mix. So I let him have a whole bag. I had to help him shower and clean up, started the movie "Lords of Dogtown" and he was asleep by 9:30.

When we are down in Galveston, the kids go to bed late and get up early. They don't want to miss a thing. Johnny tired to keep his old routine going, but just couldn't. He was up early, was dressed and looked ready to go, but his body was saying "SLOW DOWN!". Of course he doesn't listen to what his body feels, so he kept going -- as much as he could. You can see it in his eyes that he just wants to get out there and do things like he used to, but he just doesn't have the energy anymore. He goes through the motions, but with much less energy. He went to the Orton's house (the folks who took the ramp), and watched. Sometimes he skated, but mostly just hung out. I'm glad that he has the energy to do that though, I know it made him happy to hang with his "peeps'...

His friends were all exceptionally good with him too. They cleared the ramp when he wanted to skate, and made sure they didn't sneeze on him or anything. That made ME happy! It was just the right amount of attention, nothing to far out of the ordinary, but they didn't treat him like a leper either. About 7pm Johnny came home and screamed "I'M HUNGRY!". So we literally dropped everything and went to Mario's for dinner. He ate too! TWO PIECES OF PIZZA. That was the most he had all weekend, I was VERY happy!

This morning we met Laura from the TCH PR Department at the clinic. She asked us to tell our story to a local radio station 93Q to help with their annual TCH Cancer Center fundraiser held in December (15-17) . We met "Doc" and Alonzo from the radio station, and they interviewed the whole family about Johnny, what he is going through and our thoughts about TCH and our doctors. I had to go first. We were all a little nervous about the whole thing, but Doc really put us at ease. He asked questions, and we answered them. I started to get emotional when he asked me how as a parent, we learned to cope with the gravity of the situation.

A lot of what Doc asked were things that Mike and I talked about in private, I have even written about here, but never really actually talked to anyone else about. No one has asked the questions he asked us. So it was surprisingly easy to get emotional about what was happening to us, as a family. It brought back a flood of emotions for Mike and I. I cried, and Mike teared up a few times too, something we had never done in front of the kids before. After my interview Sophie held me, rubbed my back, and kissed me over and over again. I asked her later if she knew what we were all talking about, she didn't bat an eye and said in her cheerful little voice "Yes! Childs with cancer". I said "Childs with cancer, huh?", and she said : "yep!", and went on her way. I asked the boys about it, and Joey didn't like to see me get upset, he said it scared him. Johnny said he is only scared "when your mad at me...". The rest didn't bother him at all. figures...

But overall, it was a really special experience. The fundraiser will air in December (15-17), and raise money for the cancer center. I found out that TCH is affiliated with th Children's Miracle Network and CureSearch. Both are non-profit organizations that raise funds to help cure childhood cancers. Children's Miracle Network helps raise funds for over 170 children's hospitals across the country, and CureSearch is the world's largest childhood cancer research organization. 93Q raised over $500,000, last year and strives to double the number this year, along with it's sister station, "Legends".

Today on Channel 11, Dr. Dryer will be interviewed about the Texas Legends Award. She was also on this morning too. If you get a chance, try and watch, she is really an inspiration to everyone. This Sunday will be the photo shoot in the paper as well. I am going to pick up as many as possible!

WE WILL MISS YOU "MR. JOE"

On Friday, October 14, at 9:30 am our dear friend Joe Valley lost his battle with Stage IV melanoma. He was a brave man, and fought with every ounce of energy he had. He fought hard for himself, but especially for his family he loved so much. Joe is a great dad and husband and will be missed by many, friends, family, and admirers.

All of the kids loved "Mr. Joe". He loved to get down on the floor and play with the kids, or take them outside and play baseball, soccer, hockey, football, or basketball. He is the true definition of what a dad should be. He took his boys camping, took his daughter to Indian Princesses, and was actively involved in every aspect of his family's life.

When I told Mike, he immediately thought about the kids. You can't help but think all the events that the whole family will miss having their dad watch and experience with them. Joe will live forever in their thoughts, memories and hearts, and he will be by their side every step of the way, holding their hands. Hopefully they will be able to feel his presence when they need it most.

The Valley's are a very close family and have many memories and laughter that they can look back on, and be able to say "remember when Dad did this....". Wendy is an incredibly strong woman, mom, and friend. She has the unbelievably hard task to be both mother and father to Erin, Joel and Sean. It's hard enough just to be the mom or dad, but to be BOTH 24/7, she will surely need everyone's support for a very long, long time.

I hope that the Valley's know they are surrounded by so many people that care deeply for them, and will be there for them at anytime during this difficult journey called life. "Mr. Joe", we will miss you...

CLINIC DAY

Wednesday's are always clinic day for us. Johnny had an early appointment, and wanted Mike to take him. I dropped off Joey and Sophie at school and met the boys up at the clinic about 10:00 AM. Mike texted me on my way down to the clinic and told me that Johnny's counts were 850! He could get treatment! I was going to push for treatment anyway. Not that I would have much say, but I really wanted to get on with the protocol.

Luckily, we had Dr. Pass and Dr. Margolin today. They have been with us for a while, especially when Johnny's counts were low all through August. We talked about Johnny's mouth sores. Dr. Margolin has a friend whose wife is a ulcer specialist (yes, there are specialists for this kind of thing). Both Doctor's want to get to the bottom of what is going on with Johnny. At this point, neither seem to think it is the chemo that is doing this. Since he has been off for so long, and even in August when he was off for 4 weeks, he still had them. Last week we did a culture of the sores to see if they were the herpes virus (don't freak out, it's like the chicken pox, and the shingles viruses). The tests came back negative. Johnny took a certain medicine for the past 7 days to clear up the sores if they were herpes, and it didn't help. So both doctors confirmed that, since the culture didn't grow anything, and the medicine didn't help, something else is going on. They seem to think they are Aphthos ulcers. I haven't looked them up yet, but we are going to a Specialist that deals with this type of mouth sore. When I know more, I will pass along the info.

We are working on a solution to that problem! I also wanted to know why Johnny was feeling so low. No energy, doesn't want to do things, he doesn't take naps, but tires easily. I was worried because he really isn't on any chemo that would have strong side effects like this. I of course asked if there could be more cancer, or even a different type of cancer, going on with him. Thank goodness the answer was no. But, Dr. Margolin keyed in on Johnny's attitude during our discussions and asked if he has any friends, or still plays with kids. I told her that, for the most part, no. His best friend moved away, and I try and keep him isolated from other kids while his counts are low. The Dr. seems to think it might be mild depression. She is probably right. He can't do the things the other kids do, and if I take him to the skate park, he is usually the only kid there. Not a whole lot of interaction with kids his age. She asked if we had contacted Make A Wish, and I told her yes. That his initial wish was to see the Pipeline Mastsers in December, in Hawaii, but since is protocol will be very intensive at that time, we opted for a later date in February. I think I detected a hint of "maybe we can work around that...", in her voice, but we will see. Maybe by the end of this month we might know more. We will most likely play it safe and go in Feb.. We are hoping that he will feel better then too, and be able to actually go surfing!

We had a great office visit, -- the doctors really took the time to talk us through all of our worries (especially mine). Then we had a really nice surprise, one of our Doctors from when Johnny was first diagnosed came by to see us. Dr. Muscal. It was her first day in the clinic and she said she looked on the board and saw Johnny's name and wanted to stop by and see how he was doing, it was really sweet gesture. We caught her up on the last few months, and we found out that she will be working in the clinic from now on. Hopefully we will have her as our Dr. one day soon. I don't know how excited Johnny is about the whole thing... he definitely wasn't as excited about it as Mike and I were ;)

As the procedure time came closer, Johnny started getting scared. He doesn't say anything, he just gets really quiet. As we got him ready and curled him up in a ball, I could see the fear in his eyes, and he almost started to cry. Mike was about to leave to go get Sophie, but decided to stay and sit next to Johnny instead. I think that made him feel better... I whispered to Johnny that I would stop and pick up a new skateboard for him on the way home. That made him feel MUCH better. Of course he was a real trooper about the whole experience, and never shed a tear. I'm so proud of him!

On the way home I stopped and bought him his new Element skate board. He loves it. He and Joey skated after dinner for about an hour. They really enjoy each others company and get along so well. Mike and I are going listen to what Dr. Margolin and Dr. Pass said to us about Johnny being around kids, and take him to his favorite place in the world, (okay, Houston), Galveston. We will go on Saturday after Mrs. Hemmen comes. Hopefully that will lift his spirits!

Sorry I didn't post last week. It was a long day on Wednesday -- although, no treatment. Johnny's ANC wasn't high enough (it went from 1050 to 500 in a week), and he had BAD mouth sores. Anytime someone has mouth sores, they cannot have a spinal tap. I guess the chemo used causes more mouth sores, and makes the ones he has worse. I was really disappointed, Johnny wasn't though. He hates getting spinal taps, I don't think he can feel them or remember them, he is out cold from what I can see. Once the doctors told him that he wasn't getting treatment, he finally smiled, his first one all day.

His mouth has been hurting him so much lately he doesn't talk, so it's like living with Harpo Marx. Or, if he does try to say something, he moans like Peter Boyle as "The Monster" in Young Frankenstein. It gets old after awhile, trust me... I know he is in a lot of pain, I can see the sores and I know what it feels like to have just a little one, his are HUGE. They even made the doctors gasp. The sores have gotten bigger since our last doctors visit too. This time around Dr. Dryer put him on some pills to help his outbreaks, she seems a little confused about his counts too. Normally, kids don't have this much trouble in this part of the treatment. We stopped all oral chemo, until Wednesday at our next visit.

He seems like he doesn't feel well. He appears to have the most bruises he has ever had, and doesn't want to do much. As soon as he does get out, he wants to go back home -- even shopping for Halloween costumes. A friend of his called the other day to talk to him on the phone, and for the first time ever, he said no. I think something else is going on with him but I don't know what. He has had a low grade fever since last week (100.0 and lower), not enough to cause alarm, but it's still there. The thing that worries me is that this is the easy part of treatment, he is hardly on anything. Actually, right now, he isn't on ANYTHING except the stuff for his mouth. This part of the treatment is what the maintenance will look like for 3.5 years. It's supposed to be "cake". But for Johnny, not so much.

Who knows, it all could be part of having Cancer. All I know is that I want this to be over with. I want Johnny to laugh and play like he used to, and I don't want to worry about what will happen next. I want to see him with lots and lots of floppy hair again. I want to see his skin clear, with no more dark circles under his eyes. I just want my little Johnny back. NOW. Not 3 years from now, but right now. I want to see my little guy walk down the stairs like he used to, normal.

I visited Wendy on Saturday. Her husband Joe, is in the final stages of fighting his battle with melanoma. I didn't see Joe, he was in his room, with his parents and brother. The driveway was full of cars, but when you walked in the house it was extremely quiet. The noise bothers Joe. Wendy is so strong. I don't know if I could be that strong. I hope I will never find out if I am or not. I couldn't help but wonder if I would be in her shoes three years from now. Putting together memorial photographs of Johnny. I'm sure 3 years ago Wendy and Joe never thought about what would be happening right now. But I guess when you are diagnosed with cancer, you always wonder about the end result. Will it be in my favor? I can't help but think of the statistics. Yes, it's true that there is a 80% cure rate for ALL, but when you think of the percentages of the kids that will actually be diagnosed with ALL, that is very small. I think that there are only about 3,500 cases of ALL a year. That number was in our "favor" too that Johnny shouldn't have cancer.

I probably out-stayed my welcome. But I wanted to let Wendy know that I have been praying for her and Joe and the kids. Their oldest is Erin, she just started high school, Joel is Joey's age (4th grade), and Sean is Johnny's age (2nd grade). The kids are best friends, and really miss them since they moved. I haven't been the best friend to Wendy lately. It has been over a month since we last talked. I was afraid to visit, because if I saw what was happening then it would be real. If I only got updates through Wendy's sister Barbara, then it wouldn't be a reality. I told Wendy, and apologized. She understood. I'm sad for Wendy and Joe. I am scared for me. I don't want Johnny to go through what Joe is going through. I've seen too many people in their final stages of life, and I just don't want it to happen to my little guy. I've seen my Aunt Sandy, my friend Sarita's little girl Isabella (she was only 3) just a few days before they passed. Then I watched Mike's grandma take her last breaths of life, all of these experiences I never want to witness again. Especially with Johnny. I'm so selfish sometimes...

The good news is Kathleen is home and doing well. Her mom came in to take care of her for as long as she needs. Kathleen's pathology reports came back and they were the best the doctor has ever seen. That is great news! She will still have a few more reconstructive surgeries, but she is on the road to recovery! That is awesome news.

I will make sure that I give you guys an update as soon as I know what is happening with Johnny on Wednesday.

PHOTO SHOOT

Today was Johnny's photo shoot for the Houston Chronicle. A local car dealership (David Taylor Cadillac) is doing a campaign involving local Houston "Legends" and their contribution to the city. This is the 4th "Legend" in a series of 12, over the next six months or so. The first person was Carolyn Farb, who I always thought was just a Socialite, but apparently she hads done a few good deeds. The second person was Roland Garcia, a prominent Houston Lawyer. I can't remember who the third person was... Dr. Dryer makes number 4. When asked what kind of props she would like in her shoot, she said "kids of course!". She asked Johnny and a little girl named Haley who is 10 and being treated for Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma. Haley was diagnosed in September of '04, and is almost done with her treatment. The maintenance period for her type of cancer is only a year, verses Johnny's 3.5 years. She was really sweet and has one older sister who is 15. Both girls went to Camp this summer.

We had fun at the shoot. The makeup artist had to "touch up" Johnny, so he has make up on -- Don't worry Mikey, it was just a little to kill the shine. Sophie was jealous though. The Chronicle had purchased a new shirt for Johnny, it was like the Texas State flag. Good thing too, -- I really didn't know how badly he needed clothes until today. He came down stairs with a big hole in his jeans. I told him to go change and put another pair of jeans on, and he told me "THIS IS ALL I HAVE!" I could tell he was a little embarrassed about it. I think this will be one of those moments he won't let me forget. "Remember when I had those pictures taken and you made me go with a hole in my pants?". My sister and I still do that to our parents...

I actually brought a few pair of dark pants, and some shirts just in case. Once we got there, the photographer told us, his legs probably won't be in the picture anyway-- WHEW!!! We watched Dr. Dryer do a few shots by herself, then the photographer added Johnny, since Haley wasn't there yet. I could tell Johnny was enjoying himself. He was turning on the charm. Everyone at the shoot commented on how natural he seemed at all of the attention. Yeah, he's getting good at being a "media hog"...

After Haley showed up, they all got together and did some shots. It turned out pretty good. Both kids looked great, so did Dr. Dryer. I was sad to see that my shots didn't come out to clear, but I didn't want to get in their way, or have Sophie try and follow me, and trip over the expensive equipment. I stayed my distance. The spread will be in the Sunday, October 23, paper. It should be a whole page advertisement, the top half of the page will be of Dr. Dryer and the kids, the bottom half will be an ad for David Taylor Cadillac. Channel 11 will also be doing a piece on the Legends, but I don't know when it will air. Probably after they all have been chosen. I doubt that it will have the kids either. When I find out, I will let you guys know.

I also asked to have a few shots for us too. They will email me the pictures, as well as mail us some printed copies. I saw some of the "proofs" because the camera was hooked up to a laptop, and from what I saw, they looked great.

~~~~~~~~~~~

The picture of the boys jumping is from our little cousins first birthday. Toni and Wes had rented a jumper thing, and the kids LOVED it. Johnny was out there all day long. I would drag him in from time to time to get him cooled off, he was beat red, but having a ball. I was glad to catch Joey in mid-air. It's really hard to do that with a digital camera. Sophie loved it so much, that night as I was putting her to bed, she told me that she wanted to "live at baby Sarah's forever, but sleep at our house". I think she might be disappointed the next time she goes there and the bouncy thing is gone.

The next day Johnny was WHOOPED! Poor thing. He was just worn out from all the jumping he did the day before. Tomorrow will be his big day. He gets an LP, and Vincristine at the clinic, then a bunch of pills at home that night. Kathleen also goes in for her masectomy, she gets out on Thursday, then home for two weeks. I will blog more later! xoxo J