FINALLY..........

After almost 5 years I am happy to finally report some good news from the start. Julia's biopsy results were much better than anyone expected. The final report is that it is showing "early,early disease". The doctors are happy with this and calling this a good biopsy result. Julia also had her follow up heart biopsy and that too was good. The rejection is gone. Julia's doctor has registered her into a clinical trial in Texas. We are just working out the details but it looks like we will head to Texas to start more advanced cell therapy. Texas will attempt to grow Julia's own cells and this will take a couple months so in the mean time Julia will begin oral chemo. Julia is well and has been able to attend school which makes her so happy. It's been a long, hard, stressful road and despite the good news I am extremely stressed out on the next steps. I keep telling myself everyday to just take a step back and enjoy Julia being well right now, but that's a lot easier said then done. We are so so lucky that we have the best oncologist ever. She is so kind, dedicated, and has done so much for Julia. I want to thank all of you for your support and encouraging words. I will keep you posted on the next steps as I know more. Nadia

Julia in the OR

Hi Everyone, on Friday I got a call from the surgeon that Julia would have a biopsy done today on the mass in her lower abdomen. At 11:43am Julia was brought into the OR. The procedure will take approx 3 hrs and she will need to stay in hospital to recover. Julia bravely walked into the OR with Elio and asked for her sleepy medicine. She is our rock, our champ, our hero. Results will take up to 10 days and I will let you all know when they are in. Please pray that all goes well and Julia has a speedy recovery. Nadia

Scan Results

I will start by saying that Julia has been relatively well. She had a short admission this week for unexplained fevers, and a visit to emerge last week for fevers but overall remains strong. Unfortunately her scan is another thing. I wish more than anything I could share some good news...........but I can't. Julia had her CT scan on Monday and shockingly it is showing a very large mass in her lower abdomen. A completely different spot than her disease back in July. The mass is quite big and doctors are concerned. We are currently waiting for the surgeons to comment on how safe it will be to biopsy. At this point a biopsy is much needed in order to direct our team on treatment options. If you recall in July we did not go ahead with the biopsy as it was too dangerous so our teams treated the disease blindly without knowing exactly what they were dealing with. This time they really need to know what's going on as they find it strange that the disease keeps appearing and disappearing in different spots. The mass is in a difficult area which is surrounded by many vessels and arteries so Julia's oncologist predicts it will be a difficult biopsy but we will wait for the surgeons to way in. Even if it is a difficult biopsy I think we will be pushed a little harder than last time to go after it. As you can imagine we are devastated by the results and worried sick. All the discussions about maintenance treatment or treatments in Israel are obviously on hold with the latest news. I will keep you all posted on the next steps......... Nadia