UPDATE – June 1, 2006

Emily’s speech and balance have been showing signs of regression over the last week. Today, we were especially concerned about how she was acting. We contacted Dr. Gold at UNC and arranged to be at the clinic first thing Friday morning for an exam and to be placed on the MRI waiting list for the day. We drove up Thursday night late. After a few short hours of sleep, we met Dr. Gold at 7:00 a.m. Friday morning. We were fortunate enough to get taken for a MRI first thing. We were met by Bonnie, our new MRI “angel.” She treated Emily with such care and kindness. She sensed the stress we all felt, or at least Happy and Kristi felt. We appreciate everyone expediting Emily’s MRI. By 9:30 a.m., good ol’ Dr. Gold had the MRI read. It didn’t show any growth in the tumor. In fact, he commented that it might possibly be a little smaller. As relieved as we were, we were and still are a little puzzled as to why Emily’s speech has worsened. For now, Emily is back on a low dose of steroids, and we’re keeping close contact with Dr. Gold. As always, we ask that everyone keep Emily, her family and her caregivers in their prayers. Our special thanks to the Kline and Magruder families for helping to take care of Jake while Mom, Dad and Emily were gone Thursday and Friday. We also appreciate our neighbors, Matt, Dawn, Janna and Phil, for taking care of Toby and Baby, especially last minute! Thanks to everyone for your phone calls and expressions of concern. We appreciate so very much the ongoing support of so many friends and family! Thank you for helping to lighten our load! Emily had a good weekend rest of the weekend. We are still watching her closely. She and Jake attended a friend’s birthday pool party. They played hard, only to come home later and need a nap! This Friday is Jake’s last day of school. We hope to leave early Friday afternoon for a family reunion in Raleigh.