Round 6 is complete!

So sorry it's been so long since our last post. Although, like they say...no news is good news! We made it through round 6 without a hitch. Madelyn got sick twice, but that is to be expected, it was a long day and she received 3 of the 4 drugs. We have been keeping pretty busy with work and trying to enjoy the summer. We are scheduled to have round 7 on July 17th, as long as her counts are back up. My brother, Ronnie and his girlfriend Liz are coming down from NY this weekend. We are VERY excited. They haven't seen Madelyn since her biopsy in Dec...wow are they in for a surprise!!!

Madelyn has 2 shiney white teeth on the bottom front. She is cutting one or two on the top now. She has some new words...baby, eye (she will point at your eye too), watey (we think this is water, she kept saying it at the lake this weekend). She hasn't crawled or walked yet. She really, really doesn't like being on her belly long enough to learn to crawl. She will get up on all fours, and if you are distracting her enough so she doesn't realize that she is on her belly she is okay, but as soon as she realizes it, she squeals at the top of her lungs!

Everytime we go to the clinic and Madelyn has chemo or labwork or anything done, they give us coupons. This is for the kids to buy toys or games or things with. I wasn't really sure what I was supposed to do w/them, b/c believe me when I say we don't need anymore toys. The Child Life Specialist came up to me on Tuesday and noted that I hadn't cashed them in. So we cashed them in and got $60 worth of gift cards to Target. I went on Wednesday and Madelyn bought herself a Radio Flyer wagon and it is cool. It has to flip up seats in it w/seatbelts and drink holders that she loves to ride around our neighborhood in. We gave our friend Carsen a ride in it the other day and they had a blast!!!
We found out at the clinic last week, that Madelyn qualifies for a wish through the Make-A-Wish Foundation. She has to be 2 1/2 - 3 years old before they can give her her wish. So...we are very excited about that! Also, they told us about the Journey Beads. They gave us a list of all of the different things that the patients get beads for (i.e. finger sticks, biopsy, diagnosis, MRI, etc). I have to go through my calendar and see how many of each that she will get...believe me, it will be alot and then we put it on a string w/her name and it starts w/the diagnosis bead and continues on until we are NED (no evidence of disease). Then, she can take it to school someday and tell everyone in show and tell the journey she has been on!!

Notice a new link to the right...Keria Grace. This is our brave little friend in Texas who is facing surgery on Thursday to remove the Neuroblastoma tumor in her chest just like Madelyn. Please pray for her and her family that they all remain strong and brave through what is ahead of them.

Please continue to pray that all of Madelyn's tumors shrink enough so that we do not have to have surgery when chemo is over!! Thank you all for your continued support, prayers and kind words.

We love you all,
The Bells