We had a great 4th of July weekend. Lauren hosted a small bbq and pool party for family and friends at the house. She loved shopping and decorating the house with 4th of July decorations. Lauren has been doing so good lately. She has had a lot of energy, been in great mood, and best of all she has been social. Her out-going personality has come back. One of my favorite things is that she has been having these laughing fits, where she is laughing so much and can't stop that her sides hurt. It is so awesome to see, I can't help but to hug and kiss her.

She is now totally off her steroid medication, Decadron. Her appetite is back to normal. She should begin to lose her puffiness, which the doctor said could take up to 6 months. While looking her normal self will not cure her, just psychologically, it will make us feel better. While it's cute to see her with her with chubby (puffy) cheeks nibbling away on a carrot, it is really shocking how much her features have changed since April.

Today Lauren is going to CHLA to have labs drawn (blood tests). Her Uncle Mike is going to donate blood, which we appreciate. For those of you that have asked how they could help, while I don't think we need it now, Lauren has only needed one blood transfusion (when we were at CHOC) and two platelets transfusion so far, but CHLA did mention they are having a blood shortage, so for those that are able to, I am thinking she will need blood for the next step when she begins the serious chemo in Sept. I know CHLA is too far for a lot of people, but if you live or work near CHLA we could use and would appreciate any blood and platelets you can spare. Her blood type is A positive. Also for those that can't make it to CHLA to donate blood Lauren, maybe you'd like to help Lauren's two friends, Zoe Hunter and Dylan Abbey at CHOC. Zoe (4 years old) and Dylan (6 years old) both have leukemia.

Dylan Abbey
Dylan has had to wait up to 10 hours waiting for blood. Beginning today he will be in the hospital for 8 straight weeks. Excerpt from his mother's past email update: "Well, we enjoyed about 24hrs after the good news about Dylan's remission status before going in for our transplant meeting with the doctors. The doctors quickly brought us back to reality. As we have mentioned, Dylan will spend about eight weeks in the hospital in complete isolation beginning July 7. In the first week, he will have a major surgery to insert a Broviac line in his chest on day 1; day 2,3, and 4 he will receive radiation twice a day. On days 5-7, he will receive a very strong chemotherapy regime. Day 8 is a day of rest and day 9, July 15 (officially termed day 0) he will receive his transplant. The short term complications include, Nausea/vomiting/diarrhea, mouth sores, bleeding, kidney and liver problems, VOD (occlusion of the liver), pneumonia, acute graft vs. host disease, and graft failure. The Doctor’s major concerns are graft vs. host disease and graft failure. Both could be fatal and we were still reminded that he has 50% chance of survival. Long-term effects include infertility (The doctors said Dylan will be sterile), impaired physical and mental growth and development (the doctors do not know to what extent), pulmonary complications, relapse, bleeding, and an increased risk of secondary cancers. Dylan will be in the Hospital about eight weeks and will be a very sick boy. Forgot to mention he won’t eat for the first 2-3 weeks! We all know how Dylan loves to eat! We want to express to everyone to continue to keep those prayers and support coming for Dylan as he has a very long road to travel yet." Dylan is B positive.

Zoe Hunter (www.carepages.com)
Excerpt from her care page June 18th: "As for Zoe, she had a really rough 2 1/2 weeks she had 4 blood transfusions and 2 platelet transfusions the last one she had an allergic reaction and was unable to breath, but is fine now. She will be going back for a 5 day chemo treatment next monday and we expect that she will be in for 7 days. We need people to donate blood and platelets if they can. Please call and make and appointment at choc the number is 714-997-3000 ask for the blood bank. the address to donate is 505 S.Main Street, Orange, CA. Zoe's blood type is A+ so if you are A+, A-, O+, O- we need your blood :)"

We have become part of a whole different world that we never knew about and never wanted any part of. It's still hard for us not to feel sorry for ourselves and wonder why this had to happen to us, but all we have to do is look around the oncology floor and we see so many other families asking the same questions. While it doesn't make us feel better, it does create a bond between us and an understanding that we are all in it together. So if you can't make it CHLA to donate blood for Lauren, it would mean the same to us if you could help out Dylan or Zoe. Of course no matter what blood type you are, any blood donation for CHLA or CHOC would be appreciated as well. Thank you.

CHLA: 323-361-2441 ext. 12441, 4650 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA
CHOC (make an appointment): 714-532-8339 505 S.Main Street, Orange, CA