Another milestone is approaching. Lauren will be turning 6 on Saturday, there was a time when we didn't know if she'd even make it to her 5th birthday. Still, it's hard to believe she is only 6, she seems so much older. She has gone through so much this past year that she has lost a big part of her childhood. It's heart breaking when we look at Marissa who is now 4 years old, the age that Lauren was when she was originally diagnosed and see how hyper, silly and active Marissa is, then compare her to Lauren. Lauren has her moments of goofiness, but for the most part she is very careful about what she does and is unable to keep up physically or at times socially with the other kids. Of course we understand that since she is not going to school and therefore interacts mostly with adults (her parents, grand parents, doctors, nurses, and physical therapist) than kids, it's still heartbreaking. We are still not sure what we're going to do for her birthday, while we would have liked to have thrown her a special party, it's tough to plan or make reservations (they usually require an non-refundable deposit) since we never know how she'll be feeling, or how many kids will be canceling due to runny noses. While we wish we had a normal life, it is what it is.

Lauren is still on 22.5 mg of prednisone a day. We're expecting they'll reduce it to 20 mg a day tomorrow when Lauren goes in for her bi-weekly chemo. For the most part Lauren has been doing okay, except she has gotten so puffy from all the steroids. We tried taking Christmas pictures last night, but none of the pictures of her were very flattering. Her face doesn't seem to be working very well. I'm not sure if it because it is so puffy. Also very troubling is Lauren has been complaining of dizzy spells. She had four of them yesterday. A couple of times was when she got up, which is not uncommon, but one time was when she was looking down. That is the one that makes me the most nervous. I wish her last MRI didn't have any enhancements. Her next MRI isn't until Feb. (don't have a date yet).