Stressful couple of days. On Wednesday, Lauren had a scheduled appointment at CHLA. Her hemoglobin's were low so she got a transfusion of blood. The tough part was because of her hemolytic anemia issues, not only does the blood have to be warmed up before it's given to her, but they have to test it for an antibody to make sure it's compatible with her blood. Is that 100% accurate? I have no idea, but that is how I understand it. The amazing thing is that the blood she got was donated to her from somebody we know, not sure who donated it, and it was compatible with her antibody. The blood bag just has a # id on it. It was a very long day and Lauren didn't get home until almost 9 pm. It was nice to come home to find the house like we left it. No break-ins this time. I think it's going to be a long time before we feel secure.

I got a call from Hilary the other day. She was crying. I was like, "What's wrong?!" Both Lauren and Finlay had just fallen asleep when there was a knock on the front door. She initially wasn't going to answer it think it was a salesman or something. But she remembered that the police officer who was called to the scene had said that maybe the burglars had knocked on the door first to see if anyone was home before breaking in. So she answered it. Standing at the door was our neighbor from a few houses down who we don't talk to very much. Mostly hellos and waves. They did come by the house once to pick up some "Love for Lauren" bracelets, so I know they follow Lauren's website. She handed Hilary a Best Buy bag containing a new Wii and a Wii game. The neighbor said she didn't want us to think the whole neighborhood was all bad. We were speechless. Since I'm not sure if they'd appreciate us saying who they are, we just want to say "thank you." We feel so blessed and cursed at the same time. We live such a balanced life.

Yesterday afternoon I got another call from Hilary. This time I could tell from her tone something was definitely wrong. Lauren was complaining about back pains, having a hard time breathing and she had an accident in her pants. These accidents have been ongoing for the last couple of weeks. Ana, our coordinator/NP, told us to bring her in right away. She was going to call the hospital to have us admitted, which was nice because it meant no waiting in the ER for 12 hours like we've done in the past. After all the paperwork and an examination, they took Lauren down for X-Rays on her chest and back because of the wheezing sound she was making trying to breathe and the back pains she was having.

After a long time, the results of the x-rays came back. Her lungs looked clear but they noticed a fracture on one of her vertebra. We are not sure how she did it, but due to being on steroids for so long, her bones are very brittle, almost as if she has osteoporosis. Or maybe she has osteoporosis caused by the steroids. Either way her bones are very weak and we need to get her off steroids. Now for the real concern. The accidents. They wanted to take an MRI of her spine, which they had planned to in June. They wanted to make sure there is nothing compressing her spine, which could cause her to lose body control functions. They kept checking to see if Lauren had numbness down in that region. Worst-case scenario would be that the tumor is spreading down her spine.

Message to Anne H. -- I know, I know, you told me a few weeks ago when I mentioned Lauren's accidents that this could be serious and that we needed to tell her doctors immediately. And we did. But they weren't too concerned since Lauren's tumor rarely spreads. But the tumor is connected to her central nervous system so it is possible. So Lauren is now on the waiting list for an MRI. Hopefully they'll be able to squeeze her in today. Even though it's rare that her type of tumor spreads, we are still very nervous and anxious.