Met with Dr. Finlay yesterday to go over Lauren's past chemo treatment and her upcoming treatments, cycle 2 and 3. Lauren's next cycle of chemo will start on Friday Oct. 3rd, and will consist of the same concoction and dosage of chemo as before, which is: 12 days of chemo Etoposide (liquid form), 5 days of the chemo Temador (capsule), and 2 days of the chemo Thiotepa (IV) and then have her stem cell rescue (transfusion) on Friday, Oct. 10th. We'll then stay at the Ronald McDonald House for 10 days. Since Lauren had to go into the hospital with a temperature during the past three chemo treatments, they are already anticipating that she'll be admitted into the hospital on Monday Oct. 13th. The good news is she should be home and feeling good for Halloween.

Other stuff:

Hilary saw Dr. Finlay in the hall yesterday after our appointment. She thanked him for everything he has done for us. He responded that that wasn't necessary. Just seeing how well Lauren is doing is his thanks and reward.

Lauren's Auntie Say Say (Sarah), who is a nurse at Long Beach Memorial Hospital and recently had a tumor removed, met with Dr. Finlay who prescribed a similar chemo treatment plan for Sarah with no radiation (Dr. Finlay is against radiation). When she mentioned to her co-workers (nurses and doctors), that she met with Dr. Finlay, she was a little disappointed that no one seemed to recognize Dr. Finlay's name. Finally, Sarah's PA (physician assistant) said, THAT DR. FINLAY?! You saw THAT DR. FINLAY! I didn't realize you meant, THAT DR. FINLAY! I've been to many of his seminars!! He's the best!! That really made us all feel good.

Starting Oct. 1st, parking at CHLA is increasing from $4 to $10 a day. While $10 may not seem that much, it's a 150% increase and when Sept. ends next week, we will have been to CHLA 18x this month.

During the 3rd cycle of chemo, it looks like we'll be spending Thanksgiving at the Ronald McDonald's House. Which isn't that bad, since we usually spend Thanksgiving at my in-laws. J/K, besides, I'm anticipating the Vernor and the Fitzsimmons clan to be coming up to the RMH for Thanksgiving anyways, which will be nice.

Lauren's next MRI is scheduled for Dec. 2nd. Since Lauren appears to be doing so well, Dr. Finlay thinks the MRI can wait until Dec.

Lauren's knee is still bothering her. She keeps falling down (in the gift shop, at our house, in the hall). Dr. Finlay doesn't think it's due to the chemo or steroids. He mentioned that the steroid, Decadron, can cause deterioration in the hip as well as mask infections. However, they don't want to fool with the dosage steroids until after Lauren's final round of chemo in November. He also doesn't think that an X-ray is necessary, since it doesn't appear broken, and there really isn't anything they can do about anything they find anyways since any kind of surgery would have to wait until after her final cycle of chemo.