Now that my vacation is over, I thought I'd better get back to work on Lauren's blog.

Baby Finlay and mommy are doing fine. Daddy is still tired though. I'm too old for this. I feel like Tony Randall. Just the fact I know who Tony Randall is gives you a hint as to how old I am (a lot of my co-workers have never even heard of him. Then again they've also never heard of Billy Ocean or Benji either). Except I really have nothing to complain about since mommy stays up with Finlay all night, having to pump every three hours anyway. Hilary has been allowing me to sleep with the other girls since there is no use for both of us to stay up all night, but I have a feeling that that arrangement is going to change soon.

Lauren was up at CHLA yesterday for labs and an appointment with a neurosurgeon. Believe it or not, this was her first appointment with a CHLA neurosurgeon. The only contact with a neurosurgeon have been with our previous neuro down at CHOC, which I believe we are still considered under his care. But we've never really needed to see a neurosurgeon since surgery will probably never be an option. However, because Lauren has a programmable shunt, a neurosurgeon (because of recent policy changes) always needs to check and reset the shunt after each MRI. Since the shunt is controlled by magnets and the MRI is a huge magnet (I always have to remove all metal stuff from my pockets and make sure I don't have my wallet with me when I go into the MRI room with Lauren since the MRI machine would demagnetize all my credit cards). A nurse practioner used to be able to check and reset her shunt before. The shunt pumps out the fluid in Lauren's skull, since her tumor blocks her ventricles, it prevent fluid from draining out. Other than a headaches, this was the main reason we discovered her tumor in the first place. The build-up of fluid caused her to have hydrocephalus. The neurosurgeon measured her head, checked out her facial features and had her walk back and forth. He thought she looked great.

Lauren's labs the past two visits have also been great. Her levels have improved after each visit. They are now relatively back to normal. After each visit they have lowered her steroid, Prednisone. She was on as much as 20 mg 3x a day. She is now down to 15 mg 2x a day. Me and Hilary can't wait for her to be off it. Since she was put on it (prednisone), she has gained 5 lbs. mostly in her tummy and face. It's pretty discouraging after she had come so far (being weened off her decadron, which she is down to .3 mg a day). It's heartbreaking to see how puffy she looks, to watch her struggle up stairs, to see her try and find clothes that fit her, to see her sitting by mommy and baby, not wanting to play on the jungle gym with Marissa.

To help her immune system, I have been feeding Lauren a lot of smoothies made up of fresh fruits (blueberries, strawberries, bananas, mangos) and acai powder. I am convinced this is helping her immune system. I've also talked with my friend Meri (who's daughter Caitlin is also battling the same type of tumor but in the back woods of Pennsylvania). She suggested giving Lauren some of Hilary's breast milk. My first thought was, "those crazy back-country Pennsylvanians." Funny how the thought of Lauren drinking Hilary's breast milk seems so unnatural (at least to me), yet it's okay to drink milk produced from a cow. But even before Meri suggested it, we were already thinking about giving Lauren a few ounces of it a day. Slip it into her chocolate milk. We figure Finlay can spare a wee bit, and it has to be loaded with a ton of nutrients. Hopefully this will help, if it doesn't we also heard that snake skin oil also helps. We're also thinking about slipping Auntie Say-Say a micky of breast milk, too.

Now about the results from her MRI on Nov. 4th. Dr. Finlay said he was relieved that the tumor is stable, having not grown any since the last MRI. He was worried since Lauren has been off chemo for so long now (over 4 months). However, he did mention that there was a small area of enhancement (during the MRI they do a spectroscopy, which measures activity inside the tumor. The more active an area is, the more it lights up). I asked if that could be from the steroids, since he told us prior to the MRI that the steroids could cause this effect. He said no, this was not related the steroids. He theorizes that it shows that the tumor is either alive and active ,or dying in this area. He does think that we do need to get Lauren back on chemo though (which she started again last Wed). Especially the chemo, Avastin, which is supposed to block the blood supply to the tumor (or something like that). She is also on Irinotecan. He has stopped her Temador, which affects her immune system for now.