11-05-04 - Hello again! Beth had a great Halloween. We did the trick-or-treat thing and then, as tradition would have it, went over to Grandma Mimi's house for chili. Beth dressed as a cowgirl (very cute) and Mikey wore a little skeleton costume. Beth has been feeling good but had a bout with a bug and stayed home from school on Tuesday. She is better now and we are crossing our fingers that we all don't get the same thing. Beths chemo angel, Angel Darla, flew in from sunny Florida today to stay with us for a few days and visit with Beth. The two of them are going to the mall for a girls shopping day on Saturday. Yesterday was my first day back at work after my 12 day vacation. It was nice being off with the family. Nothing else really new at this point but we will keep you posted.
11-12-04 - Well, it's official! Beth got all A's on her report card!!! Man are we proud of her. She and Jen went together today and got a head start on the Christmas shopping. I guess they had a ball. I bought Beth her very own snowmobile today. I think she is excited about it but doesn't like the cold very much. I will take her and buy a really good snowmobile suit so she can stay toasty warm while riding. All we need now is some snow which I'm sure isn't very far away. I love Michigan! The hospital called a couple of days ago to schedule Beth's next MRI scans. The doctor only ordered a brain MRI this time but I told the MRI nurse to call the doctor and tell her we are demanding a spinal MRI as well. The brain MRI will be on Saturday, December 4th. I told the MRI nurse to put us in a time slot at 10:30 AM on Sunday, December 5th for the spinal MRI....because we WILL be having one! Beth is doing well and feeling good. She woke up throwing up a couple of days ago which always puts me on pins and needles......but she has been fine since. It's a wonder our kids aren't sick all of the time. I was waiting outside Beth's class for her the other day and all I heard throughout the school was sniffling, sneezing and coughing. We are gearing up for Thanksgiving....I took off from work for the day. I bought a big electric inflatable Thanksgiving lawn turkey for the yard. It just looked to bare after all of the Halloween stuff was put away. As usual, the thoughts and prayers are appreciated. Take care till next time!
11-14-04 - This has been a great weekend! We were given tickets to go see the Barnum & Bailey Circus and also a suite to use at the Palace. What a great show. Beth invited several friends who came with us. Today Beth, Mikey and I went to a train yard where we were met by an engineer friend of ours, Don Steele. What a great guy! We got to go up in the tower at the yard and then we went aboard an actual locomotive. After this we went to another area where we all actually got our turn at driving a locomotive. Mikey went nuts!!! For those of you who don't know....Mikey is a train fanatic and it is all he has been talking about since we left. I posted some of the train pictures on the fall 2k4 pics page.
11-21-04 - Is it almost Thanksgiving already?!!!! We have been having fun around the Simsack house. Today I got most of the outside Christmas lights up........what a job! I only have one more pine tree left to do. Beth stayed inside making thank you cards for her birthday gifts. Mikey has been bugging her most of the day. Beth is feeling good and will be going through a test at the endocrinologist, as her bone age came back at 12 yrs. The doctor was hoping it would come back at about 10 yrs. which would give us a longer window to give growth hormone. This is not the case however and I believe Beth will be started on growth hormone soon. She may get a drug called Lupron which is used to supress puberty so that growth hormone can be given longer. Once puberty sets in....you can pretty much forget growth hormone. The the issue is very important to get going on for Beth. Our doctor at Children's Hospital doesn't want to do spinal MRI's anymore. This kills me because they are the ones who told us that she had recurred in the spine in April of 2003. The second opinion at St. Jude's said NO WAY. Our doctor / hospital has never, to this day, recanted and admitted they were wrong. But now all of a sudden they don't think spinal MRI scans are needed. It's funny the way doctors try to cover each others butts. I guess that to admit error is to be sued in their eyes. Anyway......nothing else new. Brain MRI is on 12 / 4. Spinal is still up in the air at this point. Have a great Thanksgiving everyone! Gobble Gobble!!!!!
11-28-04 - Thanksgiving was awesome!!! We had four inches of snow Thanksgiving morning and everything was beautiful outside. Mikey and I cranked up the snowmobiles and went riding for a couple of hours in the morning before taking off for Thanksgiving lunch with Jenni's side of the family. We left there and returned home at which time I prepared another traditional Thanksgiving meal. My dad joined us. It was a very fun and relaxing day. Beth didn't choose to venture out into the snow with Mikey and I, as she was very cozy inside by the fire. Beth and Mikey both went outside to play on Friday together. Both were rolling around in the snow, making snow angels and a big snowman. It was great to see. Beth and I leave early tomorrow (Monday) morning for Children's Hospital for several blood tests which were described in the previous post. We should be done by 11 A.M. so that leaves plenty of time to get back home and then to work. We have had a crazy flu bug going around our house. It seems that as soon as we all kick it, the first person who had it (one of the kids) starts passing something else. I'm starting to feel a little under the weather...UUGGHH! Anyway, keep Beth in your thoughts and prayers reference the testing tomorrow and also her MRI scan on December 4th. Several children of people we know through an email group are having a rough time. Also, a couple of little ones will be having MRI scans around the same time as Beth. Names aren't important, however, it is important that we say prayers for them. Thanks so much.
12-6-04 - Beth's MRI results were "Clean as a whistle". I just got what I wanted for Christmas! Thanks everyone for the thoughts and prayers. Beth is doing well. We went to Davison yesterday where our friend Jonathan Rand was doing a book signing. We visited with he and his wife for a bit. I even bought one of his scary novels. Beth really wanted to see him again, as he visited our home when Beth was in chemo and we all became friends. She if feeling really good and is still doing very well in school. We should find out the results of the endocrinology tests sometime this week and Jenni is taking Beth to her Neuro-Oncology appointment this Thursday. We will address the spinal MRI issue then. We are happy and enjoying the Christmas season. Talk to you soon.......thanks for visiting.
12-19-04 - What a great holiday season we have had so far! All the shopping is done and the presents are wrapped. There is snow on the ground with more falling right now. The house and yard is lit up like........well.........a Christmas tree! Speaking of Christmas trees, ours has been up for a couple of weeks and we decorated it as a family. Yesterday Beth, Mikey and I went to the downtown area of Holly where they block off the streets for the "Dickens Festival". It is very neat! They performed a condensed version of A Christmas Carol in the middle of the street with the characters in full costume of the time period. There were tons of vendors who were also in costume selling everything from roast chestnuts (very different tasting.....kind of like mashed potatoes with maple syrup) to hot chocolate. We roamed the town which seemed to have gone back in time. We took a horse and buggy ride around the town and then went to a steak house downtown for dinner. What a great day! When we came home it had grown dark already and I fired up Mikey's snowmobile. He had a blast riding around the yard trying to dodge the snowballs that Beth and I were launching at him. We then came inside and watched TV by the fire for a couple of hours before going to bed. Both kids were very tired and fell asleep quickly. About 15 minutes later Beth knocked on our door complaining that Mikey's snoring was keeping her awake. I went in to check on him and he was really snoring loudly. The little shaver had a stuffed up nose. Beth is feeling great and has been eating very well. She is up to 75 pounds now. Friday was the two year anniversary of Beth's diagnosis. We didn't dwell on it because that would only make one think about and long for the past. We are looking ahead to the future with no turning back. There are some new pics on the latest page. Thank you for keeping us all in your prayers. Have a great holiday season.
1-4-05 - Sorry it has taken me so long to update. We all had a great Christmas. Santa brought Beth the electric guitar she has been wanting and Mikey got a motorcycle! It was a very enjoyable holiday season for the whole family. I will be putting some Christmas pics on the latest page so check back. Beth has been battling a bug for the past few days but seems to have stomped it out. Her stomach had been queezy and she had a coupel of headaches which automatically made us nervous. She felt fine and attended school all day yesterday with no problems. Beth's endocrinologist called Jenni yesterday and stated that, based on the tests in November, that he would like to get Beth on growth hormone soon. She is 4'7" and the doctors goal is to get her up to 5'.........thats five inches of hormone induced growing she will be doing. The doctor said that we would probably see a big growth spurt after about three months on the growth hormone. On the down side, the radiation has damaged Beth's ovaries and the doctor told Jenni that Beth wouldn't have children "the conventional way". So, there are medical options should Beth choose to travel that path later in life. The growth hormone will consist of a shot which we will have to give Beth six days of the week. It is my understanding that there is a quick and easy applicator to do this and it shouldn't be a big deal. We will be waiting until after the next MRI to start the growth hormone which will be sometime in March. And that's about it for now! Hope you all had a great holiday season.
