Merry Christmas!

So, I still haven't gotten great at updating. Thank you for loving us and supporting us anyway. So many of you still reach out with love, prayers, support, donations, meals, laundry, and many other ways that you feel called. It's been a long journey, and your still walking along with us! For that we are so grateful! There are so many people that we would like to just run up and hug. Please know that each and every one of you are in our prayers as we travel through this journey!

We have had a busy November and December. We got Sarah and Daniel down to Cincinnati Children's a few times for routine things. Bone marrow biopsies and brain MRIs are looking good. We're waiting to go over Sarah's latest glucose tolerance test. Our hopes are that she is still consistently tolerating glucose. We'll see what the tests show in the near future here. We are blessed with amazing nurses and doctors that have known our children for years now. We are so grateful for their care. We have some upcoming urology tests for Daniel in a couple weeks. We are excited to see how Daniel's body is responding to all of the urological help that he has received over the years. Stay tuned to find out more later.

We had a wonderful treat to end our Advent Season with. Our wonderful parish community youth group served our family by decorating Sarah & Daniel's room, touching up some paint in our dining room, pulling weeds, and spreading all-round Christmas cheer. It was such a blessing! I will try to attach some photos, but I am technically challenged.

I had a PET scan a few weeks ago. This unfortunately revealed why there has been an increase in my pain. The metastasis has spread in both my hips, but prominently in the right hip, in my lower spine, and in my adrenal gland. With this in mind, we changed the chemo that I will be receiving. We got a heavy hitter on board again. I will more than likely lose all my hair. I received my first dose on the 21st of December. I was pretty sick with a headache and nausea on Sunday - Christmas morning. It is not really known what caused this bout of illness. It may be a reaction to the chemo, it may be something else in my body, it may be changes in cancer, only time and tests will tell. I went to the ER Christmas Eve to get my pain under control, and was admitted that night. With my pain better controlled I was home by early Christmas afternoon. While it was the first time that we missed Christmas Mass, we felt God's healing and holy presence among us. Anthony and our older boys did an amazing job holding down the fort, and getting the rest of the Christmas gifts wrapped an in order. We then had a beautiful Christmas dinner together with Anthony's parents and got to speak to our siblings and my dad and his bride by phone as well.

As a whole our family continues to be blessed. I know it is hard to explain or understand, but through carrying our cross, we have been blessed by so many. Ryan and Kyle continue to step up to the plate and help in ways that are so amazing. Our family and friends continue to carry us through so much of these hard times. We are so grateful for each of you. We know that God has not caused this suffering, but we know that He continues to work through all of you so we can feel His love. We will continue to keep you updated as we can!

Much love & Merry Christmas!

Elisa, Anthony & our family