Champion Anya

Yesterday's exam brought good news.  No change whatsoever in her right eye, and the left eye has slightly responded to the laser treatment.  The doctor showed us some pictures of that tumor from yesterday and from December.  To my eye, the changes are incredibly difficult to detect.  As I have said previously, this tumor seems to not follow any rules.  Yesterday was the sixth time the doctor has lasered it.  He told us that most tumors he is able to get with two or three laser treatments.  He said he wants to just zap it and have it die, which is what we all want, and he is getting frustrated that he cannot do that.  But, there are no new growths, and even if it is slow to die, it is dying, so he is still making forward progress.

Anya will have an EUA in four weeks, and yet another four weeks after that.  At that point it will be just a week away from a year since her diagnosis.  When we first started with this doctor, he said it would be approximately a year before these two tumors were under control.  While I echo his frustration with this tumor and I start to get impatient, I try to remain optimistic that come May we will have better news.

Anya was a champion yesterday, as she always is.  She never ceases to amaze the hospital staff with what a good patient she is, and yesterday she was at her best.  It is the events of today, though, that have Anya announcing, "I am a champion!"  Some fabulous friends lent us a two wheeler bike and in three sessions on it this morning, she has nearly mastered it.  She is absolutely loving riding a bike and she so very humbly puts it, "I am a pro, aren't I?  I am a champion."  A champion, indeed, I say.  She is the bravest, strongest girl I know.