The rate of Anya

We keep on moving at the rate of Anya.  In the last few weeks, the new things she has added to her growing list of activities are violin and yoga.  She alternates between serenading us with her violin skills and showing off her mountain or dog pose.  She still has tap and ballet class once a week, and if there is ever some time spent hanging around the house, she will be engaged in some sort of craft, such as beading, painting, or sewing.  She has an adventurous spirit and is happy to try new things.  She is growing up too, and wanting to be her own person.  Her favorite colors are no longer red and purple, but now green and orange, though she chooses to wear turquoise most often.  While she still likes giraffes, they may not hold the favorite position any longer, she has learned that there are a lot of interesting animals out there, and she does not want to be tied to just one.

Her self confidence has served her well in the past month, as she has met many stares and been asked numerous times about her eye.  Normally, she answers with, "I had my eye removed," and most kids don't ask anything else.  I heard one curious child ask her "why?"  Anya was busy getting on a zip line at the time.  She got herself ready, then said, "because I have retinoblastoma," and zipped off.  She doesn't seem to mind too much when people ask, though I can see with her body language that sometimes it is easier than others.  I agree.  Today at yoga, we walked in the door and two girls stared and stared.  One finally asked her mother in a voice loud enough for the whole room to hear, "What happened to her eye?"  Seconds later, a friend of Anya's walked in, gave her a big hug and said, "So how is that eye feeling for you now?"  The tone of the question and obvious care behind it was so much easier to take.

I am hopeful that this week will bring some answers.  We have yet to receive the final results from the pathology report.  Anya will see the surgeon on Wednesday, and we will further discuss the possibilities of why she is not opening her eye.  We had some correspondence with him last week and found out that he has never encountered this before.  Later that same day, Anya will have an MRI.  This is not an additional MRI, rather what she receives every six months.  The doctors moved it up a couple weeks, not because they believe there is any cause for alarm, but after all that we have been through in the last month, thought it might give us some peace of mind.