One Day at A Time

  I have received several emails or phone calls regarding updates on the answers the doctor was able to give with the urine test Andrew had a week and a half ago. Basically, when I finally was able to talk to the oncologist, his words were, "I find Andrew's test very baffling." When Andrew was first diagnosed, this test number was a 17. Right before the tumor was taken out it was a 22. Last month when he had his physical screening, the number was 13 and this month.....well, it is a 30.7. The doctor is perplexed as to how Andrew' numbers could have jumped that high after a great month last month including a clear MRI. Needless to say, Thursday evening was a very stressful, upsetting evening for me. I cried like never before with fear of the cancer returning and having to go back through the whole thing all over again. When I would lay down to try to go to sleep, my mind would race as if in fast forward with images of the hospital, chemo treatments, shots, hairloss, and many others. I was close to a panic attack several times. After a wonderful talk with my mom and a calming embrace from Rick, I finally drifted off to sleep.
 The next day, Friday, was filled with plans to get another urine test up to the hospital as quick as possible for a retest. One of our research friends assured me that diet, antibiotics, stress and other factors can affect this test. The nurse that was at UVA even mentioned both how wonderful Andrew looked and also how lab tests can get messed up all the time. A retest was the thing to do. So, I loaded Andrew and Becca into the car and drove over the mountian with a fresh sample in a brown, cooled bag. An interesting side note...Andrew was very excited to show off "his hospital" and bounded all over the place once we got there. Becca on the other hand was thinking about many things. She would sit quietly in the car on the way up and all of a sudden come up with a question about Andrew's crib at the hospital or whether we had to stay there or if this would hurt Andrew. She still thinks about the time when he was sick and gets nervous. Anyway, after I dropped the sample off and spoke to the most helpful, wonderful nurse, I was feeling better. My thoughts are that it is a misread or mistested sample and things will be fine. We have to wait a whole week to get results back because the test had to be sent to Minnesota...who knows why. In the meantime, the oncologist is trying to move up Andrew's June scans to May just to be on the safe side. He still feels confident there were no variables in the tests, but can't tell me why the numbers are so high. He just wants to be safe. I am fine with that.
 I ask that you would just continue to pray. Pray that nothing would come back alarming. Pray for clear scans and clear eyes to interpret the tests. Please pray for our hearts as we wait this week for the news. The nights are the worst for me. Pray that we would continue to walk by faith and trust in the God that has already paved this way for us. We will keep you updated and thank you again for staying involved during this ordeal. We need it!