Nothing new...

(This is the super duper belated picture that Paulie was supposed to send us like 2 months ago of most of the family at Thanksgiving. Our friends Ligaya, Chuck, Mia, Tita Lucy, and Frank also celebrated with us in addition to the fam! )

Really, nothing new to report. Joli is doing awesome and is having an incredible round post-chemo. We're gearing up for her last one (which, surprisingly is in 2 weeks already!). She's loving her V-Smile video system thanks to Pops and Grammy, and she truly is rockin' it! Lola and Lolo even went out and bought her the portable one so she can use it at their house and at the hospital. She has somehow collected just about all of the games at this point.... Jorge and I actually like playing the games, too!

"Baby Sister" is doing well in utero. She's keeping me up at night (in addition to Jorge, Joli and Gordon's snoring) doing flips and flops. I'm flying into my 3rd trimester next week -- We can't even believe that in less than 3 months we'll have another little Talusan-Vega keeping us busy!

So, nothing really new to report, which, honestly, is kinda refreshing...!
-Liza

It's the 17th~ Joli is officially 2 1/2 years old

30 lbs (she lost some weight since last chemo) and exactly 3 feet tall!

Tonight, Joli decided -- somewhere between Lola's house and our house -- to turn her prosthesis upside down. Because she couldn't figure out how to turn it right-side-up again, we had to take it out. This time, though, we let Joli try and take it out, wash it and play with it a bit before putting it back in (we figure that's good "ownership" for her and great for her self-confidence).

We have her "17th" face shot and body shot. That prosthesis looks pretty darn good, huh? And, the body shot... well, Joli's getting tired of doing this Tigger thing. She's done it exactly 30 times in her life!! (1x a month). But, I promised we'd keep going until she's, oh, 18 years old. Whadda you think?

Enjoy!
ps.. check out this article Connecticut College did on Joli and the funraiser De and Chase put together http://www.conncoll.edu/news/enews/jan06-1.html

Some pics...

This was taken during Joli's Round 5 chemo. We pretty much stay in bed during the actual chemotherapy and go to the playroom when Joli is just getting her saline drip. (Yes, that is a tall cup of coffee in her hand..... empty of course). There is also a picture of her cousin Gavin and Tita Mari visiting from California during the Christmas break. We're so glad they got to visit before Joli went into chemo!

QUICK CHECK IN....

Joli's in chemotherapy right now and doing awesome. I'm home (Jorge and I alternate overnights) and left in great spirits because Joli was resting comfortably. This round has probably been the best out of all of them -- she's eating well, sleeping well, pooping well (sorry.. but if you check the December 17th posts, you'll see why that is so darn important to us!), and in good spirits. She's been a little lethargic and "flat" as I call it, but otherwise doing awesome!

We always count our blessings while we're there... you know, you think you "have it rough" until you meet any one of those families and children on a pediatric hospital floor - especially the little ones with cancer. Our roommate at the hospital is 5 years old and has leukemia, and he is going through an extremely tough battle for his health. That family is especially in our thoughts and prayers tonight...

Joli will be home tomorrow, and then, HURRAH, round 5 will be all over!! Big party. As Joli likes to say "Oh, yeah, baaaby!"

Thanks for thinking of us. Please say a little prayer, if you can, for all the little kids with cancer out there who are fighting for more than we can ever understand....

SO FAR SO GOOD!

Sorry everyone... I know people have been checking the blog a lot today to see what has happened with Joli's exam. We've just been so exhausted and spent most of the day sleeping!

I'll get to the good news ... Dr. Mukai did NOT find any tumors in her left eye nor in the right eye socket! Hurray! Hurray! Hurray!!! We can breathe a little bit easier. He says he doesn't really anticipate anything to develop. -- Yeah -- Jorge and I have learned our lesson, though, and we still "pray for the best.. brace for the worst...." But, I guess that comes along with being a parent, right? People say you never get a good night sleep ever again!

We'll go back for another EUA again in April... and then we need to start bringing "baby sister" in when she reaches 2 weeks old. He'll follow the new baby very closely - even though he is confident we don't have the genetic form of retinoblastoma. But, it's good to know he's very cautious and very careful!

Okay, our day started at about 5:00am when Jorge and I woke up to get ready. ery tough after not sleeping that night... The alarm went off, and Jorge said, "Are you kidding? It's already time to get up???" Joli was up by 6:00am (and, in a good mood, thankfully, even when we told her we had to go to the hospital), and we were out by 6:15am. The check-in room was pretty crowded already with lots of kids - so I'm sure it was comforting for her to see other children her age. The nurse who had helped her back in October was very surprised at how much Joli had grown both physically and emotionally! Even Dr. Mukai was surprised at how "healthy" she looked! Joli cooperated about 98% ... she fought a bit when they had to put the drops in (which, c'mon, is really a horrible "flashback" moment for her-- the last time someone held her down to put drops, she got her eye taken out!!). Jorge brought her into the operating room (I'm banned because I'm pregnant). About 30 minutes later Dr. Mukai came out and told us the great news!

Anesthsia is always a bummer thing. Joli had a really hard time coming out of it -- although, much better than any other time. When she wakes up, she can't really see and is still in a "sleep funk", so Jorge and I do our best to be firm yet patient with her to get her dressed. Once we got home, though, Joli was great. We all crawled into bed, watched a few movies, and took a really really long nap.

Thanks for everyone's well wishes and prayers! We head into chemotherapy on Thursday, so I probably won't "blog" until after the weekend.

THANKS FOR ALL YOUR EMAILS, PHONE CALLS AND LETTERS!!!!!!

-liza, jorge, joli and 'baby sister' (as Joli calls her)

BIG WEEK COMING UP...

As if the holidays aren't chaotic enough, we have a big week ahead for Joli. On Tuesday, she'll go in for her second Exam Under Anesthesia (EUA). Her doctor will put her to sleep and then explore her eye to see whether or not any tumors have "seeded" or developed. We'll do this every three months for about a year or so; then, we go to exams about 2x a year; then we go to 1x a year when she gets a little older (like 4 years old). On Thursday, she'll go back in for chemotherapy -- ROUND 5! Of course, we're holding our breaths (and praying a whooooole lot) that we get good news on Tuesday.

So, looking to Tuesday: The BEST news would be that there are no tumors and that we'll be done with chemotherapy next month. The ICKY news would be that the doctors find tumors... and that would mean radiation or additional chemotherapy. Pleeeeease, God. Pleeeease let Joli be done with all this!!!

So, whether you pray, you send "good vibes", or you just keep us in your thoughts, please send some good old emotional/spiritual/friendship support her way this week. Our family, specifically, believes in the power of prayer, and we hope that we get good news this week. We also know God won't send us anything we can't handle... so we're preparing for whatever news we get, you know?

In the meantime, Joli is "incredible..." no doubt.