The best news...

We are home from Rochester and have wonderful news to share. We saw Dr. Korones today and we were told that although the "bulk" or "mass" of the tumor is still in Michael's head and will always be there, it is dead. When there are tumor cells that are "alive" (actively growing and dividing) they show up white in the MRI because they absorb the contrast dye the radiologists use during testing. When the cells are "dead" they don't absorb the dye so they don't "light up". Michael had NO white in his MRI!!

Dr. Korones said that there will always be a chance that the tumor could come back but that based on the history of how Michael's tumor reacted to chemo, he thinks that it is less likely to come back. The game plan now is Micheal's antibiotic once a month for six months in Syracuse, back to Rochester for an MRI on August 13th and then every three months after that for a year. If everything goes well during that time, we then go to MRI's every six months for a while and then eventually every year.

It feels like we have come to the end of this leg of our journey and hopefully it was the most difficult part. This seems like a good point to convert this blog to a book for Michael to have and keep when he gets older. I will continue to post on here to keep everyone updated but it may not be as regularly. We are still on the hunt for a puppy and we also have the Make-A-Wish Walk for Wishes in a couple of weeks. Michael's birthday is around the same time, then t-ball is in June and soccer is in July. And let's not forget Kindergarten graduation! We have also rented a house on the beach in Cape Cod and will be spending a week there doing nothing (and loving every minute of it). I will make sure to share all of those things with all of you.

In the meantime, I want to thank everyone for their positive thoughts and prayers. Jeff and I believe that you all helped us achieve our positive outcome and without all of the support we have received, this may have all turned out differently. And we would like to ask that you continue to keep Michael in your thoughts and prayers. Take care, JoAnne.