Game plan for tomorrow...

Hey everybody,

I hope you all had a great weekend. It was such a welcome break for us to all be home, and it was obvious that Levi enjoyed it too. He is doing much better, and is laughing, playing, and talking like a little 15 month old boy should. He also has his appetite back, which is great to see as he has lost some weight in the last few weeks. Here's a picture Steph snapped yesterday while he was out on one of his wagon rides. He still isn't interested in walking or crawling though, and either wants to be held or hang out in his bouncy seat or high chair.

Today we took him down to Indianapolis again for a consultation with the doctor that will be performing his open biopsy. We had to go down to IU Health main campus, which made us very thankful that up until this point we've been able to stay on the north side at the Riley in Carmel. We didn't realize Meridian was all torn up (or that it would take an old Indian guide to find the right building once we were there).

The doctor seemed to think that LCH was the most likely diagnosis at this point, but obviously we need the biopsy before we can confirm anything. He originally wanted to perform the biopsy next Friday, but our reactions must have made it evident that we thought this was too long to wait. So, they performed some sort of scheduling magic and got us in tomorrow.

So the game plan for now is that we will head back down to Indy tomorrow morning. We should be at the downtown Riley Hospital around noon, and the surgery is scheduled for 1:30pm. This one will be a little different than the ones in the past, since they will actually make an incision and remove a piece of bone. They are planning on doing this in his right arm. It is scheduled as an outpatient procedure, so we are hopeful that we will be able to come home after he is out of recovery. He will be sore, but I know he will rest and recover better at home than in a hospital room. But, we will probably take overnight clothes just in case, as we've been down that road before (hopefully if we take them we won't need them)... We were told today that we should know some prelim results tomorrow. I hope they were serious about that part.

Thank you for your continued prayers, love, and support. Thanks to those who have brought us meals, helped pay for gas, and even mowed our lawn (I have the best neighbors ever). We are humbled by your faithfulness and generosity. Please pray expectantly for good results from the biopsy, strength for our little Levi (he won't be able to eat after midnight tonight), wisdom and guided hands for the doctors and nurses, and peace, patience, and the strength to overcome doubt and unbelief for this tired mommy and daddy.

We love you all, and will keep you updated as soon as we know anything.

Michael, Stephanie, Caylee, and little Levi