the past two weeks have been a whirlwind of activity … arielle graduated from 8th grade and went to washington dc with her class.  isabelle had her culmination from kindergarten and is now a 1st grader. tomorrow is the end of the school year.  in between all of that, i’ve been in contact with the surgeon to schedule when they will be removing her portacath.

arielle did beautifully in dc.  tina and shannon watched over her so very carefully (thanks tina and shannon for watching my baby!!!!) and her classmates watched over her as well (thanks guys!  i’m truly touched).  her hardest day was the first and the time change was a challenge.  she is tired and slept (almost) all day on saturday.  she’s still feeling the effects of the trip and often falls asleep when she’s just sitting around.  but she is definitely doing well and her energy is slowly coming back.

arielle is scheduled to go into surgery on friday, june 18th.  her portacath is the biggest reminder we have of her illness and now she is scheduled to have it removed.  she’s not looking forward to getting iv’s instead of accessing her port, but it’s removal is our biggest sign that she is indeed getting better and on her way to recovery.  it is an outpatient surgery and i am expecting her to come home the same day, assuming there are no complications.

we are going out of town tomorrow and taking a mini vacation before her surgery on friday.  we won’t see many of you again until school begins in the fall.  i can never say thank you enough to all of you for all the love and support.  we hope you all have a wonderful, relaxing summer!