We’re home and loving it! Maggie is resting much better in her own bed. Her discomfort is low – mostly when she moves around – and she is handling drain maintenance like a pro without help. She’s a champ. We originally thought we would be returning for an early Wednesday procedure, but the appointment is actually Friday morning at 6:00 am. We’ll drive over Thursday afternoon and stay through Saturday morning – at a hotel. No admission should be needed. (Insert prayers for no complications) The procedure will involve doctors from both Interventional Radiology (IR) and GI. They’ll be working through the drain opening and endoscopically to internalize the drain, place a stent, and biopsy the liver tumor. The tissue taken during biopsy will allow the most up-to-date sampling of the genetic make-up. This information may lead oncologists to customize treatment for maximum efficacy.

We’ll be using the next few days to catch up and get ahead as our schedule is about to be full. We had planned vacation for early May before the new activity on the liver was discovered. For most of our stay at UAB last week, it looked like we would need to cancel. We were reassured by her oncologist that her next planned infusion could be delayed a few days without any setbacks, so….vacation is on. After that, we’ll be continuing the current treatments with possible additions as her liver can tolerate. Our hope is still for a clinical trial, and we’ll be discussing this with UAB and MDA as her liver function returns to normal.

Over the Edge with Friends was a huge success. The donation total is nearing $200,000. Team Maggie is responsible for $10,700 of that! Thank you for your generosity. Molly bravely stepped in for Maggie and loved the experience. I’m posting a picture of her taken when she hit the ground. We’ll post a video of the team when Molly finishes it.18057162_408022462899621_1562470440996533446_n-min

Thank you for all the encouraging messages and for hanging with us through a harrowing week. We know we have a long way to go to shrink this tumor and stop the spread. With God, all things are possible. With you, all things are endurable.