Surgery

We need our army of prayer warriors! Isabella is having her surgery at 1:30 tomorrow. Today we met with the surgeon, Dr. DeCou, and he feels that a laparoscopic approach would be too risky because Izzy's tumor is complicated and is "nested" within a network of nerves, blood vessels and her illiac artery. He will be doing an open surgery because he feels it is a safer approach, although the healing time and risk of infection are greater. Please pray for Dr. DeCou and his team, we hope that the surgery is successful to remove 100% of the tumor.

We also met with the Neurologist, Dr. Arndt, today. He gave us the proposed treatment plan for Izzy's Opsoclonus-myoclonus syndrome. It is extensive and expensive, and there are serious side effects. It is scary and unnerving.

Izzy's MIBG scan was today, which is to determine is there are any other signs of cancer in her body. We don't have the results back yet, we should know more tomorrow morning. We are waiting and trusting God for good news.

It was a busy day! We also met with Dr. Sholler, who will be overseeing the research study of the tissue obtained from Izzy's surgery tomorrow to study its genetic makeup. This research may be helpful for her treatment plan, or it may help other kids in the future. Please pray for an advancement in the treatment, cure or even the prevention of Neuroblastoma as a result of this research. No family should have to endure this, we pray that the word "childhood cancer" can be wiped out of our vocabulary some day.

In the past 2 weeks Izzy has had numerous IVs, an MRI, lumbar puncture, CT Scan, bone scan, bone marrow draw, echo cardiogram, several sedations (with 10-12 hours or more of fasting before each one), multiple lab tests, countless checks of her vitals, 3 days of IVIG 10 hour treatments, an MIBG scan, steroids, anti-nausea medication...she has lost her mobility, suffered an extreme lack of sleep and she has been diagnosed with a condition that affects only ONE in TEN MILLION children. Her little world has been flipped upside down and inside out. Yet, somehow, our little trooper is still smiling and cracking us up with her silly antics. Everyone who meets her tells us what a "joy" she is, without even knowing that her middle name is Joy. We adore her, our hearts ache for her, we just want her to be better. We know God is hearing our prayers, we know he has special plans for her.

We would like to thank you for praying for Isabella and our family. We are so blessed to have an amazing support system of family, friends and our church, River Rock. We are also so grateful for our employers, Apco Inc. and For Rent Media Solutions, for being so supportive through this experience. We could not get through this without your love and encouragement.

We will do our best to send out an update right away after Izzy's surgery tomorrow. Thank you for praying throughout the day for Isabella, we know there are hundreds of people joining us in our prayers and it means so much to us!

Thanks to my dad for this passage and quote for today:
"Yea, the LORD will give that which is GOOD." Psalm 85:12

"Don't rely on yesterday's grace for tomorrow. Trust God for each day". Lloyd Barcroft (Izzy's Papa)

God bless,

Tom and Karen