Good News Confirmed :)

At my appointment on August 8th at UCSF, my doctor confirmed what I had been told by Kaiser, that my tumor has not grown since my last MRI or in the 6 months since I started on this new drug! My doctor even thinks that there's a possibility that it has shrunk a little. It is a little hard to tell when comparing the 2 MRI's, but side by side, some of the blobs look slightly smaller :) And regarding the possible new growth that Kaiser had mentioned, my doctor at UCSF said he couldn't see what they were talking about and dismissed it as either nonexistent or nothing to worry about. He was still very excited that I'm having so few side effects!

Tomorrow my mom and I are driving up to Oregon to be in another walk with the National Brain Tumor Society in Portland on Saturday, August 20th. My Uncle Jim has organized a team called Walking with Laurie and it is sponsored by his nonprofit horse rescue, HyTyme Equine Rescue. If you are interested in joining us at the walk or making a donation, you can find our team page at the following link:

http://www.braintumorcommunity.org/site/TR?pg=team&fr_id=1665&team_id=47643

Asimportant as this walk is to me and the work of the NBTS, I feel just as passionate about the selfless work that my Uncle Jim, his family and all of his volunteers do for the sake of helping horses who can't help themselves. This ambitious undertaking and the staggering costs of feeding and rehabilitating the rescued horses has seen Hytyme face extremely difficult financial times recently. My uncle is one of the most compassionate people I know and it would mean the world to him to be able to continue the important work HyTyme is doing to help horses in need. If you are interested in finding out more about helping rescued horses or to make a donation, please click on the following link:

http://www.hytymeequinerescue.org/HyTymeEquineRescue/About.html

I'mreally looking forward to this trip up north :) Mom and I will be visiting lots of our friends and family up in Oregon, staying near Bend, on Mt. Hood and in Portland, and I'm going to get to see a couple good friends of mine from high school! My dad and Zach are flying up on Friday and will join us in the walk on Saturday. I know that this walk will be just as amazing as the San Francisco one and I can't wait to see everybody!

I have to finish packing because we're leaving at the crack of dawn, so I must put myself to bed now, but I hope that this post finds you all happy and healthy and enjoying this lovely summer :)

I will let you all know how the walk went when we get back. Hopefully we'll be blessed by the sun gods and be spared the Portland drizzle that reminds me so much of my childhood ;-)

XOXO,
Laurie