At Tillie's appointment in December, Dr. Irwin informed us that she would be finished with treatment in January! You could have knocked us over with a feather! We had no idea. Maintenance is 2 years and we thought she had started that in July 2011. But it's based on the Interim Maintenance Phase which started January 2011. What a HUGE surprise and blessing. Still not quite grasping it all, we thought her last IV treatment would be January 18th. Oral chemo finished on the 10th..so when we went to her appointment on the 18th, there was no IV chemo! SHE IS FINISHED!!!!!
This is Dr. Irwin, the best pediatric oncologist out there..in my humble opinion! He loves what he does and he loves his patients! What a wonderful human being and a huge blessing from God! We can't imagine this journey without him!
Here is Tillie and Dryden. Dryden is 4 and was diagnosed a few weeks after Tillie and it was her last day too! It was also princess wing day at the clinic. There are so many generous people who donate all kinds of things to make this whole process easier for the kids and their families.
Tillie and Ravis..."sharing"
Here is Robyn, the Child Life Specialist here with Tillie..she's there to help the kids in any way possible. If I wasn't able to be at an appointment and Emily needed help, Robyn was there. She does arts and crafts with the kids, plays with them...she's wonderful!
And Ravis! What a trooper this little guy has been...Two thirds of his life has been a sibling of a cancer patient..in the early days of this adventure he was bounced around from place to place and has done so well!!! He's 3 1/2 now!
Where else do you have your exam while looking out at all the birds in the yard!
This says it all!!! Thanks to Uncle DJ for making Tillie's sign!
Where does Tillie go from here? Some parents find the end of treatment a scary time, but Emily and Anthony (and the rest of us) are so glad it's finished! Tillie will have monthly check ups and blood draws for a year..then every 3 months, 6 months and finally she gets down to once a year! In the beginning Tillie was a high risk for relapse because of her initial blood counts, but she is also considered a rapid responder because after her first treatment the number of cells with cancer went from 80% to 20%!!! Dr. Irwin has repeatedly said a couple of things...one was that Tillie has far exceeded everything he could hope for and he's also said that it's Tillie...anything can happen! When she had the staph infection at the beginning, Dr. Irwin had never seen anything like that..You may recall she had a few hospital stays because her numbers dropped when she got sick...Her ANC count was all over the board during treatment and Dr. Irwin would say..."That's Tillie!"
After her appointment, she and Ravis were running around while we were waiting for a prescription at the pharmacy. (She will be on antibiotics for 6 more months)..We were talking with the social worker and she said Tillie would be at full strength in about 6 months...and then she laughed..Tillie has been going at full strength through most of her treatment! God has blessed this little girl with such a fighting spirit. She is an amazing person..We started calling her Tornado Tillie long before she got ill and that nickname became a character trait that was instrumental in her fight!
The journey is winding down, but we will continue to keep you updated here and on her Facebook page. We are so thankful to all of you for your love, prayers, support, etc! We couldn't have done this without all of you!
We want to leave you with this video of Tillie singing "I Cast All My Cares Upon You." This was several months before she got sick. I think it was prophetic!
