The results are in...

...and they are GOOD! Last Wednesday, the 23rd, was Riley's final bone marrow aspiration and spinal tap...and Monday evening we got the call that everything was free and clear of any cancer cells!!!!!!!!! Hallelujah! Not that there was any indication that they may find something, but there's always that nagging feeling in the back of your mind. So, Miss Riley is officially considered Off Treatment!! I don't think I could use enough exclamation marks to display to you the joy our family is feeling. We could not be any prouder of our brave little princess...she kicked Cancer's boo-tay and came out smiling!!!!

This is Dana, one of the many awesome Child Life Specialists employed by the Cancer Clinic. She knows every child by name, and is always so happy and energetic. Dana surprised Riley with some toys and a banner to celebrate her Off Treatment visit, and Riley was of course in Heaven to be the center of attention.

This was Riley's banner...Dr. Dreyer and some of our favorite nurses signed it with special messages for our Princess.

Our little survivor!!

While it does feel great for Riley to be finished with all of her medicine, I must admit it's also a little scary. I wasn't sure how her body would react going full force, to nothing...cold turkey. Dr. Dreyer assured me she would be just fine, and she has. It's like the last 2 years never even existed...just a figment of our imagination. And it's only been a week!!

Riley will still return to Houston once a month for the next year, for blood counts and a check-up. Then the next year we'll go every 3 months, then the next year we'll go every ?? months...I honestly can't remember what they told me after the 3 month thing. But I do remember that after 5 years of being off treatment, she will get to start visiting the Long-term survivor clinic instead of the Cancer Clinic. What a milestone that will be!!

Remember me telling you about Kevin Kline, the guy running from Dallas to Houston in less than 2 weeks. Well last night he spent the night in Hallettsville...how crazy is that?! What's even crazier is the he stopped in Blase's Place, a little family owned grocery store/beer joint, that is less than 2 miles from our house. What's a little crazier for me, is that I have become so familiar with the route Kevin will be running to get to Houston from our little spot on the earth. It's a drive I could do with my eyes closed. It's a drive that takes us almost 2 hours, from our door to the door of Texas Children's Hospital. And Kevin is going to be running that exact same route in 2 days...kind of puts things into perspective. This man is enduring so much pain and exhaustion, just to raise money for Childhood Cancer. A disease that sadly does not get a lot of recognition. Everyone knows that Pink ribbons are for Breast cancer awareness, and hopefully by now many of you will recognize the Orange ribbons for Leukemia awareness...but do you know what the Gold ribbons are for? Childhood Cancer. Thankfully Riley ( and Paige!!) are survivors, but too many children are not.

Okay, I'm off my soap box. We hope all of you had a Very Merry Christmas, because we sure did. We had 4 days of non-stop celebrating, and a ton of pictures to prove it. I will be working on getting those up, so keep checking back!!