Let the battle begin!

This week I was in Chicago for an evaluation for a clinical trial at Northwestern University. My bestie Mariah flew from Buffalo to hang out with me for a couple days of fun, which was fantastic! We had fun walking around in the freezing-ass cold downtown "Magnificent Mile", hanging out with the "Captain" in our hotel room, and even made it to PF Chang's for a yummy dinner. So, while that would have been wonderful enough...there's MORE!

First...I had a new MRI while I was there of my brain and neck. The last couple scans I've had over the past year have had new and/or active lesions, so I expected this one to be the same. I was AMAZED when the doctor told me that I don't currently have any active spots!

Second...I met with a neurologist at the Rush University MS Center. It was crazy to be in this place that ONLY has MS patients. Sitting in the waiting room caused a little anxiety just seeing little glimpses into what my future could possibly hold for me...but the neurologist was a really nice man and felt like all in all I was doing "ok". He did an EDSS test, which is a bunch of things that measure your overall disability. I got a 3. If you want to know more about what that means go here.

Third....I met with an immunologist at Northwestern University Memorial Hospital. Super cool guy from Montana who is leading this amazing study. Read this...it's amazing. Anyway, I meet ALL the criteria for his amazing clinical trial and I AM A CANDIDATE!!! I really went into this thinking that they were going to tell me no for whatever reason, so I was so happy when he said I qualified. In a nutshell they are harvesting the patient's stem cells, giving the patient chemotherapy to wipe out their immune system, then transfusing the stem cells back in. Basically this "resets" the immune system and the new white blood cells won't attack my myelin anymore.

What it all means........for now, at least, it means that the battle of the insurance company will begin. Basically, all insurance companies deny this at first and then the appeal process begins. Luckily, the people at Northwestern have been through this lots of times and will hopefully know just what to do. Assuming that insurance finally approves the treatment, I will go back to Chicago for about a week or two of more testing to make sure my body will handle everything. After that is one final hurdle that I have no control over...whether I'm in the "control" or the "treatment" group. The good news about the control is that if my EDSS goes up a point while on MS meds, I have the option of transferring into the treatment group.

I know this is a lot of information, and I'm sure I left tons of things out, but the main point was to tell you all that I at least qualify! So...cross your fingers for me, or say a prayer, or do a little dance...basically just send some good vibes my way, please.

Aloha!

We are all having a blast in Hawaii. The trip here was ok...Mason did not want to sleep, but he was in a pretty good mood, so I can't really complain. Our condo is on the ground floor, which is great because we can just open the sliding glass door and play in the grass with Mason. Our neighbors have a little girl who is 15 months old, which is also great for our little guy to have a new friend.

We have quite the water baby on our hands. He loves the pool and the ocean! The kiddie pool is especially great because he can climb in and out of it all by himself. He has absolutely no fear, which is good and bad, as you can imagine.

We still have a few more days left in paradise, but I thought I'd update you all with a few pics of our trip so far. I'll get together a full slide-show when we are home. Oh, by the way, I see A-rage has been getting plenty of snow the last couple of days. So sorry we're missing that.

My little water baby

Cheesing at lunch time.

Baby toes in the surf

Hey, this sand stuff is pretty neat

First taste of shaved ice...it was a hit!

Let it snow!

With the new snow we got a couple weeks ago, Mason and I had to check out his new sled in the front yard. We didn't go far, just down to check the mail and back, but I think he liked it. When we got back in the driveway, I thought he was clapping his hands until I realized he was giving the sign for "more". Hopefully it will be a little warmer when we get back from vacation and we can go some more.

Party time

I can't believe he's already one! What a big boy!

Everyone helped open presents

Going for a ride in my new dump truck.

New red car!

The awesome monkey cake Nana made for me

Phew...that's a lot of cake!

Slacker!

Sorry I've been so late posting pictures...maybe my New Year's resolution should be to update this darn blog! We're leaving for Hawaii tonight (wish us luck on the flights with Mason). I'm sure we'll have lots of cutie pics and stories to share when we get home. Until then...here's a peek at our wonderful Thanksgiving and Mason's 1st birthday.

         Mason's 1st taste of cake...yummy!

Thanksgiving dinner is pretty messy

First taste of deviled eggs...so good!