When it Rains it Pours

We met with Drew's Oncologist yesterday and he reviewed all our options for Drew's care. We asked himwhere he would go if it were his kids. He indicated the best place for total quality of care was St. Jude's hospital in Memphis Tennessee. We value Dr. Neglia's opinion immensely, and therefore we have decided to commute to St. Jude's for Drew's eye care. He will be transferred to a team of specialist that just deal with Retinoblastoma. Dr. Neglia will continue to see Drew and be his primarily oncologist. The reason we are transferring to St. Jude's is for several reasons:

• Dr. Neglia would like this team of doctors to provide a second opinion on next steps. Drew is now in a rare minority since his tumor is back for a third time. He would like another set of doctors to wiegh in on Drew's case.
• St. Jude's offers all forms of treatments. The U of M does not have available several of the potential treatments. Our option, of course, is to treat locally (Freeze and Laser) at first, but this is one of the original tumors and history would indicate we may need other treatments. Their are risks and benefits to each treatment option. St. Jude's will help us figure out what is the best quality of life for Drew.
• Our retina specialist has left the U of M. His replacement is willing to learn to treat RB kids, and we appreciate this, however at this time she has no experience with the tools. Tony and I are not comfortable with this option. Our oncologist agreed that at this time, we need someone who is an expert.

So what is next - We will not go through with the EUA scheduled on March 21st. Dr. Neglia has already consulted with the experts at St. Jude and they are willing to see Drew. Most of these doctors are at a conference next week with Dr. Neglia. They will most likely be able to get us in the following week. There eye exam days are Wednesday, so we will schedule it around that. They will meet with us, do the next EUA and tells us where we should go from here. They will continue to treat Drew going forward for EUA's and whatever else they think he needs. Dr. Neglia will work with them and us in the decisions on care, and will continue to see Drew in Minnesota. This will probably mean only monthly visits to Memphis, Tennessee. Hopefully we will have an Elvis sighting:)

So now for the rest of the rain storm - I can home from the oncologist on Friday to find, some fine gentlemen had punched through our back and front door window. When I noticed it, I left and went to Tim & Judy's house (Tony's parents). I called 911 and they asked if the person was still in the house. I wondered if she was crazy! There was no way in he double hockey stick I was going in the house. The cops came and the upstanding citizen had left the house. With him he took some cheap jewelry, a few social security cards and my grandma's wedding ring. He also left the need to rummage through our drawers, toss a bunch of stuff all over our bedroom and mess the entire bed up. Next time he could be a little more courteous, and let me know first. This way I wouldn't bother to clean. Boy is he going to be disappointed, because he got nothing of value. In fact, I had lost the diamond in my Grandma's wedding ring so it has little monetary value. Would be nice if he could return it for sentimental reasons!

So the storm continues, but we will weather it! Thank you for everyone's continued support. We will let you know when we know more.