1 Year Old, giving back, and good appointments

Ava turned one year old on 9/9/09! We had a wonderful party for her that weekend and enjoyed seeing many of you there. Thank you for coming to celebrate her and thank you for the nice wishes from those who couldn't make it! In lieu of gifts, people donated over $300 toward Children's Miracle Network - thank you!!!!

Linda returned to work full time on September 1st, and Ava started daycare at Beaver Beginnings on OSU Campus so we have been quite busy adjusting to all that. Ava has had 4+ colds since starting daycare (they seem to run from one to another) but only one of them was nasty enough to cause a fever, which she recovered nicely from. Linda has been pretty exhausted from the mental and physical toll of work, so we're looking into making some adjustments on that end. I think she has been on adrenaline for the past year and now her body is demanding some relief. As I've mentioned before, her treatment now is ensuring she eats right and exercises, as that has shown to prevent recurrence in her type of cancer by an additional ~40%. So, our top priority is ensuring she has the time and energy for this.

Ava is right on track for her adjusted age of 9+ months old. She is crawling quite proficiently and pulling up on objects to stand, and talking what sounds like a Scandinavian language to us! She has two teeth and is in her own room since her birthday too.

Linda's checkup with her oncologist and mammogram both looked good, so we are very thankful that she continues to do well, other than being tired. Linda's friends put on a nice celebration dessert for her, which was very thoughtful and fun to see some friends she hadn't seen in some time.

Linda was asked to speak at a benefit dinner for radiation equipment that was last night. Called the Physicians Gourmet Dinner, it is a formal fundraiser where the doctors share their favorite dinner dishes with donors. We donned our formal wear and Linda gave an emotional 10 minute speech to the crowd of ~350 sharing her story and how happy we were with the team, and how the new radiation equipment will positively impact future cancer patients.

We will also be hosted at the annual Children's Miracle Network fundraiser in Eugene in a couple weeks, where they are pulling together a short video of our journey. Our family will be the focus family for the evening and we will be able to bring Ava with us. It is nice to be able to help some of the groups that provided help to us when we needed it.

Rob.