Our NIH Trip

This is the friend we acquired while on our D.C. trip. Actually, he's the toy that we brought home for Sylvia. She loves him-- great rattle to chew on!

We had a VERY busy three days. We flew out Sunday afternoon and arrived in D.C. early evening. Made it to the hotel by mid evening. Monday was spent waiting for virtually nine hours-- at least for me. Dave had some tests and such to keep him "occupied" while I just sat and waited literally all day long.

Monday evening I got together with some old college friends:

It was so good to catch up with them (Andrea, Lauren and Kimmy). We have stayed in touch via the online world but in person is so much more fun.

Tuesday was spent with my cousin and his pregnant wife (Jonathan and Heather, visited this past summer):

It was so cool that they drove into Bethesda to meet up with us. We had a great time with them as well and managed to make a very full Tuesday out of it. All our site seeing climaxed to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. Yummy!

Wednesday was clinic day-- the day that we actually meet with the doctors and learn what is going on with Dave's disease. This means tons more waiting. And wait we did, but in the end it was all worth it because Dave got a GREAT report. It turns out they can see no additional tumor growth. This means that his tumors have maintained for two full years. He got such a great report that they are letting him return in TWO years instead of only one! It will be so wonderful to have a year off. Naturally, they did send him home with a list of things to monitor and watch out for and should he begin having problems he is expected to contact them and we will return sooner than the two years. But we rejoice in the news we did receive.

Today we picked up our Little Pumpkin. She did great with Oma and Opa all those days. While she was happy to see us, it is comforting to know that she did fine without us. We spent the rest of the day playing with our baby and being happy to be back home. Back home and healthy!