Courtney is doing wonderful!  She will be 19 on December 10th.  It's crazy how fast the time has flown by since her diagnosis when she was 16.  All of her scans have come back negative, and her next scans are January 6th.  My mom will be flying in from Florida to go with us to the appointments this time.  It is very nice to have the additional support, and EVERYONE needs to see what a wonderful hospital St. Jude it.  It's absolutely amazing, and we are very fortunate that they have a melanoma study. 

Courtney moved down to Alabama in June when she graduated high school.  She lived on her own for a brief period, but now lives back at home and drives to University of Alabama every day for school.  She absolutely LOVES college and is making new friends.  She will also start back at work next week 3 days a week.  She loves to be busy and will get a couple dollars at the same time.

She is not thrilled that she has to live at home as she loved being on her own, but she is happy to be closer to her family.  I suggested that she live at home the entire 4 years, but she got tears in her eyes, and said that she wants to do everything she can in life, and she does not know how long she will live.  That absolutely broke my heart hearing this from my child.  She said she normally does not think about dying, but it does cross her mind at times.  No child should ever have to worry about this. 

Today is Halloween and, yes, she is going trick or treating.  She stopped going when she was about 13.  I tried to convince her to go every year, but she was "too old."  Not this year!!  :)

Courtney and I went to Memphis last week, and she had another great appointment.  Getting down to AL was a little difficult for her and Brandon as her car died in TN, and my husband had to go get her.  We were planning on celebrating Christian's 40th birthday, but they did not get home until 10:30 pm.  It was an exhausting day for all of them.  Thankfully, her grandparents had an extra car that wasn't being driven and she is going to fly up there to get it in another week.  Friday Courtney and I are leaving for Gulf Shores for her graduation present.  We decided to skip the cruise due to all the news reports!  We are renting a cute little cottage right on the beach and we are going to relax, swim, eat some good food, shop a little, and go site seeing.  We are really looking forward to it.  I cannot believe that she will be graduating in one month.  It seems like she was just born!  She also found a nice apartment in Tuscaloosa where she will be living starting in June while she goes to school and works. She sent out resumes for jobs as well, and has received a couple responses so far.  All-in-all, everything is good with Courtney and the family.   

Univerity of Alabama Dorms

Courtney received an exemption from staying on campus in the dorms when she goes to AL.  She is very happy about this as she will be in her own apartment.  I know the dorms would have been  fun, but we were really worried about all the germs with the bathrooms and her not getting enough sleep because of the noise and getting sick.   She has already bought a few things to move into an apartment.  She's excited!

Six Month Scans

Sunday evening we arrived at St. Jude for her PET and CAT scans.  It was a very nice drive from AL.  Our GPS took us on a back road so it was kind of a long ride.  Courtney really wanted Panera for lunch so she said she didn't want to "settle" for McDonalds.  She sure regretted that.  lol  We drove and drove waiting for a Panera bread, which only came 5 hours later.  So we ordered our Panera... drove to Grizzly house to check-in and unpack... went to the hospital for our 7 pm appointment... got back to eat her lunch and my dinner at 8:00 pm.  They did not give us salad dressing!  It was very funny and I am still laughing.  We ordered a pizza just to eat something and went to bed.

Monday Courtney had her first bad experience at St. Jude.  Her nurse for her PET scan was not very pleasant to start with and she could not get Courtney's IV in.  She tried 2 times and kept digging in her vein.  Courtney never has problems with needles and she has great veins.  She told the lady that she was going to either pass out or vomit and she KEPT DIGGING!  By then I was angry and I told her we need a bucket and she was just looking around so slowly.  She finally pulled the trash can over to courtney and she vomited!!  Ughhh!!  Another nurse finally came in and got the IV on his first try... thank goodness!!  She did great with her scans and the rest of her appointments.

Tuesday we got Courtney's results, and they are ALL CLEAR!!  I was a little nervous last night and this morning, but I prayed a lot, and our prayers were answered again.  Tomorrow we have to go to the dermatologist at St. Jude so they can look over her entire body, but I am confident she is okay.  They continue to keep her on the thyroid medicine and even increased the dose last visit.  We will see how that goes tomorrow as well.

Courtney has been in remission for 1 year and 8 months now, and we are very thankful!!

Alabama!

Courtney was accepted to the University of Alabama the first of the year.  We went for a drive on Sunday to check out her new college and it is absolutely gorgeous!  It is a huge campus and the building have that southern charm to them.  I wish I could go with her.  She is very excited to start in the fall!