The weekend before last (the 16th/17th) we headed down to OBX (the Outer Banks of NC) to visit Morgan’s Aunt Ali at the beach. The weather was beautiful – not your typical mid-August weather but much cooler and pleasant. On Saturday we spent the morning at the beach. Morgan insisted on walking down the full flight, outdoor cottage stairs at Aunt Ali’s to get to the car and then walk from the parking lot – across the street – and all the way down to the beach (all with assistance, of course, but still amazing). Morgan had a great time playing in the sand with her brothers and sitting on the sand down by the surf close enough to let the waves wash up over her legs. After lunch and naps, we headed to the pier for some video games and then souvenir shopping and then back to Aunt Ali’s for dinner. On Sunday morning we went swimming at the outdoor pool at Barrier Island. The baby pool was the perfect depth (approx 1 ½ ft deep) for Morgan to sit in and splash around with her brothers. She also used an inner-tube to "swim" the length of the big pool with some help from Daddy. After lunch at Aunt Ali’s and another quick trip to the pier, we headed home. It was a great weekend! This past weekend Morgan wanted to go golfing at the indoor putt-putt. Even though she required a lot of assistance to stand and walk after each stroke of the club, she determinedly played all 18 holes. We brought along a chair for her to use to sit and rest every few holes and we had to strongly encourage her to do so. Afterwards, we surprised Morgan with a trip to Friendly’s for lunch (a very special treat because of her restricted diet). She really enjoyed herself and has been asking about when we can go golfing again. About a week ago, we began to notice that Morgan was having some troubling symptoms cropping up. They are somewhat transient and mild but they have made us very concerned about what might be going on with the tumor. During the past two weeks, Morgan has been taking her .25mg of Decadron (steroid) every other day (previously .25mg every day for the week prior to that). We discussed the symptoms we have been seeing with Morgan’s oncologist at DC Children’s on Monday. She basically said we’d have to wait for the MRI to see what might be going on. She also said we could stop giving Morgan the Decadron because she had tapered down enough to stop taking it. Morgan’s next MRI is Wednesday, Sept. 3rd in DC. We are now very worried about what we might see but are trying to remain optimistic. There are a number of different things that could cause a "flair-up" of symptoms. Please say a few extra prayers for Morgan and our entire family over the next week as we prepare for the looming MRI. Pray for God to lay his healing hand on Morgan and restore her to perfect health. She has been through so much and through it all is making such amazing progress. Pray for strength and courage, comfort and peace, and safe travels to and from DC. As always, we thank each and every one of you for your untiring support and prayers. We’ll update again next week after the MRI. Check out the photos page – I added two new ones from our trip to OBX.
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