November 6th was Jilly's last chemo visit to the oncology clinic!  Two days later, she had her port removed that was used to draw blood and provide chemotherapy.  Having her port out means we don't have to go to the ER when she develops a fever, because the "foreign body" (the port) won't be at chance of being rejected when she has a fever.  I can't convey how much of a weight that removes from our shoulders once we didn't have that fear of having to run off to the ER (an hour up the road) on a whim's notice.  A few weeks after Jilly's last chemo visit, she took her last nightly chemo pill.  We had gotten into such a routine of putting together all her nightly medicine (some days it was steroid and seven pills) that it's weird just giving her allergy medicine at night now.  A guess this is what it's like to return to normal.

Make a Wish blessed us with a trip to Orlando, FL for a week at Give Kids the World Village (GKTW).  GKTW is a non-profit village of a hundred or so duplexes, cafeteria, heated pool, arcade, putt-putt and nightly entertainment.  And all of it is 100% free for us who stay there.  We don't pay a dime.  We stayed in a beautiful cottage and ate ice cream for breakfast at the cafeteria.  They provided us with park hopper passes to Disney, Universal Studios and Sea World.  We started off our trip at Disney's Animal Kingdom, then Hollywood Studios and Epcot the next day and finally Magic Kindgom on our third park hopper day.  Jilly's Wish was to have a princess makeover and she was transformed at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique in Cinderella's Castle.  She was ecstatic!  We stayed late at Magic Kingdom to watch the fireworks and they were amazing.  We learned that Jilly loves roller coasters.  Really, really loves them!  She and Amy rode so many at the different parks.  The next day we went to Universal Studios to see the Harry Potter parks.  Jilly loved them, especially the granny smith ice cream.  Our fifth day, we hit the wall.  We were so tired that we took in the fun activities at the GKTW Village.  We swam in the heated pool (which Jilly said was her favorite part of the trip), played putt-putt and got to see Jilly's star in the Castle of Miracles.  The Castle of Miracles is where each kid writes their name or draws a picture on a golden star and a fairy puts the star on the ceiling.  The ceilings of the Castle are covered with thousands upon thousands of stars.  It's hard not to tear up thinking of all the families they've blessed with trips like ours.  Anytime we return to Orlando, we will visit GKTW and look at her star.

Jilly's Wish trip was such an amazing end to her treatment.  She's already starting to show a new side to her personality, one of more energy and jubilation than she had with monthly chemo and steroids.  We're excited for her future, a very bright future.

Love,
Andrew, Amy & Jilly