Gracie to be Cancer-free!

I want everyone to be absolutely clear about the exciting future that Gracie has in front of her.  Sometime in the next 1-3 weeks (could be as soon as this Friday), Gracie's right eye will be enucleated (removed).  Dr. G will perform the procedure at the Texas Children's Hospital in Houston.  The subtenon injections from Gracie's previous treatments have caused scarring behind the eye and this makes the enucleation somewhat more difficult than normal (if you can ever call enucleation "normal").  Dr. G has experience in dealing with similar enucleations and it is important that the procedure is done well to preserve the muscles and nerves controlling the eye structures.  Thus, Dr. G is probably the best one for the job, even though it is not as close as other doctors would be.  Immediately following the enucleation, an implant will be placed in the hole left by the eye.  This will help maintain the shape of the eye and have the muscles attached to it so that the prothesis will have some movement.  A conformer is placed over the implant for the first 6 weeks until the eye has healed enough to get her prothesis fitted.  The prothetic eye is much like a large plastic contact lens that goes right over the eye.  It is hand painted to match the other eye.  Once in place it will be difficult for people that meet Gracie to tell she has a prothetic eye.  The surgery to remove her eye is fairly painless and she will be released from the hospital the same day.  Dr. G wants us to stay nearby for a week just to make sure things are OK but he says they have never had problems before.

OK, now you have all of the details that I thought you might want to know about the process.  As far as how we are dealing with it, it has sometimes been difficult.  However, the days since Friday have brought happiness and rejoicing when we think about it.  It is amazing that Gracie will be cancer-free!!  All the tumors in the left eye appear to be dead and when the right eye is removed all of the cancer will be gone.  We are so happy to have Gracie and will do all we can to help her be happy and healthy.  Knowing that in a few short weeks we will not have to worry about the cancer spreading throughout her body or causing any other sickness is wonderful.  So, while we are sad for the loss of her eye, we rejoice in removing a cancer!  We are grateful to the support of our doctors and friends that have worked and prayed so diligently for Gracie and for us.  We have felt your love and support.  We have comfort in knowing that Gracie is winning her battle with cancer and her future is bright!  While she does have this little hiccup in the near future, her potential is limitless.

Stephanie was talking to Gracie about enucleation today and Gracie was a little worried.  At first she said that she had a real eye and did not need a fake one.  Stephanie told her that her eye was sick and we wanted to make sure that it did not spread and make the rest of her body sick.  Gracie agreed that she could have a fake eye to prevent that but she was still worried.  She then said that she did not want any more needles in mommy's room (we used to have to give her needles after chemo to bring her counts up and did them in our room each time- Gracie hated them).  Stephanie gave her a big hug and told her that we did not need anymore of those needles.  Gracie was very pleased to hear that and cheerfully went back to enjoying her day.  She is such a wonderful little girl.  She has taught us all so very much about being happy and cheerful in spite of life's difficulties.  We really do love Gracie!