Dear Friends and Family,

It's hard to believe we are closing in on one year since "it" all began.  Summer flew by, especially last month as we spent a little too much time at UCSF.  August started with a 3-day round of chemo, followed a week later by a 5-day hospital stay due to a fever and neutropenia (low blood counts), and ended with a 6-day round of chemo thru Labor Day.  We did manage though, to fit in a week of family fun. Roger took the week off after Mimmi, our wonderful au pair from Sweden left, and before Ron and Geri (Lisa's parents) were scheduled to come out.  One day at Marine World was all it took for the kids to declare it was a good summer.  Quincy and the boys really enjoyed themselves and did much better on the rides than we did! 

Brody and Keenan have now been back in school for a couple of weeks.  They are very happy with their teachers and classmates, and enjoy their soccer games on the weekends.  Quincy is also happy after receiving great news on an artistic endeavor of hers.  Three months ago when we were in the hospital, she entered a contest through the San Francisco Public Library to design a bookmark for their "Book Buddy" volunteer program.  This is a wonderful program that gives parents a chance to take a hospital break while a library volunteer reads to their child.  Quincy's bookmark design won the contest!  Now the "Book Buddy" volunteers will pass out her bookmark to children in the San Francisco hospitals during the next year.

With all of the time we've logged at UCSF, many people have asked us if we've met other families at the hospital.  Although there may be some socializing going on, we pretty much keep to ourselves.  Given Quincy's young age, we spend all of our time in the room with her.  As you can imagine, there are a lot of very sad sights and stories on a pediatric oncology floor.  Dealing with our own situation is about all we can handle right now.  One positive out of all this hospital time though, is that Quincy has become quite comfortable during our stays.  (We guess that's a good thing!).   She finally spoke to some of the nurses and residents on our last visit, surprising them with her sweet little voice instead of just a smile.  She even had a make-up session with one of her favorite nurses, painting her nails with some sparkly polish and covering her cheeks with some blue body glitter.

We now have this coming week to enjoy before we go back for Quincy's last round of chemo on Monday, September 23.  During this stay she will have a complete series of end-of-treatment scans (CT, bone, MRI).  After her body recovers from this last round of chemo, they will start radiation therapy on her arms. 

We have added a few new pictures to the site including Quincy's winning bookmark.  Thanks again for all your continued support and prayers.

Love,
Roger and Lisa