Best Gift of All for the Holidays

I hope everyone reading this is having a nice holiday season. We had a wonderful Christmas in my house this year. Santa was good to me and even Coco (my dog) was happy with her presents, though she destroyed a few of them in minutes.

I had a pretty big day this past Tuesday—a hospital visit for my three-month scans after finishing chemotherapy. My appointment was at 10:30 in the morning so we didn't need to go the night before. It was pretty easy to leave in the morning at a reasonable hour and get to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) in plenty of time to make my appointment (I'm really not a morning person). I asked my Dad to stay home because he is still feeling a little under the weather, and I didn't want him to be near any of the kids with compromised immune systems. He was pretty disappointed—we usually go to all of my appointments in force as a family—but he understood. The scans went off without a hitch, right on time, and then we were off to get an x-ray of my femur and prosthesis.

Not long after getting my scans, my mom's cell phone rang. It was my oncologist, Dr. Naomi Balamuth with wonderful news; She said I am all clear and that my scans were "beautiful." This is such a relief and a great Christmas present.

Comment from Mom: For those of you reading this that are considering a course of action for your child's treatment, Rachel's news today is an illustration of world-class treatment. Not only were we able to get this incredibly great news, but we got it with a personal phone call from Rachel's oncologist during her crazy-busy day. Dr. Balamuth knows the anxiety associated with waiting for the results of these scans. She knew Rachel was in for scans today, so she made it her business to immediately get the results and convey those results to us without delay. Another example of the world-class heath care we've experienced at CHOP.

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