It has been a busy two week period with Curtis undergoing a whole set of tests at CHEO in preparation for Toronto. Curtis has been so incredibly brave through all of this. It's hard to imagine what his mind goes through at his age with all of the procedures. Even on the days he's not at CHEO and we're at home, we're constantly reminded of this battle we fight with his daily G-CSF shots. Our homecare nurse Jennifer is fantastic though and she's very good with Curtis. She's always cheerful and makes the dreadful daily needle a little easier to deal with. Curtis thinks a lot of her too.

One more test to do this week. Curtis goes in for a GFR which measures his kidney function. With only one kidney remaining, we will be anxiously awaiting the results of this last test hoping the chemotherapy has not caused any damage. Next Monday, prior to heading for Toronto, we will have one last visit at CHEO, this time simply to have a CBC, and his dressing and caps changed. This will also give us an opportunity to say goodbye to all of our friends at CHEO who constantly give us the support we need to make it through each and every day of this horrible disease.

This past weekend, we waited patiently for the results of last weeks tests, and last Monday, Dr. Johnston was able to give us preliminary results of a few of these tests. While we have yet to receive conclusive results of Curtis' MRI, we did find out that the both the bone scan and MIBG scans were clear of any disease. While it's difficult for us to get too excited, this IS positive news, and we are hoping for more of the same in the near future. Curtis' bone marrow aspiration also appeared to be clear of neuroblastoma cells, however we're still awaiting results of the bone biopsy. On a less positive note, Curtis appears to have suffered some minimal hearing loss at high frequencies, however this shouldn't affect his day to day conversations. We're hoping there is no further loss, but doctors will continue to keep an eye on this throughout his treatments.

Curtis will be admitted to Toronto Sick Kids on Wednesday, September 21st, and his chemotherapy will begin on Thursday, September 22nd. On Thursday, September 29th, Curtis will be moved to isolation, and will then receive the stem cell transplant. Thank you to everyone for their prayers and kind words as we head into the next phase of our treatment. Curtis continues to gain strength from you all, something we're certain is helping him to beat his cancer.