Happy Anniversary to Us!

Yesterday was our FIVE year anniversary.   We started the day by going to see the most romantic movie we could think of: the Princess and the Frog!  We saw it with Gma Karen, Aunt Katy and Gma Joyce (Lucy's Great Grandma).  (We mentioned that Gma Joyce would be coming a couple of days ago and every time we mentioned the movie after that Lucy would yell "Gma Joyce come!" over and over-she was pretty excited.)  For Christmas Marilyn and Steve gave us tickets to see Wicked in SF that night. I have wanted to see it for ages and was really excited. We got a call that day that our UCSF appointment needed to be changed to Tuesday-so we decided to book a hotel in the city so we could see the show that night and then just drive down the street to the Dr. the next morning. We loved the show and it was really fun to see it with Julie & Chad and all the Blodgetts.  

Our hotel was nice and only half a block away from the theater-we were really glad we had it when the show got out so late. This morning we woke up and headed to UCSF where we saw a Lymphoma expert to get a second opinion on the need for radiation.  He looked at our chart and said strongly, "You have had a hell of a lot of treatment haven't you?" We said YES.  He felt strongly that Danny DOES NOT need radiation based on the incredible amount of chemo he got.  The long term risks of radiation (heart diseases etc) don't make it worth it.  He also told us that the chances of Danny getting Lymphoma again are very small.

We're feeling very lucky and very blessed.  Looking back on five years, all I see are miracles: we got into a school that wasn't accepting applications, we had a miracle baby, Danny married me! There are so many examples.  I don't want to get too mushy, but I loved Danny five years ago, and I love him even more today.  I look forward to all the years to come.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas Everyone! We are having a fabulous time hanging out with our families and enjoying our Christmas traditions.  We go in to UCSF early next week to get tests done and will soon know if Danny needs radiation. Thank you for everything-for checking up on us, praying for us, hugging me when we meet unexpectedly somewhere, for everything. We feel very loved.  Have a wonderful Christmas. Bless you.
Love,
 The Leiningers

No More Chemo!

On Tuesday morning Danny went in for the PET scan that would determine if he needed two more cycles of chemotherapy or quit early. We waited two grueling days to hear the results. I bit off all of my nails and gained three pounds from the stress eating! We tried to busy ourselves and managed to have some fun with Becca and celebrate my Dad's birthday. When we got home from the party I started getting Lucy ready for bed when Steve got home. He had gotten an email from our Dr. saying that "the scan showed no sign of the disease and an enlarged spleen. Excellent news."
We were like, WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?! We thought that meant we were done with chemo, but really needed him to come out and say it. Steve texted him (it pays to be the guys accounting firm! We have his private email and cell number:) and finally got the okay to celebrate. We were in shock for a bit before I totally lost it. We cried from joy for a little while and then called all of our fam. When I called my house the birthday party was still going full swing so I heard a huge cheer and screams on the other end of the line after I told my Dad the good news. It was a very surreal night. We have been doing chemo for ling enough now that we don't quite remember what life should be like or what we should do without it. Today we met with Danny's oncologist. He consulted with his colleagues and I guess they are in disagreement about Danny starting radiation. The plan was to radiate where the large mass was in his chest, but it is close enough to his heart that there are risks to radiation, so they only want to do it if they think it will really decrease his risk of reoccurance. They're sending us to UCSF for a second opinion. If they decide on radiation then we'll be doing about a month of that-probably starting in January. If not, then we're just done. Regardless we are excited to have a break in December. We'll be seeing our Dr. every three months for a couple years, than every six months for a couple years and will be officially "in remission" after five years (after which we'll only be seen once a year). I guess that goes on for the rest of our lives. Crazy.
Thank you for praying and fasting for Danny. I know it contributed to our good news. We feel so lucky to have such incredible family and friends supporting us.

The "chemo team" after we heard the news. Marilyn and I have different areas of expertise-and we all needed each other to get through this.

Lucy kept bringing us tissues because we would randomly break down. After awhile she started fake sobbing to feel a part of the group. She pretends to cry all the time (much like Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty she runs to a bed/couch and dramatically heaves)-but this time she audibly fake cried-it was hilarious.

The verdict is....

DANNY IS DONE WITH CHEMO!

I'll write all about it tomorrow when I have the energy. We've spent the last little while crying, laughing and being completely shocked and relieved. We feel so blessed.