The following journal is a day to day experience of Tanner and her family as they travels this wonderful journey called remission. For those of you who would like to start at the beginning first go to page 2003/2004/2005 then return to this page to see what 2006 has been like around the Lusk house.

The journey began May 11, 2003 and continues in 2006 with Tanner in remission.

 January 10, 2006 - Sorry for the long delay in updating, the Lusk computer has been down with a virus, they even had to send it out for some emergency treatment. They had a great Christmas and lots of company. There was a little drama on Christmas Day, an emergency room visit for Tanner (not cancer related but you never know and fear is always there). She had ear infection after a GREAT Christmas morning her ear started to hurt. But she was put on ear drops and antibiotics and is doing well now. 

Papa, Mar, Aunt Jessie, Uncle Beau and Aunt Elise came the day after Christmas and everyone had a great time.

Marjorie and Chris would like to thank the Yarnell family for having them over on New Year's Eve, they had a good time. And Jaimie for fixing the computer, you guys are GREAT.

They had planned a trip with the Beresh's to Great Wolf Lodge but that was cut short when they had to turn around and come home because Tanner got some kind of bug and threw up on the way down there. She was fine when they got home. 

Auntie Kelly came to visit and they had a great time and of course they went shopping, shopping, shopping and some more shopping.

Brody turned 1 on January 7^th and that was a great day we all celebrated his big day. Liz (thank you) for taking his birthday pictures and this Grammie can't wait to see them posted.

Tanner is back in school and has received her first report card. She is doing great.

Her teacher Mrs. Pratt says -

            Tanner is progressing nicely in all academic areas, reading at grade level and catches on to things quickly. Tanner gets along great with her peers; she is a hard worker and strives to do her best. Tanner is fabulous to have in class. Tanner received 100% on her mid-year math assessment.

We owe a big thank you to all the wonderful teachers Tanner has had both in California and in Omaha, to those in the school setting and to those that came to Tanner's home and to the hospital.  Thank you so much for all your help in making it possible!!!!!

Please keep Tanner in your prayers that she can remain in remission and have few future side affects from all her treatments. Tanner will be going back to see Dr. Thompson and for lab work on the 16th of January. On the 25th of January she has a dentist appointment for cleaning and to take a look and then on the 16th of February Tanner will be having a whole new set of scans.

Remember there are so many children and adults that are fighting this monster and endure many painful and dangerous tests and medication, please keep them in your prayers.

Hopefully Marjorie will be able to provide updates soon. Have a wonderful 2006. I pray that you might have a year of continued Faith, Hope and with Joy and Peace.

January 17, 2006 - HAPPY BIRTHDAY MADISON!!!! Tanner's cousin is turning the BIG 5 today, we are sorry we could not be there with you but we WISH you a wonderful day. Tanner had her clinic appointment yesterday and she did GREAT!!! She gets poked for her blood work and did not cry; she is so brave. Her labs came back good, her ANC was 4600, white and blood are all normal. Scans were all set up for the 16th of February, MRI 1pm and to see Dr. Thompson to follow. We are trying to stay positive about scans; we are hoping that the very small spot that was seen on the scans in December is gone. In the mean time Tanner is doing very well, we are working with MAKE A WISH to figure out when we can do Tanner's wish. We are also signing Tanner up this year for girl's softball, which will be a big change for Tanner because she is used to playing with all the boys. She will do GREAT!!! Please keep Josh Larson in your prayers his scans are today. We are thinking of you guys, we know how hard it is to wait for the results. Please continue to pray for all of these kiddos who are fighting this horrible disease. Love, Marjorie, Chris, Tanner, Hope and Brody 

January 26, 2006 - We are having ALOT of problems with Tanner's Guestbook. The guestbook is used for people to share with us how they feel or what they want to say to Tanner and her family. We love to check it and read all the wonderful things friends and family have to say, but lately we are having some very rude people think that it is a place for advertisement. They are advertising things that are inappropriate for a child cancer site or any site for that matter. We are trying to get rid of these advertisements but in the mean time we are asking our friends and family NOT to visit their advertisement sites. I would also like to ask the people who are logging onto Tanner's guestbook and putting these advertisements to STOP!!! This website is set up for us to share with our families, friends and other cancer families, to follow Tanner's experience and life with cancer. Tanner is doing very well!!! She had a GREAT play date on Friday, her friend Ellie (which is a look alike for her friend Emma in California) they are both sooo cute!!(HI EMMA, we miss you) On Saturday we went to a children's play, thanks to In the Arms of Friends Foundation for the tickets we had a GREAT time. On Sunday Tanner's school had an ice skating night, so Tanner, Hope, Chris and I tried our best to ice skate. Needless to say we did not do very good and Hope was not impressed so she left kicking and screaming. But over all we had a really good time. Thank you to the Sankey's for watching Brody. Tanner had a dentist appointment on Wednesday, she was a little worried they would pull more teeth but it was a cleaning this time, no more teeth to be pulled. The dentist Dr. Pancrakz was great with Tanner and he told us that her teeth look wonderful. Coming from a dental nightmare before stem cell to now having no problems is very nice. Thanks Dr. Pancrakz for treating Tanner so GREAT! We are getting ready for Grammie to come out; the kids are soooo excited we have lots of fun things to do. Tanner wanted to say that she misses all of her friends in California. (Derek, Alec of course, Peter, Emma, Nick, Zack, Maddie, Kaitlyn and Trinity) Love you guys.Thank you for checking on Tanner and all your thoughts and prayers. Please continue to pray for all these kiddos who are fighting this horrible disease. Love, Marjorie, Chris, Tanner, Hope and Brody

Friday February 10, 2006 - Hi everyone, things are GREAT around here. We are starting to get back to normal. I have started working again and it has been very nice. Chris has been staying home with the kiddos. He is such a GREAT dad. Hope had her first dentist appointment; she did very well and had no cavities. We were a little surprised because Hope loves to eat all the candy. We also had Tanner's parent conferences on Thursday with Mrs. Pratt and she said; Tanner is doing so well. We are so proud of her. She is getting along with all the other kids and all the other kids are great with her too. It is just amazing to me that she has been through so much and yet she acts like she has not missed out on anything. She is amazing!!! Chris also got to go to Parent Partner Day with Tanner at school today. They made her Valentine box and decorated it for the class party on Valentines Day. A nice little treat for father and daughter. Tanner's scans are coming up, on February 16th at 11am. We are again trying not to get to nervous and to focus on how Tanner is doing. Over all she is doing well, she is still occasionally getting leg pain. Not to bad but she loves to make it better by soaking in a warm bath. So for now we will try and take one day at a time and think positive. We hope everyone has a GREAT VALENTINES DAY. XOXOXO Thank you for your thoughts and prayers for Tanner. Please keep all these kiddos in your prayers while they are fighting this horrible disease. Please visit two little boys who need your prayers and your support, www.caringbridge.org/ne/skylarberry and www.caringbridge.org/visit/joeythompson .Love, Marjorie, Chris, Tanner, Hope and Brody 

Thursday February 16, 2006 - Today's scan was stable!!!(GOOD NEWS) Just a recap on what I am talking about, when Tanner relapsed in November of 2004 there was 6 small tumors in her brain. After lots of chemo, gamma knife radiation, stem cell rescue and full brain/spine proton radiation only one very small tumor remain. After a number of scans the tumor has stayed the same size (that is very good at that point the tumor could be dead). On December 5th 2006 Tanner had another brain MRI and it showed the same tumor and another very little spot in her brain. The doctors are not sure what it is, so they want to do scans every two month vs. every three months to follow this new spot very closely. Now that brings us to today, spots are still there but no growth was visible, everything's looks the same. Dr. Thompson will show Tanner's scan to Dr. Puccioni (nero.) so that he can review them. We will continue to scan in two months vs. the three to keep a close eye on this. At this point the doctors are not sure what this is, if it was Ewing's it would have grown very fast. So Tanner once again is a very different and unusual case, but that has been in Tanner's favor.  Her chest x-ray was clear and her blood work is 100% normal. Today was a good day and Tanner did very well. Thank you all very much for all of your thoughts and prayers for Tanner. We love to read all the wonderful words of encouragement on her guestbook. Please continue to pray for all these other kiddos fighting this horrible disease. www.caringbridge.org/ne/skylarberry and www.caringbridge.org/vist/joeythompson. Love, Marjorie, Chris, Tanner, Hope and Brody

Monday, March 13, 2006    Hi everyone, Brody and I are back from not so sunny California. Chris and the girls should be back tonight. We had a very busy trip, trying to see everyone and it was not successful. I am very sorry to all the people we or I did not get to see, just not enough time in the day. Brody and I were at the doctors on Thursday he had double ear infections. Hope is not feeling very well, she started complaining of her ear and head yesterday on the way home. (Doctors here we come AGAIN) But over all we had a GREAT trip. We got to see all our nieces and nephew (Zach) so that was a lot of fun. Sorry Trinity and Kaitlyn that I did not see you both but Uncle Chris and the girls said they had a really good time. And Kaitlyn, Uncle Chris could not stop talking about what a GREAT softball player you are. Keep up the good work. Tanner went back to her old school to see all the wonderful teachers, and friends. She also got to sit in on an assembly from the Mad Scientist, she loved it. Sorry we missed you Mrs. Iblings.

Wednesday, March 22, 2006    Hi everyone, we made it thru a BIG Nebraska storm. It snowed for 2 1/2 days, and Tanner had her first snow day. (thank you Kellie for the call) She had two days in a row off school and loved it. Chris made a big snow slide in the front yard for all the kids to slide down. He is such a Big Kid. The Beresh boys came over on Tuesday to enjoy the snow day and the slide, everyone had a GREAT time. Tanner has an appointment with Dr. Thompson on April 3rd for a follow up and labs. At that visit we will set up her appointment for her next scans. Tanner is doing very well!! (I will never get tired of saying that). Tanner will be going to Liz Larson's on Friday for some pictures. Liz has a special place on her website http://www.lizlarsonphotography.com/ for heros, kids who are fighting cancer. The pictures are very good. I can't wait to see Tanner's picture on there because she is truly our hero. Please keep all these other hero's in your prayers. Send special prayers to Skylar Berry www.caringbridge.org/ne/skylarberry he has been put on hospice, the doctors have no further treatment for him. Please visit his website and sign the guest book, the family could use some positive words right now.

Love, Marjorie, Chris, Tanner, Hope and Brody

Tuesday, April 4, 2006   Sorry it has been so long since I have last updated. Time flies when you're not in and out of the hospital. Tanner is doing WONDERFUL!!! She is getting so big, I can't believe she was 4 1/2 when she was diagnosed and she will be 8 this year, it feels like yesterday. Tanner started girl's softball; she will have her first softball practice tomorrow. The only thing she is worried about is that the team will have PINK uniforms. She is not worried about playing or not looking like a girl, not having any hair but if the uniforms will be pink or not. She hates pink. Tanner is on spring break this week and the weather has been WONDERFUL!!! They have been outside playing most of the time. Tanner has a doctor's appointment on Thursday for labs and we will schedule her next scans at that time. In the Arms of Friends is putting on a walk for Cure Search on June 3rd in Omaha at Village Pointe, you can register at http://www.inthearmsoffriends.org/ . Cure Search is the National Childhood Cancer Foundation. Please register and get all the information on their website, they are a GREAT foundation. Please send very special prayers to my friends the Scotts. Their beautiful little girl, Jackie is having a real hard time with a lot of health problems and her and her family can use all the prayers possible. Jackie is the little girl that has been on Tanner's website for a long time. Kathy and Rod we are thinking of you and you are ALWAYS in our hearts and prayers. Please continue to pray for all these other kiddos fighting this horrible disease and thank you very much for all of your thoughts and prayers for Tanner.

Love, Marjorie, Chris, Tanner, Hope and Brody

Sunday, April 23, 2006 

Hello, thank you for checking on Tanner. Tanner is doing very well. All of her labs turned out normal; she will have to redo some of her vaccinations, due to the stem cell rescue. Her scans have been set for May 4th at 9:00 am. We have been keeping ourselves pretty busy around here. Tanner has had some softball practices and really seems to like it. Her first game is the 29th of April, oh and good news NO PINK. The team is the Cardinals, no uniforms yet but we are pretty sure they will be red and red is good. Tanner has also started swimming lesson, which she LOVES. Liz Larson is Tanner swim instructor and she counts down the days to go swim. Tanner has such a fear of swimming and this will really help her. We also took Tanner wig shopping, but she is not ready for that yet. She really doesn't seem to let it bother her about not having any hair; I just wanted to let her know that it is always an option. The kids had a GREAT Easter, lots of eggs and candy and really cool Easter baskets. We got lots and candies and treats thanks to Grandma Julie, Grammie and Papa and Mari. It was a lot of fun this year Hope is old enough to really enjoy hunting for all the eggs. Brody is still too young and just tried to eat all the candy. We went to the Yarnell's for Easter lunch and we had a really good time.  Thank you guys so much for including us it was a lot of fun.

 Please pray for Skylar Berry www.caringbridge.org/ne/skylarberry.com he is still has problems with his pain. There are so many children suffering from this horrible disease please continue to pray for all of them. Thank you for keeping Tanner in your prayers.

Love, Marjorie, Chris, Tanner, Hope and Brody

Thursday, May 4, 2006

      SCANS ARE CLEAR!!!!!  Happy, Happy Day!!!! Brain MRI looked very good. The one small lesion that is there is now smaller and the unknown spot is also smaller, wonderful news. Chest x-ray was also clear, and all her labs looked NORMAL. It was a very, very good day. Tanner is doing great and feeling fine. Dr. Puccioni (nero) is out of town this week, but he will review Tanner's scans and let us know if he would like to push her scans back to 3 months. Tanner has appointments with Dr. Harrison (pediatrician) to update all her immunization, an ENT doctor to check on her ear tubes and Dr. Napolitano to get the results from all her testing. So we are keeping busy on the medical end of things.

     Tanner had her first softball game on the 2nd of May and she did soooo good. We also had a swim party at Swimtastics, for families with children with cancer, we had so much fun and got to see all these kids fighting this horrible disease, being normal and enjoying every minute. Thank you to Swimtastics and Liz Larson for pulling it all together. We have also had a lot of company in the last couple of weeks. My sister April, Zach and Madison (nephew and niece) come out to visit. We had a great time and we even made the trip down to Great Wolf Lodge in Kansas. I can see what all the hype is about, that place is really cool!!! The kids had such a good time, I was really glad we got to enjoy that with April, Zach and Madison. We also had Grandma Julie out for a great visit. She got to go to lunch with Tanner and enjoy the swim party as well. Grandma Julie also made Tanner and Hope some really great head scarves, they are so cute. I will have to post pictures of the girls wearing them. Thank you, Grandma Julie.

    I would like to ask people to continue the prayers for Skylar; he is having a lot of pain. His website is www.caringbridge.org/ne/skylarberry/  I would also like to thank you sooo much for the constant prayers and wonderful emails for Tanner, she is truly a miracle and you have all helped us with our long journey.

Love, Marjorie, Chris, Tanner, Hope and Brody

Thursday, May 18, 2006    Thank you for checking on Tanner, she is doing very well. She had another softball game yesterday and she loves it. Hope and Brody are staying very busy, always on the go!! We have the Walk for Cure Search coming up on June 3rd. We got a team together in Honor of Tanner's three year fight with cancer. Tanner's Troop will walk to raise money for childhood cancer research, to help ensure higher survivor rates and more humane treatment with fewer side effects. Please visit our fundraiser page www.firstgiving.com/tannerstroop all money raised will go directly to Cure Search, the leading Childhood Cancer research organization... Please honor Tanner and all these other kids fighting this horrible disease with a donation. Thank you for anything that you can do. 

   We are also getting ready for Tanner's Make-A-Wish; we will be going to Atlantis from June 6th to the 13th of June. Brody will be staying with a wonderful family the Sankey's while we are on our trip. Tanner's last day of school is the 26th of May and she will miss her teachers and all of her friends. As if that wasn't enough we are also going to be moving to North Carolina in the middle of June. We are going to be with Tanner's grandpa and Mari; it will be nice to be around some family. We will miss all the WONDERFUL people we have met out in Omaha. They are all very special to us. We love you and we will miss you all.

     Please continue to keep Skylar Berry in your hearts and prayers. www.caringbridge.org/ne/skylarberry   Thank you for all your prayers for Tanner and our family!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MRS. PRATT

Love, Marjorie, Chris, Tanner, Hope and Brody 

Monday, May 22, 2006 Update: Skylar Berry lost his battle with cancer on Sunday the 21st of May. Our hearts and prayers are with his whole family as they grieve the loss of this wonderful little boy.  

 Saturday, May 27, 2006: New photos    As you can tell in the picture above we have had a lot of excitement around here. On Thursday we met Tanner's wish granters, with Make-A-Wish, at the Zoo. They were going to give us all of our information and itinerary for Tanner's wish, but they surprised Tanner instead. Tara and Jennifer (wish granters) had arranged Tanner to go into the penguin exhibit to pet the PENGUINS!!!!!  It was sooo cool!!! We had a lot of fun!! Penguin is one animal I would have never thought about petting. When we first met Tara and Jennifer, Tanner had said see likes penguins and it would be cool to pet one. They made it happen, Thank you so much Tara and Jennifer!!! We also went to feed birds and the girls liked that a lot too. We had to take Hope out kicking and screaming. FUN!! After all that fun, we had lunch at the zoo and they gave us our itinerary and a bag full of stuff we will need on our trip. We are getting very excited; it's only 2 weeks away. Tanner's last day of school was Friday; she will miss everyone so much. She had all of her friends and teachers sign her shirt and year book. We are also getting ready for the Walk for Cure Search on June 3rd. I would like to Thank all of you who have donated in honor of Tanner's 3 year fight with cancer. And for those who have joined Tanners Troop to Walk for a Cure. Thank you for all of your love and support because of you we are half way to our goal. $955.00 has been raised for Cure Search. Please stop by our fundraiser page www.firstgiving.com/tannerstroop. Thank you!!!! 

    Skylar Berry lost is fight with cancer on Sunday and we are so sorry for his family's loss. I went to his wake on Thursday evening and it was wonderful. There were so many pictures of his GREAT smile and beautiful eyes; all you could do was smile at what a GREAT kid he was. There was a lot of people who love and care for Skylar, and it showed. It was hard not to put ourselves in that same situation. After your child is diagnosed with cancer you instantly think about death. And all you hear along the way is that this might not work, statistics say that the survival rate is a certain% and so on. As parents you have nightmares about it all the time. The sick part is that you never feel out of the woods. CANCER SUCKS!!!! I am so very sorry that this family has to live this nightmare. Our heart and prayers are always with all of you.  Please keep all of Skylar's family in your prayers. www.caringbridge.org/ne/skylarberry.

Love, Marjorie, Chris, Tanner, Hope and Brody

Monday, June 05, 2006    Thank you for all of your donation to honor Tanner's 3 year fight with cancer. The walk for Cure Search was a GREAT SUCCESS!!!! Over $50,000.00 was raised for Cure Search, and over 1,000 people walked to support all the kids fighting this horrible disease. THANK YOU!!!!!

    We are leaving tomorrow for Tanner's wish trip and we are very excited. Thank you so much Make-A-Wish. Brody is staying with our friends the Sankey's and I know he will have a GREAT time too. Brody will get a lot of attention and love. Thank you Sankey's!!!

Thank you for checking in on us and all the prayers for Tanner. Please continue to pray for Skylar's family they are having a hard time, with the loss of Skylar.  Well we are off early tomorrow, so I hope everyone has a great summer and I will update again soon, with lots of great pictures.

Love, Marjorie, Chris, Tanner, Hope and Brody

Saturday, June 17, 2006     We are back from Atlantis, Tanner's Make-A-Wish trip and it was wonderful!!! We really enjoyed each other and our trip. Tanner and Hope loved playing in the ocean, hunting for seashells and making sandcastles. We did everything from going to the movies (three times), dancing, eating (lots of eating), wonderful site seeing of all the lagoons, aquariums, pools and the resort. We also did the Dolphin Encounter where Tanner and Hope got to hug, kiss and dance with Andy the dolphin, they were both a little nervous at first but they both had the time of their lives. We also met a lot of GREAT people, we met a wonderful family that was there on their Make-A-Wish from Louisiana, it was GREAT meeting them. Thank you so much Make-A-Wish (Jennifer and Tarra) for everything!!!! You guys are awesome!!!!  I also want to thank the Sankey's so much for taking care of Brody, we missed him so much. Thank you, Thank you!!!!

    Tanner had some doctor appointments since we have been back, she saw Dr.Thompson her oncologist on Wednesday for a check up and labs and everything looks wonderful!!! She also saw her neuro, Dr. Puccioni and he gave us some GREAT news. Tanner will have scans every three months instead of every two months, so her next scans will be in August.  We still have an appointment with Dr. Napalitano to get all her testing results. Tanner is still playing softball and loving it. She is doing so well, it is just amazing that just last year this time she was getting out of the hospital from her stem cell rescue. It still feels like we are dreaming.

    We are still going to North Carolina but just postponed a little, we will be leaving the 28th of June. The kids are getting very excited about living with Papa and Mar. We are nervous about the big move but right now we think this is a good move for our family. We have found doctors in North Carolina and we are hoping they can some how measure up to the GREAT doctors here in Omaha. 

    Thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers for Tanner, please continue to pray for all these wonderful kids fighting this horrible disease.

Love, Marjorie, Chris, Tanner, Hope and Brody

Sunday, July 16, 2006     We are in Mooresville, North Carolina!!!! We arrived here on July 2nd, but we have had a lot of computer problems so this is the first chance I have had to update Tanner's site. Tanner is doing GREAT!!!! She is having a lot of fun fishing, fishing and more fishing. We are staying with Chris' dad, (Gus and Mar). We are still trying to sell our house in Omaha and we are both currently looking for jobs in North Carolina, so we are always busy. Tanner had her first doctor's appointment on July 12th at the Carolina Medical Center with Dr. McMahon and he was good. He did a complete physical and ordered a series of test and scans to be done. He did labs, UA and a thyroid test due to all the radiation she has had. Tanner will have CT scan of chest, bone scan and hearing test on Aug. 2nd. On Aug. 9th she will have Echo/EKG-due to high dose chemo she needs to have one once a year, MRI head and spine. He would also like to schedule a vision test sometime in August. Carolina Medical Center was very nice and they also had a great child life program. There is a child life specialist that will go out to Tanner's school and speak to her class. (just like Omaha) Tanner is registered at school and ready to start on Aug. 25th. Hope and Brody are doing very well; they also are having a GREAT time. Hope loves to help with all the cooking. Brody and Papa (Gus) have become old buds. Papa's little side kick!!! We miss all of our GREAT friends in Omaha and we can not thank all of you enough for all of your help. Susie, what can I say (Oh I mean Brian) you guys have been a BIG help. THANK YOU!!!  Jackie, Julie and Liz, thank you for all of your help you guys are wonderful. Nolan and Justin thank you both for helping us drive down to North Carolina and no one got a speeding ticket. (Liz)

Hope's 3rd birthday is coming up on July 24th and she is getting very excited. We are going to have a little party for her and it will be all Barbie and pink, she is the total opposite of Tanner.

Thank you for signing Tanner's guest book and keeping her in your thoughts and prayers. Please continue to pray for all these other kiddos fighting this horrible disease.

Love, Marjorie, Chris, Tanner, Hope and Brody

Saturday, Aug, 5, 2006     Hi, everyone thanks for checking on Tanner. She had a CT scan of her chest and a full body bone scan on August 2nd at Carolina Medical Center. No results yet, they are still waiting for the last scans from Children's in Omaha. They have been read, but nothing to compare them to, the doctors are not sure what is normal for Tanner and what it not. Due to all of Tanner's treatment and surgery her scans are much harder to read. Tanner is scheduled to see an ENT doctor on Monday for her right ear, still having problems with those darn tubes that do not want to come out. We are going to talk to the ENT about taking them out and NO MORE WAITING. Tanner will have her head, spine MRI and EKG on Wednesday August the 9th. We will not get the results right away due to this being the first time she has had scans there. We hope this will not be the normal routine. I will post the results as soon as I know.

   We have been very busy lately; Hope had her B-day on July 24th. We all went horse back riding and the kids loved it. Hope loves horses and she did such a good job. Grammie had her birthday the next day, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM!! I stated a new job on Monday and I work with a lot of very nice people. We also had Tanner's cousin Zach's birthday (HAPPY BIRTHDAY ZACH, WE MISS YOU) and Chris' birthday on Friday. The kids love when it is dad's birthday so they can surprise him with lots of fun things. We love you DADDY, Happy Birthday!!! We also have Kaitlyn coming out to North Carolina to visit and Tanner and Hope are soooo excited. We are so sorry that Trinity could not come, we miss you very much.

  Please keep Tanner in your prayers for her scans coming up on Wednesday. Also keep Josh, www3.caringbridge.org/ne/joshuasjournal.com and his older brother Justin in your prayers that the scans and possible surgery will go smooth. Please continue to pray for all of the children and their families fighting this horrible disease.

Love, Marjorie, Chris, Tanner, Hope and Brody   

Friday, Aug 11, 2006    We got Tanner's results from her MRI and there is a new lesion in the right CP angle cistern measuring approx. 1.2 cm x 1.1 cm in cross sectional dimension. (in her brain) This was not seen on her last MRI on 5/04/06. We have an appointment with Dr. Mamahon on Monday to go over our options. When I spoke to him today he said that Tanner still has options, so we are keeping our hopes up for those. I have already left messages and sent a copy to Dr. Thompson in Omaha, she will be in on Monday. I have also left messages and sent a copy to Dr. Puccioni, Tanner's neuro. in Omaha. Since it is Friday we will not get any info until Monday. We are all very scared and nervous. Tanner has had so much treatment and she always does so well. Tanner is doing good and playing hard as always. She has such an incredible spirit and nothing really gets her down. Please pray for Tanner, the doctors and us, so that we can make the best choices for Tanner.  Thank you so much for all your thoughts and prayers. I will update when I know more.

Love, Marjorie, Chris, Tanner, Hope and Brody   

Tuesday, Aug 15, 2006    Thank you for checking on Tanner and all of the thoughts, prayers and guestbook entries, we love reading them. Things are ALWAYS changing around here. Chris went on Monday to pick up Tanner's films to overnight them to Dr. Puccioni and while he was there he saw Dr. Mcmahon and at that time went over everything with Chris. He wanted to schedule a Lumbar Puncture and a Bone Marrow biopsy to see if the cancer had spread. Dr. Mcmahon was trying to get in contact with Dr. Thompson regarding all of Tanner's treatment to see what Tanner could do. The doctor had suggested that since the docs in Omaha know Tanner inside and out that maybe would be the best place for her. He could do everything here in NC but he would have to take a lot longer to figure everything out. Chris and I decided that we will be moving back to Omaha. We still have our home there and the most wonderful support and doctors. Chris and I both quit our jobs and will start packing. We will be leaving for Omaha Thursday morning. After making that decision I received a call from Dr. Puccioni today letting me know that he had reviewed the scans and NOT to worry. This is in a location that can be reached fairly easy. He said that this is a common spot (the base of her skull on the right side) for tumors to grow with children with a lot of ear infections and or radiation. There is even a slight chance that this could be benign. But he said with Tanner's history that we have to assume that it is Ewing's Sarcoma. The tumor is located between audio nerve to her right ear and the facial nerve to her right side. Tanner had her hearing tested on Wednesday Aug, 9th and we were told that the hearing on her right side was extremely lower than the left. Tanner still has both tubes in her ears and the tube in the left ear is now behind the ear drum and has made a small hole in the ear drum. Dr. Puccioni is scheduling Tanner's surgery for next week and he will have her ENT doctor there as well to fix all the other ear problems. I asked him about the LP and bone marrow and he said that we need to remove the tumor first and see what the pathology will show. So we are hoping for the best and praying that this slight chance of HOPE will be for Tanner.

  I want to thank everyone so much for all of your wonderful support, with phone calls, emails and guest book entries. It really means a lot to see how much everyone cares for Tanner. Tanner is doing GREAT and she is excited to go back to Omaha she had made a lot of friends and she loves the nurses and docs out there. I want to thank everyone in Omaha for all of your support you guys are amazing. I also want to thank all of my new friends that I have made here in NC; you all have been very understanding and supportive. I will miss you!! Some times you just don't realize how fast people can touch our lives. Thank you. And for all of our friends and family in California, we miss you so much and we don't get to see each other very much but we always know you are there. Thank you for always thinking of us. Please continue to keep Tanner in your prayers. We would love to have a smooth surgery and a benign tumor. HOPE and PRAY!!!!

Love, Marjorie, Chris, Tanner, Hope and Brody  

 Monday, Aug 21, 2006    Hi everyone, thank you for checking on Tanner. We are in Omaha and doing very well. We want to thank the Yarnell's, Looney's, Timmon's, Sankey's, Lori Liken, and Nancy Dodge for all your help on unloading the POD. That was very nice for all of you to do all of that. You guys are wonderful. THANK YOU!!!! We took Tanner to the ENT doc today and we also had her hearing tested again and the hearing in her right ear is much lower than the left. The doctor does not think that we would be able to save her hearing in her right ear. He said that the tumor is on the nerve. The surgery is scheduled for Thursday at 11:00am and should be around 4 hours. I am waiting for Dr. Puccioni to call me about all the other details, he should be calling tonight. Tanner will be going to school tomorrow and Wednesday, she is excited to see all the kids and great teachers at Wheeler.

  Thank you for all the thoughts and prayers for Tanner. Please continue to pray for Tanner and a successful surgery on Thursday. We also want to thank everyone for all their help with Tanner, Hope, Brody AND moving. Thank you for all the guestbook entries, phone calls and words of encouragement. I will update as soon as I can after surgery.

Love, Marjorie, Chris, Tanner, Hope, and Brody

Wednesday, August 23, 2006  Auntie and Zachary have come to join us and be here for the surgery. Everyone is so happy to have them here.

Thursday, August 24, 2006 (This is Amy Yarnell updating for Marjorie and Chris) 

We just left the hospital and Tanner looks great, she was sleeping so peacefully and in no pain.  Unfortunately, her surgery revealed that Tanner does have cancer. The doctors did have to remove the auditory nerve and part of the facial nerves on the right side of her face. She has lost her hearing out of her right ear and part of her movement in the right side of her face and possibly her eye.  Fortunately, the cancer had not attached itself to her brain stem and that they do believe they got it all.  As far as follow-up treatment goes, the doctors are now deciding what will be the best options for her and they will update again when they know more.  For now she is very peaceful and comfortable, Marjorie and Chris are doing as well as can be expected.  They wanted me to let you know that they appreciate all of the prayers and thoughts you are sending their way.  Thank you to all that have been helping with meals and helping with the kiddos.  They couldn't do this without all of your support! 

Tanner will be in ICU for a couple of days and I'm sure they will update again as soon as they can.

Friday, August 25, 2006 (Amy again)

I just spoke with Marjorie and Chris.  Tanner is doing pretty well, her incision looks great and despite the fact that the surgeon severed the nerve that controls her right eye closing, she is still able to close it on her own!  The doctors are mystified as to how she is doing it, but somehow she is - just the power Tanner has to prove everyone wrong! She is upright and having a difficult time with nausea but she is awake and alert.  She is doing well enough that the doctors are getting ready to move her out of ICU.  They estimate her being able to go home on Monday.  Chris and Marjorie seem in good spirits and are so happy with how she is doing.  They will update soon!

Saturday, August 26, 2006 Tanner had a pretty rough night. Tanner is still in a lot of pain and receives morphine about every 4 hours. With the removal of the nerve to her right ear her brain feels very unbalanced and the doctors say each person is different as to how long it will take for it to adjust. So in the mean-time even the slightest movement is like she is on a very rocky boat. The doctors say she does need to start moving around but this causes headaches and Tanner to be very nauseous (even the slightest movement of the bed can cause that). Tanner wants (insists) to go to the bathroom on her own, but doesn't want to move much more.

Mrs. Pratt stopped by yesterday and not only was Tanner a happy girl, but mom said it was the biggest smile she saw on Tanner's face that had mom and dad smiling too. Mrs. Pratt thanks so much.

At this time everything is still up in the air as to when she will be coming home and to what will be happening next. It is very much a wait and see situation at this time.

Thanks for all the support, love and prayers. Grammie

Monday, August 28, 2006 Tanner had a better night. She is now sitting up by herself. She is off all pain meds, steroids and IV fluids. Tanner ate french toast sticks for breakfast and has even taken a walk. Tanner has to use a walker, and boy she doesn't like that but she needs it for balance and support at this time. She tried to get out of bed by herself, dad had to explain she can't just do some things so fast and by herself until she is stronger. I am sure Tanner will do all that she can to get past using the walker. Tanner's right hand and arm is pretty weak as well as her ability to turn her head and look to her right. Physical therapy is working her pretty hard. The sooner they get those areas stimulated the better the movement, faster and more complete the recovery. Tanner is talking but not to much, she seems frustrated that she is not always understood and has to repeat herself. She used her noices and she has to be reminded to use her words. Tanner does seems slower and doesn't respond as quickly as before this surgery or after her other surgeries. They are hoping that some of that will improve since she has been removed from so many medications. There are many things that others could do for her but it most important that Tanner do as much as possible on her own to strengthen her body and her mind.

Tanner's eye is still closing some but not fully so they have started with the treatment to care for her eye. They feel that the reason her eye seemed to close so well was because her cheeks were so swollen from the steroids.

Physical therapy will be every day and mom and dad will have to push her to use her weak areas to continue to stimulate them and for maximum improvement. Speech therapy will be begin today and they will know more about the speech problems after that first meeting. Marjorie and Chris will also be meeting with doctors today.

Thanks so much to Joann for flying in from California, she is a wonderful friend and of great support.

With Joann there and all the friends helping to put the house together,  bring in lunches, dinners, care for Hope and Brody, it gives Marjorie and Chris that ability to do all that needs to be done for Tanner and the opportunity to spend some much needed time with Hope and Brody.  THANK YOU!!!!!! And thank you to Brian Timmons and Jamie Yarnell for all the yard work you did. They appreciate it ALL so much. 

Thanks to all of you for your love and prayers, Grammie

Tuesday, August 29, 2006

PM - Tanner is home and everyone is trying to get settled in. Thank you to Moorseville Center for the wonderful gift! A special thank you to Wheeler Elementary Teachers and students - you are fantastic!!!!

Well Tanner is on her way home!!!!! We all know you can recover so much better in your own home and with everyone all together.

Tanner still needs the walker, but has to be forced to use it, she doesn't want it. She still is not talking much at all; hopefully it will improve once she is home. To be able to leave the hospital she had to have speech and physical therapy, eat lunch and go for a walk - she did it all.

Doctor Thompson was in to talk about what is next (which changes daily) in the plan. They have gone over everything and she discusses Tanner and her case with every doctor that has seen her. It looks like Tanner can have radiation to the area where the tumor was. That area can still take a little more. We will let you know when that will start. As far as chemo they don't know. Chemo has only kept things at bay not killed anything in the past and with out a tumor to look at and see if it is working they don't know. They will be discussing it more.

More tests will be scheduled, but at this time they want Tanner to recover some from the surgery before they go in and do some very painful tests to her.

Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2006

THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!!!  We can not say it enough. Tanner is doing very well, she is walking without the walker (because she is stubborn) She is talking a lot more, and she even sneaks in a smile or two. She will have her first physical therapy and occupational therapy tomorrow at Children's Hospital. After those appointments we will schedule her for speech therapy. Tanner is on an antibiotic (twice a day) and eye drops (every 3 hours) and believe it or not NO pain meds. Her right arm is doing very well and her speech has improved a lot. No nausea and her balance seems to be almost normal.  Great job, Tanner, we are so proud of you!!! Tanner has had some visitors and she really likes to see all of her friends. Tanner and I sat outside today (it was beautiful) and watched dad wash the RV. Tanner mentioned how quite it was and that no one was around and before you know it a lot of her friends starting coming by. Thank you all for coming by it was GREAT to see everyone.

Tomorrow I will call to set up all of Tanner's future appointments, ENT, Oncologist and LP/bone marrow biopsy.

We have so many people to thank for all of their HELP!!! My sister and Zach for coming out to support us for Tanner's surgery, it was wonderful to have someone to lean on. Joanne, from California, you were a HUGE help not only with all the house work, but with Hope and Brody and being a good friend.  I can't mention everyone by name because there has been so many people helping our family and it is so wonderful. Amy, Christine, Susie, and Shaundra, I can't thank you enough for all of your help with Hope and Brody. They are now spoiled rotten, Thank you!!! Jaime and Brian, thank you so much for all of your hard work. Julie and Liz, I would love to thank you for arranging all of our wonderful dinners, they are very good. (too good, they will never eat my cooking again) I would also like to thank the staff at Wheeler Elementary, you guys are the best. Thank you, everyone for all of the cards, gifts and donations, it has truly been amazing. THANK YOU!!!!!

Love,

Marjorie, Chris, Tanner, Hope and Brody

Wednesday, September 06, 2006

Thank you for checking on Tanner and all of the wonderful guestbook entries. Tanner is doing AWESOME!!! Tanner is talking and walking on her own. We saw the speech therapist on Tuesday and she felt that Tanner did not need to continue with speech therapy other than taking her time and slow down a little. You would think after her third brain surgery the kid would slow down but not Tanner, she does not slow down for to long. We saw the Physical Therapist today and she could not believe that this was the same kid she saw on Thursday last week. She had to change all of her planned routine. Tanner told her before we left, "you better have some fun exercises for tomorrow, and the ones today were too easy". We also had her oncology appointment with Dr. Thompson, and we went over the tentative plan.  First, Anisa scheduled Tanner next week for her Lumbar Puncture and Bone Marrow biopsy but if Dr. Puccioni can get her scheduled for Gamma Knife next week we will do that first and then the LP, bone marrow the following week. If no cancer cells are found in those two areas we will do NO chemo, but monitor her very closely, every two months. Due to the fact that Tanner has no visible tumor we will not be able to monitor if the chemo is working or not. We are very worried about not doing chemo but we totally understand the reasons not to.  It is so hard to wait and see if or when the cancer will come back. But we have to take one day at a time and hope and pray for the best. Some time soon Tanner will also have a gold weight surgerically placed in her eye lid to help close it. Tanner will be going to school tomorrow to take pictures for picture day and on Friday if all goes well Tanner will go to school for half the day. We are going to start out slow and work our way up to a full day. I will talk to all the wonderful staff at Wheeler and we will work something out. Tanner will do GREAT!!!!

We want to thank everyone for all of your support and all of those wonderful dinners, they are great. Please continue to pray for Tanner and all these other kiddos suffering from this horrible disease.

Love,

Marjorie, Chris, Tanner, Hope and Brody