Third week of Maintenance

Leila is doing great! She has adjusted to being back on the oral chemo and takes it like a pro. She doesn't even put up a fight to take anything. She is so used to it all and it has become routine to her and mommy. Her blood counts are up and she has a lot of energy these days. She has been enjoying playing with her friends, going to the park and riding her bike. She has been doing great with her tutor Mr. Gardner. He leaves homework for her each week and mommy helps oversee that she gets it done. Her quarter grades came back and she received three A's and two B's!! That was very exciting to see. Last week we took Rami to school in the morning and Leila got to see the kids in her class. Her teacher invited her into the class to meet everyone and she was given a very warm welcome. A few of the girls took Leila by the hand and guided her through the classroom. For me (mommy) it was an emotional moment filled with fighting back the tears that wanted to flow down my face. Many of the tears over the past seven months have been those from heart ache, but these tears were from pure joy!!! Seeing her in that environment and the fact that the kids were so nice to her, made it all seem easier. We will continue to visit the school and let her see the kids, so they can get used to her before she returns in January.

Leila starts the Maintenance Stage

This week Leila had a spinal tap along with the chemo Vincristine and Methotrexate. She began the last and final stage of her treatment called Maintenance. This is the longest stage that she will be in until finishing the therapy in June 2010. She is now back on all of the oral chemo drugs which she takes on a daily basis. It seems like it should be easier now that she has taken these drugs before, but the side effects show that her body is adjusting once again. The IV chemo seems to affect her differently from the oral, especially the steroid she is back on now. She still has stomach and lower back pain as well as head aches. The good thing about the Maintenance stage is that we do not have to go to the clinic as often.

Ziad shaves his head for Make A Wish

When Leila was first diagnosed with Leukemia, Ziad had told her that he would shave his head when she lost her hair from the chemo. Over the past six months, Leila's hair has fallen out gradually. She is now completely bald and usually covers up with her favorite bandanas.

Ziad told some of his coworkers and friends that he was going to shave his head soon. They decided to raffle off tickets for a chance to shave his head. The tickets sold for $5 each and the winning ticket holder could shave his head any way they like. We decided to donate the proceeds of the head shaving to the Make A Wish Foundation.

As the weeks went by in selling raffle tickets, Ziad had two other co workers who volunteered to shave their heads with him. The first one was Ron Hatfield who is the Project Manager at the PBG plant here in Vegas. He has worked very closely with Ziad in the start up of the new plant.

The other co worker was Chad Buechel who is the Plant Manager in Fresno, CA. Chad was also a huge help in raising money for Make A Wish. His PBG team raised a good portion of the total amount of money for MAW. We would also like to thank Julie Hunkin and Eric Lane for organizing the raffle and collecting the money. All together a total of more than $12,000 was raised.

Thank you to everyone from PBG who helped raise money for the Make A Wish Foundation and for supporting Ziad throughout Leila's illness. We are forever grateful to all of you who keep Leila in your thoughts and prayers.