Ben's week

Ben had a great week.

It was a fun Mardi Gras, and another great soccer game on Friday night. Go Orange Tigers!! Ben is looking forward to a fun week at school. Its the beginning of "MARCH MADNESS" no not basketball - Brighter Horizons and Audubon has teamed up and gone field trip crazy!!! Every Wednesday this month Ben's class will be going to one of the Audubon facilities for a super fun field trip. This week is the Insectarium!! Ben is soooo excited he loves the Insectarium. But hey what five year old boy wouldn't love a place thats all about bugs!! Mommy is pretty excited because she gets to go on all the field trips too!

Great news the United States government has finally decided that mommy is not a threat to national security and has FINALLY renewed her passport - now we can book Ben's Make a Wish Disney Cruise! No dates yet but it should be soon. Ben is very excited about "going sailing with Mickey"!!

Ben Sr and I want to say Thank You again to our wonderful friends, family and community. I feel like we can't say thank you enough. Ben was so excited to see you all out at his soccer game - when the coaches finally got all the teams situated on the field the other night we were all heading over to the field where Ben was playing and as our "herd" crossed the field Ben proudly announced "hey look its my cheering section!" with the big cheesy grin he has - he was soooo proud to have so many people there to watch him play!! We also want to say thank you to all the Sacred Heart and Stuart Hall families for all the wonderful meals over the past three months, one less thing to worry about and more time with the boys, so important right now! We have also recently learned that Ben's Cancer Research Benefit Fund will be the recipient of this years "Hogs for the Cause" fundraiser at the end of this month. For more information about the fundraiser go to http://www.hogsforthecause.org/index.jsp Our community has been so supportive. I can't image how other families going through a similar fight does it without YOU!

Now for our decision - I know you all have been wanting to know what our next step is, thank you for not pressing us for the answer it has taken us a while to come to our decision. After Ben's MRI his oncologist told us she thought it was time for us to move to another hospital that could provide us with a more aggressive therapy as the tumor had not shrunk as much as she had hoped. Well after tons of research and hours of talking to doctors all over the country, the consensus is that at this time there is no other treatment recommended. Until Ben starts to show disease progression (the tumor getting bigger) none of the doctors recommend any of the other current treatments. We have started Ben on a maintenance dose of the oral chemotherapy. So we will stay here and continue working with Dr Velez, who Ben loves, and monitor him very closely and pray there is a break through VERY SOON!

So its back to having fun for us!! All fun all the time - thats our mantra! Aunt Mego is coming for a visit very soon, very exciting. We are planning a trip to Phoenix as soon as we get our Make A Wish trip dates. And Big Ben & Lil' Ben are planning an offshore fishing trip out of Panama City, Fl - they are still deciding if Mommy and Shaun are invited, it may just be a big boys trip! Ben wants to spend some time at the beach this summer in San Diego (I think he wants another GIANT Pizza), we also may be spending this Easter at the mountain house in North Carolina with the cousins.

Thats all for now! We have to go for a Jeep ride around the neighborhood!

Love always
The Sarrat Family