Wednesday Aug. 26th Chris had his 6th round of chemo. He didn't loose anymore weight this week - yeahhh!!! We also spoke with a genetic counselor about when to have our children tested, she said that we should have them tested at age 18 because that is when they think that Chris' tumor started growing, and we talked about the "what if's" with the insurance companies denying them if they have the cancer gene MLH2, she also told us that it would be wise that if Katie or Megan have the gene that after they are done having children that they should have a hysterectomy so that they then are not at risk of getting ovarian or cervical cancer (Wow! lots to take in!!) and how to help the children that have the gene to cope. Then Friday, we met with Dr. Whisenant and he said that he would like the children tested right away. He wants to make sure we catch this as soon as possible and that because while we have great insurance that will pay the $350.00 per test ($350.00x 5) we should do it. We haven't told our children yet that on September 11 they will be having their blood drawn ( I apologize for any English mistakes - I usually have Megan proofread my blog but I'm not going to on this one because we aren't going to tell them until probably Thurs of next week - no sense having them worry already so shhhhhh.... you know a secret). Dr. Whisenant does not want us to put any undo stress on the kids so we haven't decided what to do yet. Our children are very smart and I believe that if we don't tell them the results that they will worry and of course if we tell them the results and they have the gene then they'll worry and they are all too young to be worrying about death and cancer. If we decide to tell them the kids would see a counselor first and she will explain what is going to happen and will answer any questions they might have. Then they will have their blood drawn, it will be about a week before we get the results back. Then we will meet with the counselor again and whoever (hopefully none) has the mutant gene will then have some one-on-one counseling explaining to them that this does not mean that they are going to die of cancer. This is a preventative measure so that they can be proactive. The counselor told us that insurance companies would rather take care of the preventative stuff then hundreds of thousands of dollars like Chris has run up. I hope that we make the right decision:). Chris will have a CT scan on Sept. 14th. We also got the results back on the tumor marker he was at a 15 in December he is now at a 2 - so great news. Meg is doing well in cross -country she really enjoys it and Jacob and Taylor both made a touch down at their flag football game - go boys! Also everyone started school last Wednesday. I posted some pictures of the port and the bag that Chris carries around for 2 days. I had a really cool one of the port (close up) but Meg wouldn't put it on she said it was "gross" and we shouldn't "gross all of you out" Gotta listen to the teenager she knows everything:)