2-19-07 - I know, I know........It's been two months with no update. I have had many inquiries and complaints about it. We have been very busy with everything that is going on...including my elderly father who is requiring lots of care these days. First and foremost.....I have to to tell you that Beth had her MRI today and the results are CLEAR!!!!!!!!!!!! We are so very thankful that everything continues to go our way. We were at the hospital today where Beth and I delivered four giant bags of cool kid band-aids. Beth collected the band-aids over a months time and really did a good job. Beth is a typical teenager and always gives me guff about most everything. It's usually playful and I enjoy the banter but I still have to keep her in line from time to time. Beth hasn't done the horseback riding thing for a long time and I think she has fazed out of it. Beth still enjoys her weekly gymnastics and occasional after school activity with the National Junior Honors Society and art club. Beth loves to visit the Hot Topic store at the mall which would explain the graphic art on the top of this page....just in case you were curious :) Sorry again for such a long delay.....there is so much on my plate!

7-9-07 - Well.........where do we start? Beth is doing fantastic and has some really good friends. One of her friends, Ivalee, has come to stay with us for a few days all the way from Virginia. Another one of Beth's good friends lives close by and her name is Allison. And then there are all the friends that have been with her through the long haul since before the cancer. Beth loves them all and its unfortunate that she cant see them more often. Everything is wonderful at the the present time although we did have a tense moment at the endocrinologist last week. The doctor felt, what he called, a nodule on Beth's thyroid gland. Of course Beth began to panic (Jen and I too) but all worry was releaved when U of M was able to fit Beth in for an ultrasound that same day. The result was completely normal and the doctor said it must have just been a swollen lymphnode. Thank God for that! Beth is preparing to start drivers training next month...can you believe it?!!!! The first year of high school starts in September and so a new level of rat races and challenges await. Beth is very healthy and strong. Her facial paralysis has gotten even less noticable and she has turned into a beautiful young lady. Just look at the picture above. Beth was asked to interview at a local company where she receives tutoring. Beth got a job there and also works with Jenni one day a week. In addition to that, Beth also watches Mikey a couple of days a week. Jen and I are very proud parents and are thankful for such a responsible and caring young lady to have as a daughter.

8-11-07 - Hello again! We have been having a wonderful summer and have been busy with all kinds of things. Beth has only three days left of the first stage of drivers training and will receive her drivers permit on Wednesday. The permit will allow Beth to drive with a parent until she attains a specified number of hours behind the wheel. Can you believe it? Beth....driving....in a car......on the road!!!!! Another life event that is so taken for granted by many I think....but not us :) Above you can see that she has an excellent friend named Allison. She really is a neat young lady and a very good, unconditional friend to Beth. Beths word for the day?.............Boys Boys Boys!! She is a normal teenager and has really blossomed into a fine young woman that we are very proud of. Beth has been doing great healthwise and just had an MRI scan this morning. We are waiting on the result which will likely be the first of the week sometime. I will post again as soon as we hear. Thanks for checking in!

8-13-07 - MRI clear!!!! Thank you God!

9-9-07 - Beth got her level 1 driving permit! She scares me to death and needs lots of practice. As of last Tuesday Beth is officially a 9th grade high school student...I can hardly believe it. The high school is huge and so much more intimidating than the middle school but Beth is doing well. Beth has a boyfriend and her cell phone bill went through the roof with text messages. We got her a sidekick ID just the other day with unlimited everything....Beth has hardly made a peep since she got it and is always communicating with someone in some way. The teenager thing has hit full force now and it is such a wonderfully normal thing for all of us. It can be trying at times but I still thank God for every roll of the eyes I get. I am off work with a back injury so I actually had the time to throw in a timely update. See you next time.

9-25-07 - High school is going well for Beth but she complains that she doesn't get to see her friends very much. The school is huge but Beth is adjusting well. Beth's grades are great so far she has been spending ever so much time with her boyfriend. We received Beth's new high school picture which I have posted above....she is looking so grown up now. Beth is doing fantastic healthwise and she is feeling great. According to Beth....she is now to old for the traditional Halloween party which I usually throw every year. Beth now suggests that I take her and a bunch of her friends for a haunted house marathon one weekend night. So it sounds like she is done trick-or-treating and is moving on to the older kid things. I still have Mikey to do the parties for and he is already getting excited! Nothing else really noteworty at this point. Take care!

10-25-07 - It's almost Halloween and that means lots of fun around our house! Mikey had a bunch of friends over last weekend for a hayride and bon fire. This weekend I am taking Beth and some friends around to a few haunted houses and then out for pizza. It should be a really fun time. As mentioned in the previous post, no trick-or-treating for Beth this year...she will tag along and walk with Mikey but she isn't dressing up :( Oh well...she is growing up! Beth is doing well in school and still does her homework first thing when she gets home. Beth attended her first homecoming dance recently and went with a boy that lives down the street from us that she is fond of. Beth had a great time and looked really beautiful (see picture above). We are so proud of the young lady she has become. It is hard to believe that Beth will be 15 years old in a week or so. Medically speaking, Beth is doing great. We are all so very fortunate. Never take it for granted!

11-27-07 - We all had a great Halloween. Beth was too cool to trick-or-treat but went out on foot with the family and dressed goth.....her quasi costume. Thanksgiving has also come and gone.....holy cow! We did the traditional family turkey thing and grandma's house. Mikey, Beth and I put up the Christmas tree together the day after Thanksgiving. I was thankful that I had put up the lights on the outside of the house a week earlier! Suddenly, we are dealing with very normal teenage issues. Beth hardly takes her growth hormone anymore. We got 5 inches of growth and Beth has topped out at a solid 5 feet tall. Beth doesn't want to take growth hormone anymore so it looks like we are phasing it out. Beth will be 5 years out from diagnosis in less than a month (12-17-02)!!!!! Beth is doing great and feeling healthy. It is final exam week for Beth so the end of the week can't come too soon for her. We are all looking forward to Christmas and Beth has already supplied her list of demands......I mean.....ideas ;) That's it for now. Thanks for visiting!

1-30-08 - No way it has been two months since I updated this page!!!!! Christmas was a very nice time as usual...Beth got the PSP that she was wanting so badly. Beth is excited to go to the "Snowcoming" dance this weekend at school. Speaking of school, Beth continues to do very well and made the honor roll this last semester. We are all very proud of her. The clothing she wears is now getting a lot less black and a lot more color...finally! Ughh....the crazy teenage stuff! Beth if feeling great and has a routine MRI scheduled in February. Hopefully it wont be another two months before I update.

3-20-08 - Well look at that.....almost two months since the last update, just like I hoped it wouldn't be. Beth had a clear MRI scan last month! She is as sassy as ever and the eye rolling has become the norm....it makes me laugh. Valentines Day and St. Patrick's Day were awesome. We did the traditional corned beef and cabbage dinner on St. Paddy's Day which Beth complained about.....she doesn't like stuff like that. If it's not pizza or burgers then forget it.....typical teen! Beth continues to feel great and does well in school, actually complaining that they get to much time off. We are happy that the first day of Spring has arrived but it sure doesn't feel like it here in Michigan. We are actually supposed to get two inches of snow tomorrow night. That makes the Easter egg hunt really easy.....we just wont color the eggs! Kidding....of course. Beth is looking forward to our family get together on Easter Sunday. She likes to just set back and take it all in......and gorge on all the food. Nothing really new for any of us so I will just say Happy Easter!

5-8-08 - Here we are again and spring is in full bloom! Beth continues to feel well and is a happy, normal teenager. It can be a pain but this normality is exactly what we hoped and prayed for way back in December of 2002 when her medical issues were first diagnosed. We have all come a long way baby.....especially Beth! I have been submerged in a world wrought with running Beth here and there....and picking up / dropping off her boyfriend (I refer to that as the "B-word"). Nothing but music, iPod's, jeans & burgers going on around here! I love every second of it :) The doctor says that Beth is doing very well and has moved us back to 9 months between MRI scans now....which makes the next one sometime in November around her birthday. We are all looking forward to a fun, hot & sunny summer. Lots of beach days in our future. Please say a special prayer for our little friend Jordan from California. A few weeks ago a spot appeared on a scan which has now become 5 spots. Jordan is scheduled for a spinal tap and possibly a biopsy soon. Please pray that everything turns out alright. These kids just don't deserve this! Also, please pray that Beth continues to be healthy. Make sure to check on the 2008 pics tab above...it's new. There are only a few pictures in there right now but I will continue to add to them over the summer. Thanks for stopping by!

6-13-08 - Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers these past couple of weeks while we have been waiting for the decision on Beth's swollen lymph node. The final consensus by "several" doctors is just that...a swollen lymph node. Nothing else. Yippi! Today we met with the neuro-oncologist Dr Pat Robertson at U of M who is an absolute saint. I say this not because she gave us good news, but she took a TON of time with us and even walked us clear across the hospital to the cancer clinic for a second (unplanned) opinion from one of her colleagues/ cancer doctor that sees a lot of lymphomas. They both said they cant feel anything and felt surgery would be totally unnecessary. They agreed to do a more extensive blood test, so Dr Robertson proceeded to walk us ALL THE WAY back to the other side of the hospital to a blood drawing area. She literally spent over two hours with us. We feel totally pampered! Before we had even got home, Dr Robertson had called Mike and told him the blood work is perfect. The Dr had also talked more in depth with the radiologist, who said the internal structure of the lymph node is fine, too -which is another good sign. So the biopsy surgery has been canceled and we will just continue to watch it via ultrasounds. If the blood work had been suspicious than a chest Xray would've been ordered because PET scans show a lot of false positives. Dr.Robertson was also planning on calling the Dr from St Judes to discuss Beth's case, just to make sure they were in agreement. Like I have said many times before, we feel like we are in great hands with the team of doctors at U of M. Our endocrinologist, Kathy Clark, is also very vigilant and proactive. Another saint! It is so hard to find the balance of being watchful without getting paranoid. We are all getting better at not worrying/freaking out, but that "what if" demon always lingers in the back of your mind.

6-19-08 - Hello everyone! Just a quick note to ask for prayers for Beth. The doctors have been watching a small lump / lymph node on Beth's throat / thyroid area. Beth went to the endocrinologist yesterday and an ultrasound was done. The lump has doubled in size since the last check in December of 2007 (six months ago). Blood work was done yesterday to see if maybe Beth has an infection or something that might be an obvious cause but the blood work came back completely normal. Given Beth's history the doctor says it's not something we want to be laxidazy about and referred us to a pediatric surgeon. I have a call into the surgeon's office but haven't heard anything yet. It's probably nothing but we can't be too careful because that entire area received radiation during her cancer treatments five years ago. Please say a special prayer that everything will be fine. I will post back as soon as we know something other than speculation. Thanks.

7-18-08 - Hello again! We just got back from a few days of rest and relaxation in Muskegon Michigan. We all spent one of the days at the Michigan Adventure theme park.....it's kind of like a small Cedar Point. A great time was had by all of us....especially Beth. Check out the video by clicking on the "Cool Movies" icon below. It show's Beth braving something called the "RipCord". Basically, they strap you into a harness, haul you 15 stories above the ground where you dangle until you pull a ripcord which sends you into a 60 MPH swing / dive. Beth said she wanted to do it and that she would probably regret it if she didn't. Beth literally did not show one ounce of fear. The next day we went to a zoo where Beth did the zip line which was about 50 feet above the ground. The kid is a brave one!

11-3-08 - Today is Beth's birthday. We remember getting her a handicap tag when she was so sick with chemo and radiation and seeing the expiration date as today's date and thinking what a lifetime 5 years seemed. Today it expires and the best part is she doesnt need it anyways. We would look at other teen girls and wonder if we would have one--so much to be thankful for today. She has her drivers permit and is a very cautious driver, but not ready to be on her own yet so we are waiting for now and she agrees. Who knows what she would be like today had she not been cursed with cancer. But she told me the other day she thinks she was "selected" to have it because "she could handle it and is stronger because of it". She is a very serious student and has become quiet: a listener more than a talker. She is doing well at school but works very hard at it. At our urging, she went to Camp Special Days over summer and "missed us more than she thought she would". It was a good experience for her to be with other cancer kids. We have tried over the past 6 years to put the cancer behind us but have now learned we need to embrace it because it cannot be ignored, it is a part of who she is. We discovered this about 6 months ago when she had a lump in her thyroid and the whole cancer scare came up again (it was nothing). How fast our lives can change. We dont want being a cancer survivor to be the main focus of who she is, but it is a part of who she is. She started working once a week at my brother's fire department-helping with office work. She likes to work and enjoys being tucked away in an office helping quietly. She also babysat three neighbor boys plus Mikey this summer and enjoyed that, too. Just recently she volunteered at Mikey's elementary school to help tutor a third grade class...which she gets a lot of satisfaction doing. Who knows, maybe someday she will be a teacher she thinks. Her best buddy is the neighbor boy, Kyle- he has been her best friend since she was 5 and continues to be the most important person to her. We are so thankful for their friendship and her continued good health.

3-13-09 - Hello again! We hope everyone has been doing well! The Simsack family has been doing great! Beth is feeling good and doing pretty well in school. We have all had bugs recently but that is to be expected this time of year. Beth's check-ups continue to be clean and clear. Beth just got out of surgery this morning. It was a minor cosmetic surgery to lower her right eyelid which was affected by her original operation back in 2002. She has a bit of weakness on the right side of her face which resulted in her right eye appearing to be open more than her left. The surgery went well but she will have some swelling for a few days. Beth is 16 and appearance is important to her self-confidence so we let her make the choice to have the procedure. Thankfully, nothing else new to report! Thanks for dropping by :)