Ava has a message for you. Turn up your computer.

Untitled from Josh Hunter on Vimeo.

Incase you can't hear it...she says, "hello everyone, thank you for praying for me."

It's been a good day. No great revelations, but Ava has made good progress and is recovering well. The docs have talked to us about looking at all options possible to get her well and Lisa is attacking this sucker with reckless abandon. I am sure there will be tough days in the days ahead, but we are truly living everyday as it comes and not worrying about tomorrow.

Thank you to you all. Keep praying. Ava needs it and so do we!

Tough News Today

We got the diagnosis today. It was worse than we imagined. It was not what they originally thought. It was diagnosed as a GBM. This aggressive brain cancer is very resistant to traditional forms of cancer treatment. While we have sent the pathology to other places now for a second opinion and are praying the original was wrong, we are taking seriously the plan to move forward knowing we are facing an uphill battle with our little warrior.

We can't do anything for a little while anyway since she has to heal from her surgery, so we have a bit of time to devise a game plan. What we do know is that Ava's healing will need to be a miracle from God (although we have known that from the beginning). The cancer she has is very, very rare in children and the prognosis is statistically not good. But, stats are stats. Stats aren't Ava.

We will continue to pray like crazy and ask for wisdom from God to treat this monster. Lisa and I are committing to living everyday not thinking about tomorrow since we can't do anything about it anyway. We ask that you would pray for us to stay that course and do what is best for Ava everyday as we live through it with her.

She is progressing well with the surgery recovery and even moved her left leg a bit today. I go to bed tonight knowing that God has our little girl right where He needs her and that He is the one we are responsible to trust.

It's been a hard day. We covet your prayers. Thank you so much for being faithful in praying for Ava. It's easy to lean on God when it's all you can do. That is what we are doing.

Ava, Day 4.

We are hanging in there. Today we find out exactly what type of cancer Ava has. There is much to find out over the next couple of weeks to devise the plan of attack for this piece of crap that is trying to hurt my girl. Rest assured, it will be beaten into submission.

Ava had a good night last night. They are working on getting her ICP (internal cranial pressure) down so that they can take the drain tube out of her head, but that is a slow process. In the mean time, she was joking with us and while kinda slurry and groggy, was having a good time without much pain. She is a fighter. I am so grateful God made her that way. It will serve her well in the months ahead. She will continue to get better and have less pain over the next few days.

We are on a two track plan right now...

Track 1: Get her well from surgery. Get her body responding and doing the physical and occupational therapy necessary for her to regain all of her function. We are currently on the tail end of the window that is "critical" to watch for bleeding and major swelling. Praise God for no major complications so far. Each minute further away from the surgery is another minute we are less likely to have those life threatening issues arise. He is good and has blessed us incredibly with a world wide prayer network and docs and nurses at one of the top pediatric hospitals in the world. Track one is moving along well and we may actually be out of ICU after tomorrow if all continues to go as expected. The docs are mostly pleased with her surgery progress.

Track 2: Fight cancer. Later this week she will have a spinal tap to find out if the cancer cells went anywhere into her spinal column. If that is clean (which is a huge prayer request) then the road ahead is a bit better. None of it will be fun, but the less cancer we have to fight, the better it is for the little warrior. We'll know a lot more about this stuff in the coming weeks.

On a personal note, I am ok. Lisa is ok, too. We have moments of great confidence and moments of great despair and unbridled emotional pain. We love our little girl. It is weird to be assigned to protect someone who is being attacked by their own self. I will learn how, but I'm not all that confident in those skills yet. It already feels like we have moved into the hospital and the care staff is quickly becoming like family to us. The ICU nurses have been absolutely amazing with us and Ava. They care for her as if she were their own. It's incredible to watch. I admire them.

Many of you have thanked me for being public about this battle. To that, I say, "Thank you". I am talking and writing about this because I know it lets you know how to pray. Knowing that literally thousands around the world are praying gives Lisa and I great peace. We know God has her and she is His. I write also because it helps me. It helps me to put down on paper what usually will only come out in tears. It makes it productive for me and not just a way to kill time by babbling about it to a single person. I will keep updating.

Thank you all for being a part of Ava's healing and our strength. We are at peace knowing God will be glorified by this, but seeing the pain of the hour sometimes clouds that lofty thought. Ava needs you to keep praying. So does Lisa. And for sure, so do I.

The last 72 hours

Well, what in the world? I woke up Saturday morning to a daughter who was goofing around with me as I tickled her. It is Monday morning as I sit next to the bed of a 5 year old brain cancer patient, who is 1 day post op (after having a tangerine sized tumor removed). The crazy thing is they are the same person.

My mind can't process all of this right now. I spend a good amount of time hopeful, discouraged, furious, and grateful. I'm not happy. But, I'm not non-functional either...that is weird to me. I always wondered how I would handle true crisis. The truth is, it's the same way I handle little crisis. The feelings are just more powerful.

Ava is doing well. The part of her brain where the tumor was removed controlled fine motor movement of her left side. So, right now she can only use her right side. They say the damage is mostly superficial and they feel good about long term use and re-strengthening of her fine motor skills on the left side. She is currently just sleeping a lot. She told me she loved me this morning and it took everything I had to not burst into tears. She will be in various states of sleep and therapy for the next few days.

The oncologist will be talking to us today. They believe that we will know for sure what type of tumor it was either today or tomorrow. That is good, I guess. We can't do much for a couple weeks until Ava heals anyway, so knowing what type it is will just let us get better educated.

I saw the post op MRI this morning. They got the big mass out, but there is a little residual that we'll have to take out with Chemo or whatever therapy works best.

It's been an insane couple days. We expect a long battle ahead, but we are grateful for all of the friends, messages, support and prayers from all over the world.

I'll post more on here in the days ahead... In the meantime, I have to stay on track to open Hunter Vision. Pray that I ride that line well.

Lobby transform and Family Vacation

Hunter Vision Lobby... January vs. Today

Progress and vacation don't go well together in Hunter world. This year the entire Hunter family minus Dr. Joel and I are at our Aunt and Uncle's place in Put-In-Bay, Ohio. I wish I was there, but knew that if I left the office for a week with 43 days left until we open Hunter Vision, I would probably internally combust from the stress. My hope is that this will be the only year that I will miss this trip. I love the family time with Mom and Dad, all the brothers, sis-in-laws and cousins. Add to that the time with our Ohio relatives and it makes for a great week.

Things are going well at Hunter Vision and we are right on track. Of course there are a million details left, but the big stuff is covered. We have 43 days left to figure out the little stuff like, "Where are we going to buy our eye drops?".

I am taking full advantage of work time this week and doing nothing but Hunter Vision stuff. It's cool to be able to build something that we can unabashedly say is the absolute best eye care practice in the state. The level of service we will provide in patient care and personal touch will be unrivaled. Nowhere else is there a LASIK and Cataract place like this. And the coolest part is we get to change the lives of the people who come here. We're not selling cars or material goods. We give the gift of sight. That's awesome. It makes it easy to talk about with people because we know what a difference it can make for them.

On that note, I get my LASIK done in July. I'm ready. I've been wearing glasses or contacts for about 15 years. I'm over it.

The one thing everyone should take from this blog...it's much harder to deer hunt with glasses.

That's all for today.

JUNE 14th. HUNTER VISION

Hunter Vision 6/14 from Josh Hunter on Vimeo.

After last week we have over 100 people on the "I'm interested in getting LASIK at Hunter Vision" list. This is good news. Here is the place as it stands today. Equipment is coming in and furniture is as well. The full staff starts the first week of July. Here we go.

August 2nd. 2010. Hunter Vision opens to the public. Make your appointment now while there is time to get it when you want it. (407)-385-1620.

It's been a great ride so far.

Love to you all.