This website has been created to keep family friends and visitors updated and informed on Emily's progress
EMILY'S STORY
First of all our family has had it rough. We have a bad history with cancer. My mom died when I was 7 months pregnant with Emily of ovarian cancer. Then September 28, 2003 my mother in law died of cancer.
Then started the journey with Emily. October 6, 2003 I took Emily to the hospital because the right side of her stomach was sticking out and was hard. They ran lots of tests and after the ultrasound it confirmed that there was a mass. They scheduled her for surgery to remove the mass. When they did the surgery they removed the whole kidney and a 3 pound tumor.
They came and told me that my little girl had cancer called Wilms tumor. It was Stage 1 Favorable histology. I can't even explain the feeling that came over me when I heard those Words. That is when we met with the doctor and he told us that she would have 18 weeks of chemotherapy. He also told me that she had a 90% curable rate. She went through her 18 weeks of chemo. Her last treatment was on February 12, 2004. Everything was going great. All her chest x-rays turned out fine and her tests came out good.
June 18, 2004 Emily started experiencing trouble breathing. I called the doctor and he said if I didn't feel comfortable with this then take her to the hospital (it was 10pm). So once again I found myself in the emergency room with her. They ran all the neccessary tests and then came and told me that the cancer was back. It not only came back but it had taken over her whole right lung. She was immediately admitted to the hospital and scheduled for a biopsy. On June 21 they did the biopsy. After that surgery she was on a ventilator for 2 weeks. During that time they tried to extabate 3 times. The first time was on June 26. They had to re-intabate right away. The 2nd time was on June 29. She did okay for about 36 hours and then went into respitory distress and became unresponsive. I felt like I was watching my little girl slip away from me. They had to re-intabate again at 6am July 1. The last time was on July 3 and it was finally a success.
She got released from the hospital on July 9 with the tumor still inside her. They say that it is too risky to remove it. Now she has had about 18 radiation treatments and lots and lots of chemotherapy. She goes to the doctor nearly everyday. The tumor shrunk 50% in size, but still not enough for me. She has a loud weezing sound when she breaths. She says that she has no trouble breathing. The doctor thinks that she may have nerve damage because of how many times they took the tube out and put it back in.
JANUARY 29, 2009 EMILY WAS 4YRS OFF TREATMENT AND REMAINS CANCER FREE!
Journal
Monday, June 29, 2009 11:10 AM CDT
**EDITED UPDATE JULY 1, 2009**
PULMONOLOGIST UPDATE: Emily had her appointment today with the pulmonologist. Her breathing is unchanged. Her lung function tests were no better or any worse then they were last week. Her O2 sats are still hanging around 96. Good news that it hasn't gotten worse, but we were hoping for even slight improvement. She also had to do the shakey vest for 30 minutes today. She hates that thing, but she did great. The doctor did clear her to go to camp July 19-25. She is so excited! She is also equally excited that she doesn't have to go back to the doctor until July 29th. 4 whole weeks!!! 2 days before she leaves for camp we are going to start her on steriods and she will take them twice a day for 2 weeks. Hopefully that will help her while she is away at camp. Then when she comes back we will stop her antibiotics and get her in for the bronchoscopy. She has to be off her antibiotics for 2 weeks before they can do the scope. I will keep you posted as I get more info.
Thank you all for checking in. Hope you have a fabulous holiday weekend. We are going to hang out at home for the 4th of July. We are hoping to have some people over, BBQ and swim. Sounds like a great way to spend the 4th. I am sure I will have more pictures to share after the weekend.
Love and Hugs, Angela
**NEW PICTURES IN THE PHOTO ALBUM (6-29-09)**
Hi Everyone! Hope you had a great weekend. Emily is doing well. Her breathing is about the same. We go back to the pulmonologist on wednesday and hopefully her O2 sats will be up more and her lung function tests will come up some also. We don't want anything preventing her from being able to go to camp in a few weeks. She is really looking forward to it. There was also an incident that happened with another kid over the weekend that caused Emily to have some pain in her back. She is still having some pain today. Please pray that gets better soon. Back pain is no fun. Other then that she is good. Little Charlie is doing great and had a wonderful time camping with Daddy, Uncle Tom and Tyler. They didn't get many pictures, but I do have some to share form their camping trip.
Here is our week of fun and sadness rolled into one. Wednesday Emily and Charlie's cousins, Kylie and Dylan came to spend some time with us. We've really missed seeing them and so I took them for a few days. We went swimming on wednesday and then to Emily's doctors appointment. Thursday we spent a good part of the day in the pool. It has been so hot. My brother Jason also came on Thursday and friday to hang out with us for the day. The kids played video games, swam, ate, and just had loads of fun. Friday Daddy and Charlie left to go camping. The kids and I took Emily's dog Bandit for a haircut and then came home and went swimming. Catching a trend here yet. LOL! We spent mass amount of time in the pool. Saturday was Dylan's birthday party and so it was the day for them to go home. His party was at 2pm so we had planty of time to swim before going. First we made macaroni salad to take to his party. Then we headed to the pool for a couple hours. Then packed up and headed to my sisters for Dylan's party. He was so excited about everything. (he is turning 3yrs old) Those 4 days they spent with us I took 197 pictures, got countless hugs and kisses, watched spongebob many times, got lots of cuddle time in, heard the greatest sound in the world "children laughter" and was told I Love You more times then I can count. Oh how we loved having them here. Thank you Jodi for letting us have that time with them.
Saturday night Emily and I went to see "My Sisters Keeper". It was a great movie. We both cried all the way through it. I read the book before going to see the movie and I was shocked at how the book ended. But when the movie ended I was even more shocked that it did not end anything like the book. It was totally opposite. The movie brought back alot of memories, but also made me feel blessed to have my little girl here with me and cancer free. Emily is already asking me to buy the movie. She doesn't quite get that it is only in the theatre right now and we have to wait. I recommend the movie and the book. I say read the book and watch the movie cause even though they are much the same, they are also much different.
Thursday was a rough day for us around our house. That is the day our dog Jasmine died. She had been sick for a 3 weeks and no one could figure it out. We had her on meds for 7 days but they did nothing for her. She stopped eating and just withered away. It broke our hearts and we miss her dearly. Jasmine always made sure that everyone knew she was there. She was very loud and barked all the time when people came to our door or came to visit. But she was a great dog and loved everyone. It has been hard for all of us to understand why this happened. She got sick without warning and nothing made her better. We are glad that she is no longer suffering. Please continue your prayers as we deal with this loss. She has been part of our family for the last 4yrs now. It is so quiet around here now.
Sunday Daddy and Charlie came home from camping. They had lots of fun. Charlie loved fishing the best. I have lots of pictures to share with you. As I said I took almost 200 pictures while the kids were here. The slideshow below has 80 pictures in it. They are just pictures taken from wed-sat. Hope you enjoy it. If you can't watch it all now, be sure to come back when you have time. There are some great shots in there. Thank you all for checking in and praying. Thank you also for the messages. We love hearing from you all. Enjoy the pictures.
Please remember to pray for our fellow wilms warriors and wilms Angels families. They can be found Here.
Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!
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