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.
Hi Everyone! Sorry for the lack of updates. We have been keeping pretty busy around here. Emily has been feeling great. She has had no complaints. Little Charlie has also been feeling good until last night. Last night his throat started bothering him and his nose was running. Today he is feeling about the same. Hopefully it will not hang on to long and no one else in the house will get it.
Ok so let me share what we have been up to around here the last week. I've been spending lots of time with the kids doing crafts. They just love crafts. I completed my crosstitched squares also. Now I just need to buy the fabric and other stuff needed to make it into a quilt. The kids are really enjoying the summer at home with me. They do get bored however since they can't really go outside during the day. It has been between 112 and 117 degrees. (hitting 117 today) It is just way too hot to be outside playing.
Saturday morning we went and saw Kung Fu Panda with HopeKids. It was a great movie. The kids couldn't stop laughing. This will definately be a movie the kids are gonna want me to buy when it comes out on dvd. After the movie we walked around the mall. Its been a long time since we've done that. We can't afford to shop at the mall so we never really saw the use in walking around looking. But we also didn't want to go home and just sit around. So we figured it was something for us to do and it was inside where it was nice and cool. I am glad that we decided to do this. We found an awesome sale at Old Navy on flip flops. Just $1 a pair. Since that is all we practically wear here, we had to buy some. We killed about half the day walking around the mall. Then we went home and relaxed and watched a movie.
Sunday morning Daddy got a new gift. I haven't talked much about what we have been going through as a family over the last year, or about the things my husband has gone through. I will not get into detail, but in a nutshell it has been a very rough last year. My husband hit rock bottom about a year ago and our family was very close to breaking up. We stuck it out though and I am happy to say that I am VERY glad that we did. He's gone through alot and he has come a long ways. Anyone that knows the details and has been around will agree. We as a family are stronger then ever and happier then ever. I am very proud of him for all that he has accomplished. Anyways there is one thing my husband has been wanting for a very long time and on Sunday he finally got it. He got a 12 week old female Rottweiler puppy named Riley. She is the sweetest puppy ever. He fell in love with her as soon as she was given to him. She is very smart also. She knows sit, down, no and is housebroken already also. She is very gentle, but is still a puppy so she can get rowdy. She is already 27 pounds at 3 months old. Our other dogs are very unsure of her. She is at the very least twice the size of our other dogs. My little Chihuahua was scared of her the first day, but come the second day she decided to show Riley who the boss really is. LOL! There are pictures below. She is beautiful and is a huge camera ham. She sees the camera and she sits down and looks right at you. Its too funny. Hope you enjoy the pictures of her.
Monday morning Charlie and my nephew Tyler came running out to tell me that the tree in my front yard fell down. I was thinking to myself, "That can't be. That tree is huge. If it fell I surely would have heard it." So I went to investigate. Sure enough the top half of the tree had fallen straight to the ground. Then there was another branch that was broken that hadn't yet fallen all the way down. It was hung up on some other branches. I was thankful that the kids weren't out there. They usually go out in the morning and sit under the tree and play. My brother in law came and helped me get it all chopped up and moved. It was in our neighbors yard to, so we had to get it moved asap. Daddy was out of town so he couldn't help much. I also put some pictures of the tree in the slideshow below.
Not sure what we are doing this weekend. It is going to be very hot and we usually don't like to go and sit in the heat to watch fireworks. Especially not when it is 115 degrees or so. I am sure we will figure out something to do though. Hope you al have a safe and wonderful 4th of July weekend.
Thank you for checking in and praying for us. Thank you also for the messages. We really enjoy reading them. Hope you enjoy the slideshow and have a great weekend. (((HUGS)))
Please remember to pray for our fellow wilms tumor fighters. They can be found Here. Also please continue your prayers for our friend Samantha. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families, here are just a few of them Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family,Ethan's family, and Josh's Family,Brooke's Family,Kyle's family,Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also we ask that you keep in your prayers our soldier friends Ryan Kules, and Maj Daniel Gade and thier families. They are doing great and we wish them the best always. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. Thank you for praying for all our friends.
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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