Journal History

Click here to go back to the main page.

Sunday, April 11, 2010 8:30 PM CDT

Hello!
I am not sure if this site still has any followers, but I wanted to update incase. Emma is doing wonderful. She will be 12 years old in May and is currently in 6th grade. Can you believe it. My baby girl is in middle school!
She is a happy, healthy young girl. Praise God!
It is because of Him we have her with us today!
Thank you for checking in,
Tammy, Ron, Emma and Dylan

Monday, May 15, 2006 8:34 PM CDT

HAPPY 8TH BIRTHDAY EMMA!!!
WE PRAISE GOD FOR YOU EACH DAY!!

LOVE,
MOMMY, DADDY, AND DYLAN

(I WILL UPDATE VERY SOON THANKS FOR CHECKING ON US!!)

Thursday, February 16, 2006 8:05 PM CST

Hello,
Emma is doing wonderful. She had her 6 month check up yesterday and her bloodwork came back "perfect!". She is feeling good and actually been the healthiest of the entire family. She returns to clinic in August. She will be off treatment 4 years in August and in remission for a bit over 6 years by then. Wow.
Since my last update she has been really busy. She is in level 4 of ice skating lessons now and loves it. She is excited about the Olympics. Dylan is also taking lessons and is in the Snow Plow Sam level 3. He is enjoying it also.
Emma participated in her school Speech Meet earlier this month and did wonderful. She recited a poem called The Kitten. She did great! She made the honor roll again this grading period and has not missed any school this year. She had to miss half a day on Tuesday for her blood work, but went in the afternoon.
Today was "Clash Day" at school (better known as "Have Daddy dress her day!" She had to wear clothes that clashed instead of her school uniform. She was excited. She asked Ronnie to dress her. She did good on her own though, she wore a pair of Camoflauge pants, purple tennis shoes, a blue and white striped sweater, (I offered a pink striped sweater, but she said that it matched ?!?) and an orange and blue stripped hat!! Boy was she a site! The day was sponsored by the student council and the students really enjoyed it.
Dylan is loving every second of preschool. He began in January and loves it, he is in a very small class, only 5 other students of 3 and 4 year olds. He is really enjoying it and is already able to write his name. He notices letters he has learned all of time and has told me he will be reading very soon. and he is probably right.
Not much more going on, we are just busy , busy, busy, but it is the good kind of busy, normal everyday life, not hospital stays and medication. It is the life we dreamed and prayed for.
Thanks for checking in on us and for your prayers for Emma's good health and continued remission.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

Tuesday, November 29, 2005 9:28 PM CST

Hello,
I guess it is time for an update after about 6 months. I have been teased that I am being a bad Mom for not updating her site. (Is this better now Grandma? ;0) )
Emma is doing wonderful. She is full of energy and loving being a little girl. She started 2nd grade and is doing really good. She made the honor roll with a 4.0 this past grading period. She has started taking piano lessons at school and even though she complains each time she has to practice deep down she likes it. She gets so excited when a recognizable melody comes from the piano.
She also played flag football this fall. her and her friend from school were the only girls in the entire league. They had a hard time in the beginning but did awesome after learning the game. Now they have both moved onto ice skating. Emma has set her sites on the winter olympics in the future. She is really enjoying it and is very good. She looks forward to the weekly lessons.
Dylan has also started lessons. He has only taken 2 lessons and has now learned to get up when he falls. This past week he even moved forward without falling down. It is quite the site to watch.
Emma went to clinic for bloodwork in August and her check up went great. She is doing wonderful and does not have to go back until February. That is really a milestone and is hard to get used to. She has been off treatment for just over 3 years and been in remission for 5 1/2 years. What a blessing. We are so thankful that she has done so well.
Emma is looking forward to Christmas and has begun making her list. She has asked for a lizard and books. She loves to read and can do so really well. Emma's class has a program called "Book It" in which they track how many pages they read each month and if they meet their goal they recieve a coupon for a free personal pan pizza from Pizza Hut. Last month she had a goal of reading 350 pages and she read 549 pages. This month she had the same goal and she read 900 pages. She loves to read. Her favorite are the Magic Tree House books and Junie B Jones Books.
Not much else to report, Emma is busy working on her lines for her schools Christmas play. She has a duet with her friend. They are singing away in the manger. She is also in the play at church this year. She is an angel and also has a solo. Dylan is also in this years play at church with his Sunday school class although he claims he is not going on stage and he is not going to wear his suit because it is itchy!!! His line in the play is optional because of his issues if he won't say it it won't mess up the rest of the childrens lines. Hopefully he will give in.
Well thank you to all who still continue to check on her and pray for her health. We are so blessed and thankful her. We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a New Year filled with lots of love and good health.
I will make one of my New Years resolutions to be that I update the site on a more regular basis (how is that Grandma? ;0)

Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

Monday, June 20, 2005 8:55 AM CDT

Hello,
Emma is doing wonderful. Her blood work done in May came back perfect and she just had her 7 year physical on June 6th and except for needing a new perscription in her glasses she is great. Her perscription changed quite a bit so she needed new glasses, which we just picked up on Friday.This time she chose Barbie glasses which are very cool. They are 2 tone, and she thinks that is just about the coolest thing ever invented. The frames start out purple (of course) on the outer edge and by the time you get to the nose it is a purple blue color. Very cool, and she looks cute. The blue brings out her eyes.
T Ball season is here and she is actually playing on a coach pitch team. She is pretty good, and is proud that she has learned to switch hit and can bat either left or right handed. Dylan is playing also, but he is on a T Ball league. He is hilarious. He likes to bat and can do so pretty good. But in the fielding part of the game he does not like it when the ball is not hit to him so each time someone else gets the ball he cries. He also got a bit bored in the field so he decided to lay down and make dirt angels like you would in the snow. It was hilarious to watch!
Emma finished school on June 3rd and has quickly gotten back into her habit of sleeping in. It is 10:00 and she is still sound asleep.
This week brings back some memories for us. It was 5 years ago this week that we found out she had Leukemia. It seems just like yesterday, but it thankfully has been 5 years and she is doing terrific. I made a mistake in my last journal when I said that she will be in remission 5 years on June 31, well it is actually June 30th , there is no 31st. Also, the time frame for her being "cured" has been bumped back to 7 years from 5. This is pretty much getting to be the standard with oncologist everywhere, and has nothing to do with her case , it is just the new norm. So she has not been officially called cured yet, but 5 years is still awesome.
So, things are going well, and we are so thankful. Thank you all for your prayers. You have helped us through a lot and we are so appreciative.
The new picture on the top of this page is Emma's spring picture from school. She is really not that pale, the picture scanned odd.
Not much more to report, she has pretty much given up on the pogo stick she is just not heavy enough to pogo!
Thanks for checking in on us and for your continued prayers, this week brings many different emotions.
Love,
Tammy, Ron, Emma and Dylan

Sunday, May 15, 2005 7:13 PM CDT

HAPPY 7TH BIRTHDAY EMMA!!!

Hello,
Today my baby girl turned 7 years old. She woke up early today with "flutterflies" in her stomach because she was excited she was now 7. She says she feels older.
We had a good day, we went to church and her Sunday School Class sang Happy Birthday to her. They she wanted to go to the Kiddie Park. It is an mini amusement park in Cleveland with about 14 kid sized rides. They always have so much fun there. Then we went to dinner with Grandma, Papa, and Auntie and Jacob. Emma wanted to go to Damons for ribs. She loves their ribs. She had ribs and shrimp. They sang Happy Birthday and brought her a ice cream sundae. She had a couple of bites and Dylan finished it. Then we came home and she opened her presents. She got a Pogo stick (which she wanted for years but was always too young.) I had always told her she could have one when she turned 7. She was excited but is still a bit small for it. She jumps on it but it does not move. She also got a sky dancer doll in which you pull a string and a small fairy like doll flies up in the air. She is really into reading, so I got her a Magic Tree House Book, she likes those and also some pistachios. She has discovered pistachios and loves them.
It was a very nice day.
We are having her birthday party next weekend. She is having a skating party and is very excited. Tuesday is bloodwork. Please pray all is well. She is feeling great, she is fightig a bit of a cold or allergies or something, but otherwise no complaints... Praise God!!
Thats all for now. I will update again after her bloodwork on Tuesday. Thank you for checking up on her and for all of the guestbook messages. She was so excited reading them.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

Friday, April 29, 2005 8:03 PM CDT

Hello,
Emma is doing wonderful. She has been feeling good, and thankfully staying illness free. Her class at school had a pretty illness full winter, but has had a pretty mild spring. She is loving school, and is now taking gymnastics. She really likes it. There are about 8 girls in her class and none of them are what you would call graceful. You should see the arms and legs flailing!! But she is having fun and that is what counts. She is excited her birthday is coming up, in about 2 weeks. This year it is going to be at the skating rink. This should be good..... She has been rollerskating 2 times, and it was a site! Report cards came out recently and she did wonderful. She made the honor roll. She also participated in the Science Fair this year. She did a project on the difference between alligators and crocodiles. She did wonderful, and received a superior rating. It was optional for first grade, and 6 kids in her class participated. They did a wonderful job. Not much else going on, things are quiet and good. We are so thankful we are able to say that.
Ronnie is graduating in a couple of weeks, he will have his associates in business, and will be going to Baldwin Wallace college for is bachelors degree.
Dylan is doing well, he is growing like a weed, I have posted a new picture of him in the picture page.It is his presidential campaign picture. He looks so grown up. He is so cute, he has such a sweet personality just like Emma. He has become attached to a pair of suede cowboy boots that used to be Emma's but now fit him. He wears them with everything,including just his underwear after his bath. He calls them his cow boots.
Well not much more to report, Emma goes for blood work on May 17. I can believe my baby girl will be 7 soon..... it can't be! She was just born. I know I say this every year but it seems like each year goes faster and faster.
She will be reaching a milestone in June, it is the 5 years of remission. This is a big deal and we praise God that she has achieved it.
Thank you all for checking on us, please keep Emma in your prayers.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

Tuesday, February 22, 2005 10:46 AM CST

Hello,
Emma is doing wonderful. She is full of energy and been very healthy. She had a bloodwork appointment on Feb 15, and the results were perfect! She does not have to go back until May 17. She is excited because the next time she goes she will be 7 years old!!
Today her class went on a field trip to The Great Lakes Science Center in Cleveland. She was excited. They were supposed to go in January, but the weather got bad and it was cancelled. She was looking forward to going, and hopes there is a "electric ball to make hair stick up" their.
Tonight is her last swimming lesson. She is finishing up level 2. She loves to swim. She wants to go to level 3 but wants to wait until warm weather, she does not like the cold.
She received her report card a few weeks ago, she made the honor roll for the second time this year, she got a perfect 4.0. She was proud of herself (and rightfully so) She is doing so good, and loves school so much.
She has already begun to plan her 7th birthday party. She wants a roller skating party... this should be fun! She is still working out details, but wants it on a Christian Music night.
Dylan is doing well also, he just got over a horrible bout of fifths disease, which is a fever and usually a red rosy rash on the cheeks. Well Dylan couldn't settle for just the cheeks, he got a rash all over his body, that looked horrible and lasted for 9 days. He called it his "cooties" and says he now missed them since they are gone.
He is now 3 years old, how fast time goes.... they both are getting so big.
We just registered Emma for second grade next year. It doesn't seem possible.....and next year I will be signing Dylan up for preschool......wow.

Well not much to update, things are thankfully quiet, and more importantly NORMAL. It is good to be normal.....
Thanks for checking on us, and keeping Emma in your prayers.
Tammy, Ron, Emma and Dylan

Tuesday, February 22, 2005 10:46 AM CST

Hello,
Emma is doing wonderful. She is full of energy and been very healthy. She had a bloodwork appointment on Feb 15, and the results were perfect! She does not have to go back until May 17. She is excited because the next time she goes she will be 7 years old!!
Today her class went on a field trip to The Great Lakes Science Center in Cleveland. She was excited. They were supposed to go in January, but the weather got bad and it was cancelled. She was looking forward to going, and hopes there is a "electric ball to make hair stick up" their.
Tonight is her last swimming lesson. She is finishing up level 2. She loves to swim. She wants to go to level 3 but wants to wait until warm weather, she does not like the cold.
She received her report card a few weeks ago, she made the honor roll for the second time this year, she got a perfect 4.0. She was proud of herself (and rightfully so) She is doing so good, and loves school so much.
She has already begun to plan her 7th birthday party. She wants a roller skating party... this should be fun! She is still working out details, but wants it on a Christian Music night.
Dylan is doing well also, he just got over a horrible bout of fifths disease, which is a fever and usually a red rosy rash on the cheeks. Well Dylan couldn't settle for just the cheeks, he got a rash all over his body, that looked horrible and lasted for 9 days. He called it his "cooties" and says he now missed them since they are gone.
He is now 3 years old, how fast time goes.... they both are getting so big.
We just registered Emma for second grade next year. It doesn't seem possible.....and next year I will be signing Dylan up for preschool......wow.

Well not much to update, things are thankfully quiet, and more importantly NORMAL. It is good to be normal.....
Thanks for checking on us, and keeping Emma in your prayers.
Tammy, Ron, Emma and Dylan

Sunday, January 2, 2005 7:21 PM CST

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!
Time has flown by! Sorry I have not updated for a while.
My new years resolution is to update at least once a month!
Emma is doing wonderful. She is feeling great and had a wonderful Christmas. Tomorrow she goes back to school and is very much looking forward to it. Her spelling bee is in about 3 weeks, she is nervous but excited too.
We had a wonderful Christmas. Emma and Dylan had so much fun opening presents. Dylan actually sat on Santa's lap this year without freaking out. It was just long enough to take the picture, but hey that is fine! He actually opened his presents this year too. Last year Emma had to open them because Dylan did not want them because Santa touched them!
Emma did wonderful in the Church Christmas Play. The play turned out really good, the kids worked so hard for months, and were so proud of themselves. It almost was cancelled because of the horrible snow storm but we had a good crowd that came.
Emma goes back on January 11th for bloodwork. She is up to every 2 months now.
Well this will be a short update tonight, I will update again when she has her bloodwork done. Please keep her in your prayers.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

Thursday, November 18, 2004 8:12 AM CST

Hello,
Emma is doing good. She was home from school on Monday and Tuesday with Strep Throat, but is feeling much better now, and was soooooo excited to go back to school. She never complains so when she said she did not feel good, and her throat hurt, I knew she was sick. Her parent teacher conference was this week also and she received all A's. She is on the Honor Roll and received a certificate. She was so proud of herself. She also received a "Joy" Award. For the student in the class that shows the most joy. Who would have ever thought a few years ago in the midst of a steroid rage, that one day she would be joyful!! That right there is a miracle in itself!! She got to have lunch with the principal. She thought that was cool. She is doing great, her teacher said she is reading "phenomenal" and her reading group will be starting to read some chapter books soon. She really loves to read and really remembers details. Not a lot more going on with her now, she still has play practice for our Church Christmas play, she has a small singing solo that she is excited about.
Dylan is good too. He had a horrible Croup last week that landed him in the hospital overnight, but he is feeling much better now. Knock on Wood, his ears are doing well also.
I have posted Emma's school picture, she is growing up so fast. If anyone knows how to keep them this age, let me know. It happens so fast.....
Well not much more to report. Emma only has school on Monday next week. They are having their Thanksgiving Feast that day. They won an extra day off of school for doing so well on a school fundraiser. So she will have a nice break next week.
Happy Thanksgiving to all, we have so much to be thankful for. It would take a whole other web site to list!
Love,
Ron, Tammy, Emma and Dylan

Tuesday, October 5, 2004 8:27 AM CDT

Hello,
Emma is doing wonderful! I did not mean for 2 months to go by since the last update but time is flying by. I guess life is getting back to normal, if there is such a thing.
Emma started 1st grade on August 25th. The new picture is from her first day of 1st grade. She has loved every single minute of it. She is learning to write in cursive which makes her just about the coolest thing on earth!
She received her mid term progress reports and she is getting all A 's !! She is so proud of herself. This year is quite different for her than kindergarten. She is at school all day. School is from 8:15 to 3:30 and then she rides the bus home (which is another reason she is the coolest thing on earth) and gets home at 4:00. She has weekly bible verses to memorize and spelling tests each week to. She is loving every minute of it.
Emma has been off treatment for 2 years on August 27. That is such a blessing. She will go next week Oct 13th for her bloodwork and physical. She has not gone since July and will not have to go again until January!
She does not have school this Thursday and Friday since the teachers are going to a conference. Hopefully it will be nice and we can do some outdoor fall activities.
She is playing soccer this fall (another thing that makes her the coolest thing on earth). She does really well, but we have found that Goalie may not be the postition for her. She is there all alone and starts looking for flowers in the grass, or bugs, or checks her nails, or this past week it was raining pretty good, so she stood there with her mouth open cathching rain water. As long as she is moving with the ball she is good. Although she likes Goalie because "you don't have to run as much".
This past weekend she attended her first sleep over (another thing that makes her the cooles thing on earth).
It was a birthday party for a girl in her class, and they had a very fun evening. She got her nails painted, toenails painted, a temporary tattoo, and danced, and played games. She then had a pancake with a banana split on it for breakfast. I am not sure how much sleep they all got, she was tired the next day, but had a lot of fun.
Emma has started practice for the Church's Christmas Play. She will be in the main play this year because she is in first grade. She was not all that excited at first (because the practice started after the long night of the sleep over) but now after a good nights sleep she is excited to be in the play (another reason she is just about the cooles thing on earth!)
Dylan is doing well and growing growing growing. He is still just about the biggest Momma's Boy on earth. He started story time at the library and last week did not particularly like it at first, but after a round of Wheels on the Bus he caved in and decided to stay.
He is really missing Emma while she is at school. Each afternoon when we wait in the drive for Emma's bus to get home, he finds dadelions and picks them for her when she gets off the bus. "Flowers for my Emma" he says. He loves his big sister.
Well not much more going on, Ronnie is still going to school, he will get his Associates degree in May and then hopefully go on to Cleveland State for an Accelerated program to get his Bachelors degree then his Masters Degree. I am ready for him to be done, and I imagine he is even more ready to finish. Today is our 8th Wedding Anniversary. Talk about time flying by!
Well that is all for now, thank you for checking on us, I will update again after Emma's bloodwork next week.
Please keep her in prayer, that all will come back good.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma (coolest thing in the world), and Dylan

Thursday, August 5, 2004 8:15 AM CDT

Hello,
I knew I had not updated in a while, but I did not realize it had been this long......
Emma is doing wonderful! She is having a great summer, keeping busy , and having fun. She had her blood work done July 13 and she is doing great. She does not go back to clinic until October!!!! I can't believe it will be 3 months between appointments. It seems like yesterday we were going 3 times per week!! Emma will be off treatment for 2 years at the end of August! She is doing wonderful. She did have an eye exam in June that showed she needed glasses. So she has a new pair of purple (of course) Kim Possible glasses. If there would have been purple sequined or rhinestone glasses like Elton John, she would have wanted those! She looks so cute in them. She was so excited to get them and that excitement lasted about 2 hours until she decided she did not want to wear them anymore. She is doing better now, she realizes she can see a heck of a lot better with them on.
She starts school in 3 weeks and is very excited. We got all of her school supplies yesterday, complete with the Kim Possible book bag ensemble. Back Pack, Lunch Box, Drink holder, Umbrella, and wallet, she is ready to go.
The Book Bag says Kim Possible : "She can do anything!" I think this too is Emma's new motto!!
For all those not familiar with Kim Possible, she is on the Disney Channel, and is a red headed cheerleader/crime fighter and has a side kick named Ron Stoppable. It is a cute cartoon, and Emma loves it.
Emma passed her swimming class and can now move up to level 2. Although she has higher aspirations, she is going to swim in the olympics one day...... I have no doubt that she will either! "She can do anything" is her motto right?
She also has decided to "win" a triathalon one day too.... she thinks it is very cool to be able to run, ride your bike, and swim in one race.......
The T Ball season has finished, she really enjoyed it this year..... there was a contestt and Emma received an award for hitting the ball the 3rd farthest. She was excited because she even beat some boys...... she really can whomp the ball pretty far. So, T Ball is finished, swimming is finished, now she wants to take Horseback riding lessons, and will start Soccer again in the fall. Like I said, she is doing wonderful and is keeping busy.......
Dylan is good too, he is growing like a weed, and wants to do everything she does. He is 2 1/2 now going on 6 just like her........
We are in the process of potty training, and he pretty much has the same outlook as she did, "Yes, I can do it but I don't want to..." He does like his Ninja Turtle Panties as he calls them.......
Well, that has been our summer, fun, busy, and blessed with good health. Thank you for checking in on us.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

Thursday, June 17, 2004 7:29 AM CDT

Hello,
Wow, I can't believe it has been a month since I updated..... Sorry for the delay. Let's see where to begin:
Emma is doing wonderful!!! She has officially graduated from kindergarten. My baby is going into first grade. I am not ready to share her all day!! Half a day without her was bad enough!! She had a wonderful last day of school program. The kindergarteners sang songs, and recited their bible versed they had memorized all year. 26 verses, one for each letter of the alphabet. They also recited the 23 psalm. They also put on a little skit, where Emma was Beverly the Butterfly. She did great. They received their report cards and hers was wonderful. She received the award for the best spanish class student in her class. She really likes spanish.
The afternoon of her program she had a fever of 102 and I took her to the clinic and she wound up with strep throat! Her throat did not hurt, she felt ok, just a fever and chills. The Doctor kind of started to worry me, he said that he couldn't find any other symptoms, her ears were fine, so he would do the strep culture to check for that but if her fever continued she would have to have blood work in a few days to make sure everything was ok there.
After he took the culture away I started praying, " I know this sounds crazy, but please let it be strep!???!"
When you have been on the leukemia side , strep is nothing!! He came back in the room with a smile and said Yep, it's strep! Kind of glad himself I think. Just another abnormal way of life after leukemia! I never thought I would be praying for my child to have strep throat!!!
So after a course of antibiotics she is doing great. Yesterday was her 6 year physical and she is doing perfect!
She is 44 inches tall and weighed in at 50 1/2 pounds. Praise God she is doing wonderful.
She finished Soccer for the spring and is now playing T Ball with our churches league. Ronnie is the coach.
She starts swimming lessons in July. We have her new swim suit already, she picked out a metallic pink one, very "Emma". She wanted one with a hula skirt attached but I vetoed that, not for swimming lessons anyway.
She is doing great, enjoying her summer vacation. Saturday marks 4 years since her ordeal began. I can't believe it is that long already. Though I can remember the day pretty much word for word. Praise God she is doing so well.
Dylan is doing great also. His surgery went well, he has new tubes in his ears, and his adenoids were removed. The doctor said that they were pretty big, so hopefully this will remedy the ear infection problems. He goes next week for his one month post op check up.
Not much more to post, we are enjoying our summer and hopefully will make it to the zoo a few times, and to an amusement park too.
Thank you for checking up on us and keeping our family in your prayers.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

Saturday, May 15, 2004 6:01 PM CDT

HAPPY 6th BIRTHDAY EMMA !!!

Hello,
Our precious baby girl turns 6 today. 6 years old today, I can't believe it! How fast time goes by. What she has had to face and what she has overcome and accomplished in her short 6 years... happy and sad at the same time.... happy she is doing wonderful but sad she had to go through it all....... but truly thankful and blessed for every moment of her 6 years.

We had a great day, she woke up this morning a very excited 6 year old...she now needs 2 hands to tell how old she is...... very cool. She is such a sweet little girl, we are so proud of her I can not even begin to explain. She is truly a treasure.

She had a soccer game today she has a lot of fun, her team won 12-2 today. She really likes playing, they have had 4 games so far, and after her first game she told us she did not realize she would have to run so much, and sweat too!!

Alot has happened over the last few weeks, our computer was being repaired because of a nasty virus and a million ad ware bugs...... sorry for the delay in updating.But we are back on line and hopefully bug and virus free......

She lost both of her front teeth so far and looks sooooo cute. This makes 6 teeth lost so far. she is growing like a weed. She had blood work and a check up on Wednesday and is doing perfect. Her blood work came back terrific and she is doing well, she weighed in at 51 pounds. The doctor could not be happier in how she is doing. We are truly blessed.

We had a surprise cake today at Grandma and Papa's after her soccer game and she got a my little pony, a polly pocket, and a few other items, and then the surprise.... a Barbie Jeep!!! She was soooo excited. Back before Easter break I had told her if she read a book a day she could have a Barbie Jeep for her birthday... (she was going to get one for her birthday anyway but it got her to read....shhhhhhh :0) )))

So she kept her end of the deal and today we gave her the jeep.... she was so cute, and so excited. It was raining today so she only rode it a bit, but Grandma and Papa are going to bring it home tomorrow since the weather is supposed to clear up. It has a CD player and 6 different CD's, she is very cool now........ gosh... only 10 more years and we will be buying her a real car....

Not much else to report on Emma, she is doing wonderful, and has only 2 more weeks of school left this year. She will be finishing up the soccer season, and then start playing T Ball and taking swimming lessons. She also wants to take horseback riding lessons, so we may look into that.

Dylan is doing well, he has had a lot of ear problems lately and will be going in for another surgery on Thursday. His tube fell out of his one ear and is just about out in the other. He has had 5 ear infections since November with the tubes in, so they are going to replace the tubes and also take his adenoids out. That should help the problem. He is also growing like a weed, he is 35 pounds and is 37 inches. He is so cute... and that is the only thing that saves his butt from getting in trouble. He loves his big sister, and does whatever she does. The other day he hugged her and told her "I wuv my Emma...." it was so cute and Emma had tears in her eyes......

Well that is about all for now, Please keep Emma in your prayers, she will be in remission for 4 years next month, please pray that she continues to do well and is cured.
Also, please pray that all goes well for Dylans surgery and that this set of tubes and the removal of his adenoids will help his ear problems. There doesn't seem to be any hearing problems as a result and we are very thankful for that. Thank you for checking up on us and for your prayers.....Emma can read the guestbook messages herself and loves them...... Thanks for signing it.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

Tuesday, April 13, 2004 6:48 PM CDT

Hello,
Happy Easter. Emma is doing well, she had a cold and pretty hard cough over the weekend, but is much much better now. We did not make it to church on Easter because both kids had colds. Dylan was a bit weezy also. We were sad to not go to church, Easter service is a favorite of ours, even if it is dreary outside it is such a joyous service filled with much excitement and a message of hope. Emma was excited to dress up in her new outfit, so instead she will wear it this Sunday. Dylan has a new outfit too, complete with a clip on tie that will last probably 1.2 seconds.
Emma lost her front tooth on Sunday, she was so excited, she looks so cute!!! I will post a picture soon....
Soccer was supposed to begin today, with a practice, but it is very rainy, wet and freezing so it was canceled. Emma's first game is Saturday. She is excited. Daddy and Emma went to pick out her shin guards yesterday... of course they were the glitzy sparkly blue ones.... she also got a soccer ball... she is ready!!!!
Today was her first day back from Spring break..... she was happy to see her friends. I can't believe there are only about 6 weeks of school left... where has the year went????
Emma's Easter basket was filled with "do dads" for her bicycle..... she got pom poms for her handle bars, a kick stand, a very loud bell, and really cool flashing things for her spokes, when the wheels move they flash, very cool. So her bike looks very sparkly and flashy, just like Emma likes everything......
Dylan's Easter basket was filled with his newest favorite... Big Big Diggers (or bulldozers). He was very excited. He loves Big Big Diggers and spends the time in the car looking for them......
Not much else to report,Emma and Dylan are both feeling much better today. Thank you for checking on us and for continued prayers for Emma.... she is truly an example of answered prayers.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

Wednesday, March 31, 2004 7:48 AM CST

NEW PICTURES ADDED 3/31/2001

Hello,
Emma is doing really well.... she is full of energy and can't wait for Spring... we have had a few days lately that were nice enough to play outside. She played so hard she was sore the next day!!! She can ride a bike without training wheels and thinks it is very cool. It is Jacobs bike from last year, it is a bit small, but it is easier for her to control. She is excited about Soccer, we went this week and bought her soccer shoes, she can't wait. She is also going to play T Ball, our church is going to have a T Ball league this year so she wants to play . If you remember a few years ago she vowed she was retiring from T Ball and never going to play again......well she is feeling good and her friends are playing so she is coming out of retirement to give it a try. (We are not on chemo and steroids this time so I think it will make all of the difference in the world!)
Emma has her Easter party at school this Friday, it is their last day before Easter Break. They return to school the Tuesday after Easter. I am helping out at school for the party and she is excited. We went to see Sesame Street Live on Friday, Dylan is a big fan of "Street" and was in awe the whole time. Emma had a good time too and was up danicing and "feeling a beat Mommy".
Dylan is doing great also, he has decided to give the potty a try... he is actually doing very well. We got him pull ups that had Elmo and big Bird on them and told him he could not Pee on Elmo and Big Bird. He is doing good......
He is a ball of fire.... Emma was sick for her "Terrible Two's" so Dylan is making up for her. He has learned to open the Refrigerator... it puts a whole new meaning to "Get out of the Refrigerator..."
His newest gig is to carry around the step stool from the bathroom incase he needs it when he is getting into something... comes in handy.
Emma had no takers for the Brother for Sale add so is going to keep him. She dressed him up in ballet clothes the other day, a tutu , high heals, a few strands of beads, and a hat.. .she said it was payback for the pepper incident.... the thing is he really like the outfit and wouldn't take it off for most of the day......
Well not much more to report, we are all healthy and doing well, Thank you God! We are "patiently" waitning for Spring....
Thank you for checking in on us and for your continued prayers for Emma, she is doing wonderful, we are blessed
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

Monday, March 8, 2004 10:28 AM CST

************************************************************
BROTHER FOR SALE!!!!!!!! Very Cheap!!!!!!!!!!
One very cute, red headed 2 year old brother for sale.
Likes Sesame Street,Elmo, Nemo, and pepper shakers!!
Is not potty trained and does not sleep thru the night!
Can count to 13!
Please Make Offer!!!!
Contact Emma for more info
************************************************************
Hello,
Emma is doing great, though she has had enough of Dylan.
His latest act of torture that caused the brother for ad above happened last week about 15 minutes before we had to leave for school. Emma was dressed and just about ready for school and Dylan somehow got a hold of the pepper shaker and stood behind Emma who was sitting on the floor watching cartoons and dumped the pepper shaker on her head!!! So almost 15 till 8:00 we were in the shower washing pepper out of her hair. Then of course we had to get redressed, dry her hair, and get out the door for school........ at least school is 2 minutes away and we made it there by the 825 bell
She was so mad at him and he was so proud of himself!!!!!!
It was not funny at the time, but it is kind of cute now. Emma has held a grudge for a week now.
Emma had bloodwork on Friday, she is doing terrific and her counts were great. She has to return in 2 months. The blood draw went really well, she was only poked once and the blood drew fine.
Dylan is sick again. He came down with a bad cold and nasty cough last Sunday and by Tuesday he had a fever, by Thursday I had it, and today Dylan had to go in because both ears are draining and are infected. He is now on Augmentin and ear drops. 5 drops in each ear 2 times a day.... just the thought makes me shiver!! Imagine putting ear drops in an alligator (do they have ears?) to times a day, that is how it is, wrestling an alligator!!!!!
Emma started coughing last night and coughed most of the night. I kept her home today, she slept in and hasn't really been coughing too much so far this morning. Hopefully she will be back in school tomorrow.
On Friday she had a party at school, it was Dr Seuss's 100th birthday party. I went to help out. It was so much fun!!! The kids got to wear their pajamas to school, which Emma thought was the absolute coolest thing, and they read Dr Seuss books and played games and ate green eggs and ham. They had so much fun. I will post pictures as soon as I get them , I am going to take them for 1 hour developing tonight.
Not much else going on, Emma signed up to play soccer and is already decided that she will pack Sunny D to drink on break when she is at practice. Not sure how playing soccer will go, but hey the break will be fun!!!
We woke up to about 2 inches of totally unexpected snow today (at least I did not expect it). No wonder we are all sick, last weekend it is 70' and this week it is 32'!!!!
That is about all for now, I will post pictures when I get them tonight.
Thank you for checking in on us and for your prayers. Please keep both Dylan (to recover quickly) and Emma (to not get any worse) in your prayers.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

Thursday, February 19, 2004 3:50 PM CST

Hello,
Sorry for the delay in updating....
Emma is doing wonderful. She feels great!
She received her report card last week and she got all A's!
There are 4 subjects, Bible, Phonics, Math, and Writing and she got an A in all of them. Her average is 95 out of 100!
We are so very proud of her and she is so excited!!
She absolutely loves school and is learning so much. The kindergarten curriculm is actually a standard first grade curriculm so she is being challenged a bit but still doing great. They are learning addition, and now have moved from short vowels to long vowels. She is beginning to read really good.
She is going to sign up for soccer. She says she would like to play. Her two front teeth are really loose and will probably fall out soon... she has 3 and a half on the bottom so hopefully they will come in before the tops fall out.
Her next oncology appt is the first week of March, I can't believe it has been almost 2 months since she was there.....
We count our many many many blessings each day, she is doing so well, and we are so thankful for that .

Dylan is doing well. He has been pretty sick over the last 2 weeks. It started with a sinus infection for which he was given Augmentin antibiotics for, then the next day he came down with a stomach flu, and because of this he could not keep down any of the antibiotics. Then he started wheezing really bad which then led to spending the evening of his 2nd birthday in the Emergency room and having his party cancelled!!! Wow!! He is feeling fine now and will finish up antibiotics tomorrow. When we were in the Emergency Room it was pretty weird. It was the exact room we were in when Emma's ordeal started. We have thankfully not had to go back since she was there until now, but brought back a lot of not so good memories and a sick feeling in my stomach. Emma had just turned 2 and here we were with Dylan who was now 2. I know it was different illnesses but still eerie.
Dylan had his 2 year check up last night and he is doing great. The doctor was very happy that he is talking so well.... (actually he never stops!) and said that at the rate he is growing he will be tall like Daddy. He is on course to be at least 6'1" like Ronnie.
Dylan is now 3 feet and weighs 33 pounds.
The doctor does have hope that someday Dylan will actually sleep thru the night.... I on the other hand do not belive he will ever do that!!!!!! he still gets up at least once usually twice each night. Sometimes he just wants a "kiss" other times I have to rock baby Heuy for a while, his legs hanging over the side of the chair..... If he wasn't so darn cute his sorry butt would get it!!
Not much else going on now..... we are trying to patiently wait for spring, but are getting cabin fever.
Thank you for checking in on us and for your continued prayers.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

Saturday, January 24, 2004 8:03 PM CST

Hello,
Emma is doing wonderful. She received her MMR Booster shot on Wednesday along with her chicken pox vaccine. Today she had a bit of a fever, but it is probably due to the shots.
She had a great week at school. Not a lot to report on now because she is doing great and things are quiet. We like it that way. It is way to cold here to do anything, still have not got to go sledding.
Dylan is doing good, he has a bit of a cold and keeps complaining about his "Fuggies". I can't believe he is going to be 2 in two weeks, time goes so fast. It was just yesterday I had him, my fat "little " 7 pound one month premature baby!!! He certainly has caught up !!
Ronnie is doing well, back in school. He is taking 3 classes this semester. Unfortunately he did not get to participate in his marathon. He injured his foot and knee and had to stay home. The Leukemia Society will let him pick another marathon to participate in. Thank you so much to everyone who helped him raise the $2900 he needed. We will keep you updated on when he will run the marathon. His knee is feeling ok now. He had a course of steroids and high strength motrin that helped but after about mile 10 or so it starts to hurt again. He would not have been able to finish the marathon if he had went. So he will keep training and hopefuly get to participate soon.
Not much else happening here, it is too stinkin cold!! The only sunshine is the border of the website!! Emma asked the other day if it ever snowed at the beach, she decided she wants to move there!!!
Emma is already planning her birthday party..... yes, her birthday is not until May 15th. She asked to have her party in Hawaii this year (I tried not to laugh at that suggestion), but she has decided she wants a Pool Party this year....complete with every child in Medina, a pony, a jumpy tent, and so on and so on .... she is so funny, she starts planning right after Christmas, and right after her birthday she starts on her list for Santa....
Well that is about all for now, thank you for checking on us and for your continued prayers.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

Monday, January 5, 2004 1:33 PM CST

Hello,
Happy New Year!!! Emma is doing great. We had a wonderful Christmas. She and Dylan were definitely spoiled by Santa and the whole family yet again this year. Jama and Papa spoiled Emma with a TV/VCR for her bedroom, she thinks she is sooooo cool. Dylan did not want to open or touch for that matter anything that had been near Santa, so Emma wound up opening his presents also, but he played with them after they were open. Emma and Dylan received a sled for Christmas.... which means that it will never snow again in Northeast Ohio..... Emma is so excited to go sledding, Dylan doesn't know what it is but hey it looks cool and he likes to lay on it so what the heck.......as long it has nothing to do with Santa or reindeer he is up to try it. Hopefully it will snow soon......just a bit to go sledding and then it can go back up to about 75 and sunny!!
Emma is feeling great, she had an appointment with the oncology department last Tuesday ( a week early because she had a bit of a swollen lymph node on her neck that really freaked me out) and she is doing great, her lymph node is ok, and probably a bit swollen because she has been fighting off a cold. Her blood work was perfect. Praise God! Emma is so sweet, she realizes that I am crazy when it comes to worrying about her. The other day after her appointment,she came up to me and said, here Mommy, you can feel my neck..... I had been feeling it for a few days to check for swelling when I could not take it anymore and had to have it checked. She tolerates my craziness well......
They had a hard time drawing her blood again and she had to get poked 2 times, but she did really good. She never complains, she just sits there, she bosses them around a bit and tells the nurse to hurry it up, but she lets them do what they need to do without a hassle.
Emma's next appointment is March 2, it is so hard to go that long without the "reassurance" that she is ok, but I am getting better at it..... Emma's immune system is finally back up to par and she is able to get her MMR booster shot, she was to get it at her 5 yr physical, but her system was still recovering from chemo and she had to wait. The oncologist has given the ok to get it now, that is good news..... she also has to get the chicken pox vacinne again, she does not have antibodies for the chicken pox. This may because the chemo destroyed them, but the nurse said it may also be that she never did develop an immunity to the pox. They are beginning to give the vaccine at 15 months instead of 12 months now because they are finding that kids are not building up the resistance to it and still getting the chicken pox. Never the less, it means another poke for Emma.....
Dylan's hearing test went well also, he cooperated really well, although he would not wear the head phones. So they know that he can hear well with both ears, but they do not know how well each ear can hear. He goes back to see the ear doctor at the end of the month for a 6 month check of his tubes.
Emma went back to school today, she was so glad... each day of her vacation she wanted to know if she could finally go back to school...... she was glad to see her friends and her teacher. She got off the school bus today and was muddy... her coat has mud on the sleeve, and her entire butt was covered in mud..... It seems she went down the "cool big slide" at recess today and landed in a mud puddle.... "But it is ok Mommy, it was sooooo fun" was all she had to say about it..... at lease recess was right before she got on the bus and she did not have to sit in muddy clothes all day.... good think I put her in pants and not her skirt too.... oh, well, at least it was soooooo fun!!!! :0)
Emma and Dylan are laying next to each other on the floor watching cartoons right now, he loves to snuggle with her. They are eating carrots and Dylan is biting the carrot and putting it back in the bag.... Emma is inspecting her carrot for teeth marks before she eats it... at least they are eating carrots right??
Ronnie leaves for Orlando on Friday, he is running in the marathon on Sunday. Please Keep him in your prayers, pray for a safe trip and a smooth marathon.
We also have another prayer request. There is a beautiful sweet little girl that we have met on our online parents of Leukemia children support group, her name is Julianna. She was diagnosed in September and on New Years Eve, her parents received the horrible call that she has relapsed in her Central Nervous System. This will obviously change her course of treatment. They had to wait 2 days to find out that Praise God the relapse was not in her bone marrow. Please pray for both Julianna and her family as they gear up to fight this monster harder, they are a wonderful family who are strong and will get through this but it always helps to know that people are praying for you. It has only been 3 months since she was diagnosed and I am sure the shock of that has not worn off , and now this.... I can't even imagine.... Relapse is such a real fear, that will never go away, no matter how long Emma has been off treatment. Every bruise, ache, and pain makes my heart stop.
Julianna Banana (as she is called at home) has a website also... it is
www.caringbridge.com/cananda/julianna
Thank you all for checking in on us and for your prayers....
I will update after Ronnie returns from Florida.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

Tuesday, December 23, 2003 7:21 AM CST

New Pictures!!

Hello,
Merry Christmas... Emma is very excited, only 2 more sleepings! Dylan does not want Santa, or his stinkin reindeer anywhere near The Hall house!! His thinking is ...Who needs Santa when you have Jama!!!!! (or graaaamaaaa has he calls her.)
Emma and Dylan went to sit on Santa's lap..... well Emma sat and Dylan freaked!! Santa wrestled with Dylan long enough to snap the picture but neither were looking at the camera!! I told Emma to sit on Santa's lap, look at the camera and smile, which is just what she did.... Dylan lasted about .00005 seconds and so there we have the Santa 2003 picture.... looks just like last years, but Dylan and his screams were bigger. I have posted the picture in case you would like a laugh......
Emma is doing great her fever never came back, she is fine.... she finished the school week with no fever and had a wonderful time at her program and party. Sunday night was her Christmas program at church, she did great.... the kids were all so cute.
Dylan of course has the fever now, it started Saturday night, and has been going up and down for 2 days now. He has no other symptoms, just like Emma, and seems to feel fine. He is a little maniac, same as always!!
Tonight we are going to a place called Lake Farm Parks, they have an event called Country Lights, there is a big light display that you ride a horse drawn carriage type thing thru the display to a barn that has animals to pet and pony rides. Then you ride back to the main building and get to go to Santa's workshop to build a wooden toy. They can pick what type they want and they have elves to help glue , nail, paint and glitter the toy..... It is sooooo much fun. This is our third year going, and we always have such fun. I am not sure if Dylan will be able to come tonight, this is his first time , but if he has any fever tonight he will stay home.
Ronnie is doing good, he met his fundraising goal of $2900 for his Leukemia Society Marathon, thanks to all who helped!! He ran on Saturday about 16 miles, and his left knee and right foot has been hurting since. He has an appointment this afternoon to have them looked at. We are praying it is just strained, and he will be able to continue his training and go to the marathon. If for some reason he can not, he will be able to participate in another marathon during the year. I hope he can go, he has really worked hard training, and we are so proud of him. I had never seen him run farther that third base (occasionally pass home plate), and now here he is running 16 miles!! I can tell you more than my knee and foot would be hurting if it was me!!!!
Well, not much else to report, other than the fever issue, the kids are doing great, Emma has an appointment on January 7th, for bloodwork, and Dylan has a hearing test (post op from him getting tubes) next Monday. He has already told me "I cry" so this should be an adventure.
Please keep them both in prayer, Pray that Emma's bloodwork and check up are fine, and that Dylan's fever stays away, and that his hearing test goes ok. Also, please pray that Ronnie's foot and knee are fine and that he can continue with the marathon. Thank you all so much for checking on us and for your continued prayers for our family. It is such a great comfort to know that there are people praying for us. Merry Christmas to you all, and best wishes for a Happy, Healthy New Year.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

Monday, December 15, 2003 8:40 PM CST

UPDATE:

Emma's fever is gone! She slept all night without a fever, and feels fine!
She did go to her program today and did wonderful! I am not sure what she had, but in talking with her teacher, she had the same thing on Sunday, aches and fever and it only lasted about half of a day. So it must be viral, but most likely not the flu. Praise God!
Thank you all for your prayers.
Tammy



Hello,
Well, it never fails, whenever there is something for Emma to participate in, she gets sick, and will have to miss it.
Emma most likely has the flu. She was fine all day and about 3:00 this afternoon she started complaining of a headache (Emma never ever complains when she does not feel well), and then a bit later started with a fever. By 7:00 this evening she had 102.5 fever, and chills, aches and complained her ears hurt. I took her to the doctor this evening and her ears are fine, her throat was red, they did a strep test which is negative. They said the most likely diagnosis is the flu. She did receive the flu shot, maybe it will be a milder case.
Tomorrow is her Christmas Program at school, and she will have to miss it. She has worked so hard to memorize her verse, and her songs and now again she gets cheated out of the fun. I am so sad for her now, it breaks my heart to see her feeling bad, and missing out. She has done her time, she has had all of her sick days... and now this. I know that I am whinning, and should be glad that she is doing well, and that it is "just" the flu,when it could be so much worse.... but it still upsets me that she will miss out on yet another thing.
Ok, enough of my whining..... Please keep Emma in prayer. Pray that she recovers quickly from this. She is feeling pretty bad, and is upset about missing school for the rest of the week. Friday is her school Christmas Party and the last day until January 5th. The doctor said that we have to watch for dehydration and pneumonia. Please pray that she does not get either of these. Thank you all for checking in on her, for letting me "vent" and for your continued prayers. I will keep the site updated on how she is doing.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

Tuesday, December 9, 2003 9:01 AM CST

Hello,
Emma is doing great. She is soooo ready for Christmas!!!!
Her kindergarten class went to see a production of the Nutcracker last Friday. She raved about all of the pretty ballerina's.
She is getting ready for her School Christmas Production. They are learning a memory verse and some songs. I was surprised about the length of the verse they had to know.
The verse is :
And there were in the same country sheperds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flocks by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them; and they were sore afraid. Luke 2:8-9.
I thought... they are never going to remember it... but she does, and really well.... what a doubting Thomas I am.... never underestimate Emma.
She also has a saying for the Christmas play at church:
Then we saw the manger, dollhouse size so small, we found the meaning of Christmas, Baby Jesus was in the stall.....
She knows that one too, I had to go look it up to write it here!
She is starting to learn addition in school, and thinks she is cool because she has Math!! The are learning to add things to one...... very cool to her!
Emma has a new pet, or pets I should say... (Thanks to Jama) she is the proud owner of Hermit Crabs. She loves them, and I must say they are really cool little creatures, and very low maintenance... which is my kind of pet. She has two and one is for Dylan she says.... We have "Twinkle" the hermit crab, and Dylans is yes, you guessed it "Nemo" the hermit crab... yes, he is still hooked on the movie... which we are watching right now, with his light up Nemo tennis shoes on his feet. He is saying the lines of the movie along with it..... Yesterday was a milestone here, we did not watch Nemo one time.... that is a record!!!
Not much else going on here, we are all doing well, and ready for Christmas.
Emma does not go back to the clinic utnil January 7th, so we have a few weeks. Ronnie is still training for his marathon on Jan 11th. He is doing well, and is up to about 13 miles at once without stopping... I am out of breath thinking about it!!! He is doing great, we are very proud of him.
That is about all for now, thank you for checking in on us and for your continued prayers for our family.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

Saturday, November 29, 2003 7:48 PM CST

Hello,
Emma is doing good, she is now officially ready for Christmas. The tree is up, the decorations are hung, and she has begun her count down..... her list (which has been going since her birthday in May) is growing and she is helping Dylan with his list. She has given the pep talk to Dylan about not screaming on Santa's lap like last year. I will post that picture for all who may have forgot. I am positive that Santa has not forgot.......
We decorated the tree today and came across an ornament from Christmas 2000 it was the first Christmas after Emma was diagnosed. It is also the picture where she was on Steroids, meaner than a snake, in full blown steroid rage and would only take one picture and that was swinging the yellow baseball bat, with her red velvet Christmas Dress on..... it makes me laugh because of the trouble it was to take that one stinkin picture!! She was so funny... it was her way or the highway... so I just told the photographer to take what ever picture she could .... hence the Baseball Christmas picture.... I will post that too for all who may have forgotten (I am sure the photographer has not!!)
Not much else to report, it snowed about 2 inches last night the we went out and built a snowman today, it has since fell over and melted a bit. Emma was worried that since is snowed she will not have school Monday, it has to snow pretty good for school to be cancelled... she was relieved.
Well that is about all for now, thanks for checking in on us and for your continued prayers.....
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

Thursday, November 27, 2003 7:46 PM CST

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

Hello,
Emma is great, and we had a wonderful day today. Tonight her and Dylan are spending the night with Jama and Papa, they love sleeping over there. We are all stuffed from a wonderful day of turkey and the fixins.
I think today is so special because of the meal and getting together with family, because honestly everyday is Thanksgiving for our family. We have been so blessed, and are so thankful for how well Emma has done and continues to do. She is healthy, happy, and a normal little kid. That is my prayer for her. I do not want her to be haunted by this for a lifetime. I don't want her to have to worry every time she is not feeling well.... I know she does not understand the significance and the seriousness of her illness right now, but some day she will and I hope she does not worry..... Worrying is my job, I want her to be able to live life without the thought of relapse, or anything in the back of her mind, and leave the worrying to me.
We thank the Lord for all He has seen us thru his continued blessings on our family. We also keep in our prayers all of those going thru treatment now. We pray that some day you also can be as thankful.
Thank you for checking on us and for your continued prayers and support for our family. Words cannot express how much your love and support have sustained us and still do. We are truly thankful for each and every one of you. Love to you all...
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

Monday, November 24, 2003 2:28 PM CST

Hello,
Emma is doing wonderful. She managed to fight off the cold that the rest of us got with only a cough.
Not a lot to write about, which is a wonderful thing. I remember Thanksgiving 2000, she was going thru her Delayed Intensification phase of chemo (which is the rough stuff) and had to receive Ara C for 5 days. This gave her a fever, and flu like symptoms and we were not sure if we would be home for Thanksgiving, or in the hospital. Jama and Papa made dinner and brought it to us because Emma was so sick and we didn't want her to leave the house.
Gosh, what a difference this year, she is off treatment, feeling great,you would never in a million years guess what she has been thru, she has a brother, is now in school, wow, how much we have to be Thankful for, and not just on Thanksgiving.
Dylan was in to the clinic today... he has an ear infection. He was really pouty this weekend and laid around a lot, and had some discharge out of his ear. Since he has the tubes in his ear, the infection drains out. So we were at the doctor first thing this morning, and she confirmed the infection. He is on Augmentin and ear drops.... if anyone has ever wrestled an Alligator, this would be comparable to "trying" to put 5 drops in his ear 2 times a day! It was not a pretty thing... I am going to have to watch WWE Wrestling tonight to learn some moves.... he is strong!
Finding Nemo is the movie of choice in our house lately. If I have to watch Nemo one more time I think I am going to go crazy !! Dylan has watched it so many times that he knows the words.... do you know how many times a 21 month old must watch a movie to memorize it..... about 3,465,986,542!!
Right now we are about 1,000 viewings past that!! It really is a cute movie, but come on..... Dylan likes the Jellyfish scene for those that have seen it, and the surfer dude turtle... he walks around saying "Totally Dude" now. There is a fish tank at the clinic and there is a fish in there who looks just like Nemo.... it was quite a site leaving today.... "NO , I want Nemo, no leave Nemo!!!!!" as he was being carried out! Even Emma has gotten sick of the movie and this is from the girl who watched Jungle Book 2 billion times..... in a row I may add.... we should check with the guinness book of world records, I bet Emma can get in there for amount of times watching the same movie!!! Dylan would be in 2nd place!
Well really not much else to report. We are really good, and looking forward to decorating for Christmas this weekend. Emma has been trying to explain to Dylan the whole Santa thing.... Dylan on the other hand wants no part of any Santa, or his dumb elves... just like last year, I am sure we will have a picture with Emma smiling being all sweet and Dylan screaming and red faced. Oh well, he will catch on that Santa is the one with the goods.....
We put up the outside lights yesterday when it was about 65', thankfully we did because today it is 34' and we actually had flurries!!!
Well, thank you for checking in on us and for your continued prayers for Emma. I must get back to Finding Nemo.... I wouldn't want to miss it!!!!
Love ,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

Saturday, November 8, 2003 6:53 PM CST

Hello,
Emma is doing wonderful, we have all been fighting a cold this week, but she has managed to avoid getting sick. Although this evening she is getting a bit "horse" and losing her voice... she said she sounds like a boy!!! She is so worried she will not be able to go to church and sunday school tomorrow.... we will see how the night goes and if she gets any worse.....
She had a good week at school, she brought home 4 papers that actually had grades on them this week, and 2 of them were 100 and 2 were 94. She was so proud of them!! Report cards were supposed to come out yesterday, but there is a computer glitch and she will bring it home on Wednesday.
Dylan went to the pediatrician today, he has been fighting off a cold all week, and was a bit worse today. Both of his ears were red so he is now on amoxicillin. The doctor was also not able to see his tubes in his ears because of a bit of wax, so when he is finished with the antibiotic he will have to get his ears checked. He is growing like a weed, he is up to 32 pounds!! I can't imagine what he will be at age 2!!! My moose boy! Ronnie is already teaching him football moves. We can say Dylan show me your 3 point stance and he gets down in the stance and then Ronnie tells him to "hit and swim" and he pushes his arms forward and makes a swim move... it is soooooo cute.
It came in handy today when Emma had him in a head lock putting stick on ear rings on him... which he actually decided he liked and wore for a good part of the day!!!!
We also laugh at him because he calls his feet "tootsies", Ronnie said we have to change that because he cant hurt his "tootsie" playing sports!!!
The kids got the movie Finding Nemo this week, what a cute movie..... Dylan loves it too, for those of you who have seen it, Dylan thinks he can speak whale like Dory does in the movie... it is sooooo funny.....
Not much else going on, Emma has a part in the Christmas program at church... she is excited to learn her lines.
Tonight we roasted marshmallows and made smores in the fireplace, the kids really enjoyed that, although they made more of a mess than they actually ate!
The clinic called this week and they had ran a chicken pox titer on Emma's blood to see if she still had antibodies built up from receiving the Chicken Pox vaccine at a year old. She does not have any antibodies and is susceptible to the chicken pox. The chemo must have killed off the antibodies, so she will have to repeat the vaccine when her immune system is up to par. We just have to be careful and not have her exposed to the chicken pox. I have already sent home a letter with the kids in her class and the teacher gave them to the afternoon kindergarden also. The letter said just to call us asap if their child comes down with the chicken pox. I had a mom call me last Sunday saying that her child (who is not in Emma's class but in the afternoon class) had the chicken pox. I spoke with Emma's onocologist that evening and since she is in the afternoon class there is not a risk and there was no exposure. Praise God! Better safe than sorry......
Well not much more to report, kind of quiet around here, which is wonderful. Ronnie has been busy with work, school, church, Mighty Bean Coffee, and training for the Leukemia Society Marathon. He is up to about 9 miles now and has raised $1625.00!! He is about half way there as far as fundraising, he has to raise $2900.00.
Thank you for checking in on us and for your continued prayers for Emma.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

Sunday, November 2, 2003 8:22 AM CST

****************************************
UPDATE:
Emma's appointment went great today, her counts are perfect (no stars next to any of the items) and her echo of her heart was normal. Her blood draw was ok, there was only one poke but the vein did not allow a lot of blood. She was so brave and did not cry at all, she even let a resident examine her. That is only the second time in 3 1/2 years that she did not run them out of the room!!! Thank you all for your prayers, Praise God she is doing terrific and will go back to the clinic on January 7th! Next Year!! I will update again soon, thanks for checking in and again Thank you for your prayers, they mean so much to our family
****************************************





Hello,
Emma has had a busy couple of days.... The Noah's Ark Carnival was a lot of fun.... she came out with a ton and I mean a ton of stuff.... candy, prizes, and 6 gold fish.... Yippee more gold fish.... and that game was my idea... What in the world was I thinking??
She was a cute unicorn and Dylan was a handsome skunk, who by the end of the night was mean, he had had enough of the skunk get up and just sat down and took it off!!
Yesterday Auntie took Jacob and Emma to see the circus, they had a lot of fun. Emma has decided to join the circus when she grows up, she wants to be the girl who rides the elephant. Last week it was a school bus driver, then a teacher, then the person who gives shots at the doctor... she changes as much as she changes her clothes!!
She is feeling really good, it is amazing how much energy she has, we would never have been able to let her do all that she did this weekend last year, she would have exhausted herself.... it is wonderful to see her so full of energy.
I ahve posted some new pictures on the web site. I am still waiting for the carnival pictures, but these pictures are from our day at the pumpkin farm. Emma and Dylan really blend in with the pumpkins with their red hair. The other picture is of Daddy picking up our pumpkins. They had a place where you picked out your pumpkins, and you could buy all of the pumpkins you could hold in your arms and stand up with for only $10.00... Daddy got 4 really good pumpkins. It was a lot of fun! But then we had to get them and Emma and Dylan back to the car... which was quite a walk away. We ended up having to move the car up to load everything.....
The other picture I posted is of Emma... there was a sketch machine at the movies that takes your picture and then sketches it, I love this picture of her.....Emma has lost another tooth! This makes 3 already! The only problem is that she really "LOST" it and did not know it!! Since she did not have a tooth to leave the tooth fairy, she wrote a note: Here is what she dictated to me to write:
Dear Tooth Fairy,
I lost my tooth but did not know it. I hope you will still bring me something even though I do not have a tooth to leave you. I am sorry. Love, Emma
ps I think it feel out when I was eating my apple at school, I threw the apple in the trash at school. Will you please find it.......

It was so cute, when she woke up this morning, she had a dollar under her pillow.... the first tooth she lost she got $4, then the second she got $2, and now just a measly $1!! You could tell she thought the tooth was worth more! She is saving up for a Barbie Jeep so she is pretty money conscious lately!!
Well tomorrow is her appointment, I will post again to update on how she is doing. Please continue to pray all is well.....
Love,
Tammy, Ron, Emma and Dylan

Thursday, October 30, 2003 8:10 PM CST

Hello,
Emma is doing wonderful! She is very excited about the Noah's Ark Carnival we are having at church tomorrow night. She has never been a big fan of going trick or treating (her comment last year and I quote" Uh Mommy, If I am not allowed to take candy from strangers, then why are you taking me to strangers houses to ask for candy... I am cold and Grandma has candy at her house I want to go back there!!") I hate when she is right!!
The carnival is going to be fun, there are a ton of games and candy and prizes for the kids, horse rides, a bouncy jumpy tent thingy, balloon animals, face painting, and a bunch more stuff.... The kids get to dress up as an animal on the Ark.... Emma chose to be a Unicorn and I cant convince her they were not actually on the Ark, so oh well a Unicorn it is!!
Dylan is going to be a skunk! How appropriate..... but he thinks we are saying Duck so he quacks in his costume! Oh well..... So we have a unicorn and a quacking skunk!
Not much else going on, Emma is loving school. She is reading already!!! I can't believe they learn to read in kindergarten.... she can read probably 50 words.... wow!!!
Tonight she read to me before she went to bed!
Please keep Emma in your prayers, she has her yearly echo of her heart on Monday, please pray that all is well and there is no damage from the chemo. Also pray that her blood draw is easy and all is well with her blood work. I can't believe we are going every 2 months.... It is hard to do, I know that sounds weird but we were used to getting check and reassured every week ..... it was kind of a crutch....
after Monday's visit we will not go back until the New Year...... wow......
Well that is about all, I will be sure to post about the carnival (complete with pictures of my Unicorn and Quacking Skunk) and her appointments.
Thank you for checking in on us and for your prayers....
Love,
Tammy, Ron, Emma and Dylan

Thursday, October 16, 2003 9:54 AM CDT

Hello,
Emma is terrific, she is feeling great growing like a weed! It is such a blessing to see her feeling good and enjoying being a kid. She is loving school and has begun to read! She is excited, a little nervous but is doing great! She read 4 pages of a Dr Seuss Book Hop on Pop last night. She was soooooo excited, she was giggling and had tears in her eyes! She was proud of herself... and should be for so many reasons.
This week was spirit week at school. The are getting ready for homecoming and have a week of different events for each day. Even the kindergarten gets to participate. Monday was funky hair day... we did not do that one, we did not know about it. Then Tuesday was Twin day. Emma and her friend Renee dressed alike in jeans and pink shirts. Yesterday was Red, White and Blue day. and Today is clash day.... boy did Emma clash... she looked like Ronnie dressed her! She had on a Tie Dyed T Shirt with a purple flowered turtle neck on underneath. Black and white checkered pants, green socks and a orange and pink bow in her hair...... boy was it a site!
Dylan is doing great also, he is getting so big, and is talking up a storm.... is newest is What's That? or What you doing? it is cute and fun to be able to communicate with him this way.
Ronnie is doing great training for his Team in Training Marathon for the Leukemia Society.... he is up to about 7 miles now and has raised almost $500!! He has a way to go both fundraising wise and training wise, but he is very dediated and determined to do this......

Not much else to report, Emma goes to the clinic on Nov 2, and will have an Echo cardiogram of her heart (yearly check) and her normal bloodwork done. Please pray that all goes well, she gets good results and the blood draw is an easy one.
Thank you all for checking in on us and for continuing to keep our family in your prayers.....
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

Tuesday, September 30, 2003 8:53 AM CDT

Hello,
Emma is doing much much better, the breathing treatments have helped tremendously and she was able to go back to school yesterday... thankfully too, as she complained about being absent the whole time.....
Dylan got the cold too, he went in to the doctor on Saturday for his wheezing and he was also put on the breathing treatments and also steroids. Geeze... I thought we were done with the steroids... actually they have not affected him, I think they are a little different.... It is called orapred, and it actually tastes good, like grape, not horrible like Emma's meds. His breathing is much better now.
Not much more to report other then Emma is feeling pretty good, and having a wonderful time being Emma..... what more could we ask for.... Today Emma was excited because it is computer class...Emma came home yesterday all excited because they had spanish class... she really likes that... she can speak very well too. She knows her colors and how to say headach and stomach ache... she can now complain in spanish!!!
Dylan is going to be 20 months old on Monday, gosh.... he is really beginning to talk too... he can get his point across very well with limited words... Let Go, mine,uh uh.... NO!, let see what else? At 3am he yells.... Mommy, Moooommmmyyy, MOOOOMMMY!!! He still gets up at night, for a midnight snack, and he usually gets a lecture from me about how he is too old to be doing this..... He also calles Jama (as Emma calls her) Buggamamma.... now that is a good one... lately he has been saying grandma better but for a while she was buggamama.....
Well thank you for taking time to check on us ....
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

Thursday, September 25, 2003 6:07 PM CDT

Hello,
Well, the cold bug has hit our house.... Emma started coughing on Tuesday night and on and off on Wednesday. Today we went into the pediatricians office and she has fluid behind both ears and they are beginning to get red, and she is wheezing in her lungs... So, she is now on augmention antibiotics and breathing treatments. She also had a fever this morning. Dylan is starting with the runny nose and a slight cough. The doctor checked him today just because she knows how his ears have been and they looked good. Hopefully he will just have the cold part.
Emma had to miss school today and will miss tomorrow too.
She was supposed to go on a field trip today to the grocery store and is very upset she did not get to go. Next week she has a trip to an orchard and we told her that by missing today, she will get better faster and be able to go to the next trip. She seemed to be ok with that, but is still pretty ticked off.....
Not much else to report, please keep Emma and Dylan in your prayers, pray that they are able to get over being sick quickly and feel better soon.....
Thanks for checking in on us and for your prayers...
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

Saturday, September 20, 2003 7:37 AM CDT

Hello,
Emma is doing great! She had to go to the pediatricians office this week, she developed a rash on her upper body. She had been at a petting zoo last Saturday so we were concerned that maybe she was allergic to the baby ducks or bunnies she was holding. The doctor felt it was an allergic reaction to "something" most likely the brand new (never laundered) shirt she wore to school on Wednesday. She prescribed her Zyrtec to take once a day. The first dose helped, the rash lightened and as of yesterday it was almost gone. I will just make sure I wash her clothes before she wears them, she had never had a problem before.
Today will be a very fun and busy day for her. She has been invited to 2 birthday parties, the second one is a sleep over. She claims she wants to stay, she has only stayed with Jama and Auntie once (she wound up coming home at 3am this first time!) so we will see..... the sleep over is only 2 houses down so if she does want to come home it would not be a big deal. The first party today is a bowling party. She is very excited, it is bumper bowling, and she is pretty good!
Not much else going on, she has a field trip to the grocery store on Thursday .... her school is next to a grocery store so they are going to get a "behind the scenes tour". Then on Friday the school is having their annual Walk A Thon. They walk around the campus area and collect sponsors to pledge money for the schools scholarship fund. So far Emma has $60 in pledges. She is excited because if she raises at least $50 then she will receive $5! If she collects $100 then she gets $10, that is her goal! She has been really into money lately, she gets an allowance now for doing a few "chores" (pick up toys, bed on time, feed cats, clothes in hamper). She gets a dime each time she completes these chores. So she is really excited to be getting $5.00 possibly $10.00! She is saving up for a barbie jeep and a turtle!! Great, just what she needs, a turtle!!!
Emma is also deciding on what to be for Halloween. Our church is having a Noah's Ark Carnival and the kids are dressing up as an animal. Emma is leaning towards being a butterfly.... since Princess Jamsime was not on the Ark :0)
I think Dylan is going to be a kangaroo or maybe a lizard (that way we could use the green dinosaur costume that we already have, dinosaur/lizard pretty close right?)
Well, that is about all for now, I will update with the costume decisions.
Thank you for checking in on us. Please continue to keep Emma in your prayers, continued good health, and continued remission.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

Wednesday, September 10, 2003 10:49 AM CDT

Hello,
Emma is doing wonderful! She had her blood work done on Friday and all is well. They were able to get blood on the first try. She did great!
She is loving school, everyday she is soooo excited to go.
Not much more to report, Dylan is doing good too, he is talking like crazy. The other day he came over to me and hugged me and told me "wuv you" ! My heart melted! Now if he would just sleep thru the night we would be in business!

Ronnie has taken on new challenge. He is going to be running in a marathon for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Team in Training Program. The marathon is on january 11, 2004 at Walt Disney World. We are going to try and go with him so Emma can cross the finish line with him. He has to raise $3000 along with his training for the marathon. He will be running 26.2 miles. Emma's treatment was 26 months, so he will be running a mile for every month she went thru chemo. We are going to be doing some fundraisers soon to help raise the money, if there is anyone interested in donating please email us. Right now he is running a sort of fundraiser on our coffee business website:

www.mightybeancoffee.com
For every order placed Mighty Bean will donated $1.00 toward his goal. We can surely testify that this is for a wonderful cause. Emma is in remission and doing terrific but many are not and do not survive. Remission is possible but we need to help find a cure for this disease.

Not much else to report, Emma does not go back to the clinic until Nov 3rd, she will have blood work and the yearly echo of her heart.

Also, we have a skunk update: Jama's (or buggamama as Dylan calls her) skunk is gone, the city came and took it away. It did not spray thankfully. I think he kind of liked it there, a beautiful pond food to eat, what else does a skunk need?
So far no other critter have been caught.....
Thanks for checking on us and for your prayers that keep us going.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

Wednesday, September 3, 2003 3:00 PM CDT

Hello,
Emma had a wonderful first day of kindergarten yesterday! She is an official kindergartener at Medina Christian Academy, and she thinks she is very cool! She rode the bus home from school, and did great, I made it through the whole ordeal also... my baby on a bus! She did ask the bus driver where the seat belts were and when she told Emma there were none, she told her that it wasn't very safe!
She looked so cute in her uniform, (although she says she looks like a bagpiper!) We are so proud of her!
She had a bit of a rough time with her clinic appointment last Friday, she is fine, but they were not able to get blood, they poked her 3 times and the veins collapsed or did not give blood, it was a horrible time we had to hold her down and she cried. We have to go back this Friday (they felt she had had enough for one day and could come back) and they are going to try again, and also try to take it from the tops of her hands...... I felt so bad for her.
We have a funny "Jama" story....
Jama has a beautiful patio with a pond in her back yard with koi fish and gold fish in it..... well something (a critter) got 4 of her fish. So, Jama, decided to get a trap and try to "catch" the "critter", so she set an animal trap in her yard with bait in it last night. Well she caught it!
It is a skunk!!! So now Jama has a beautiful patio with a pond and a caged skunk in her back yard!!!! It has not sprayed (Yet), but it is still there, she had to leave a message with the city animal control people and they have not called back yet (wonder why!?) It figures, and I wonder if it is the fish eater or not? I will update on Jama's skunk when it is removed.
Well, it has been an eventful week, kindergarten, bus rides, skunks... wow.
I will update more this weekend after her blood draw appointment.
Thank you for checking in on us and for your prayers.
Tammy, Ronnie,Emma, and Dylan

Thursday, August 28, 2003 7:31 AM CDT

Hello,
Emma is doing great, she had a bit of a cold last weekend, but it has cleared up. She lost another tooth yesterday, she thinks she is very cool and likes the "bald spot" it has left in her mouth. Yesterday marked her being off chemo treatment for one year. This is a wonderful milestone for her and such a blessing. Yesterday there was a song on the radio and Emma was singing along to it... The chorus is :
I believe in miracles, because I am a miracle myself...for all that He has done for me... I believe in miracles! How true this is, it brought tears to my eyes about how true what she was saying was.
We had her orientation for kindergarten on Tuesday evening. She starts next Tuesday. She will go from 8:30 am until 11:30 am. She got to put her supplis in her desk, meet her teacher, who is very nice and her classmates. She has about 4 girls that she knows in her class, 3 of them were in her preschool class last year and one is in her Rainbow Class. That is good, she has friends already. There are about 14 kids in her class.
Emma has been promoted in the missionettes program at church. She is now a Daisy. There was a program at church last Friday and she was promoted to the next step. She also received a certificate and a pin for being an Honor Rainbow. She completed all 18 badges over the 2 years that were needed in Rainbows. This is incredible since she did not get to go for a lot of the first year and even some of the second because her counts were too low. She made up all of the work required and memorized each of the bible verses. Each badge required a coloring page, a craft, a worksheet and a memorization of a bible verse. We are soooo proud of her.
We are also very proud of Daddy. On Tuesday he was at work when a young girl (about 11 or 12 yrs old)came into the building and said there was a man following her. Daddy went out to the parking lot and there was a man in a car sitting there. Ronnie asked him if he was following her and what he wanted, the man tried to leave and Ronnie told him that the police were on the way and they had the license number. The car sped away hitting another car in the road. The police came and Ronnie and the girl told them the story and they went to look for the man. There was some road work being done and the road crew also saw the car hit another and speed off. They also got the license plate number and actually spray painted it on the road. The man was found at a nearby motel,and arrested. He was a convicted child sex offender, who had been on parole. How scary. We are so thankful that everything worked out and the girl was safe. It is something how God puts you in a certain place. Until about a month ago the building Ronnie works in had been closed for years. His company just bought the building and moved in at the beginning of August.Yesterday the Mayor called Ronnie and he had to go to city hall and he and the road crew received awards for what they had done.
Emma is so proud of him. She doesn't know all the details about what the man had done in the past, all she knows is that he helped a little girl from a bad man. She told everyone that "My Daddy's a hero!" So sweet.
Emma has to go to the clinic tomorrow for her monthly blood work. Well thank you for checking in on us and for your prayers for Emma.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

Monday, August 11, 2003 7:25 AM CDT

Hello,
Emma is doing great, her blood work was good at her last exam. She had a test to see if she would be able to get her last immunization needed for kindergarden. It was called an Anergy Panel. It is similar to a TB Test, and in fact one of the "pokes" was a TB Test. They poked her upper arm 3 times and administered 3 different tests. There was a TB, candida (yeast), and tetnus. The way I understood was if her bodies immune system was back to normal, she would develop a reaction (red, itchy bumps) at the site of the injection, if her immune system was not recovered then there would be no reaction, they did not want a reaction to the TB. She did not have a reaction to any of the "pokes" so she is still recovering from the chemo and is not able to get the last immunization booster which is the mumps measles and rubella. Since it is a live vaccine she may not be able to fight off the diseases and could get sick. So, we will wait about 3 months and repeate the Anergy Panel.
The doctor will write a letter explaining the situation and why she can not get the booster, so she will still be able to attend school. The doctor said it is nothing to worry about, that some kids take one and a half to two years to fully recover. He likes to be safe and do this testing.
She is feeling great! She is so excited to start kindergarden on Sept 2nd, the bus driver called the other day to see if she would be riding the bus.... it took all I had to allow it, but she wants to ride it sooooo bad. She will be riding the bus home from school. (I may be following behind the bus in the car, but she will be riding it ;0)
She has all of her school supplies ready, we ordered her uniforms and are going to pick out her back pack and lunch box (to take her daily snack in ). she hasn't decided between a plain purple or a character box/bag yet. I have a feeling we will be at the store a while..... I think it is going to be like purse shopping with Jama (that always is an ordeal!!)
I can't believe summer is almost over and it is time for school!! It has gone so fast, all it did was rain here all summer! Jama got the kids the coolest thing, she ordered them Catipillar larva (I know sounds weird, the gift for the child who has absolutely everything!!) and they are raising them and they will turn into butterflies. They came with a plastic house thing and you put in the food and the larva. They changed into catapillars and now have formed cocoons. We are waiting until the coccoons "hatch" and then we will have 8 butterflies and we will let them go outside. Jama has a huge butterfly bush so Emma wants to let them go there. It is a really neat thing for them to watch.
Emma is very excited because she got her very first library card the other day. Emma and Daddy went to the library and she asked the librarian if she was old enough to get a card. She got her card and a little certificate with the date of the card, who she was with and what book she checked out. She was soooooo excited, we are going to go back today and get more books. She has always loved going there.

Dylan is doing good too, he is a totally different baby with the tubes in his ears, what a difference they made!
He has to go to the doctor on Wednesday for his 18 month check up and shots..... I can't believe he is that old already!!! He is a wild boy too, he weighs 30 pounds (Emma only weighs about 40!)and is now at the age that he wants to do everything by himself or "ME!!" as he yells.
Not much else going on here,Emma goes back to the clinic on August 29, for her monthly blood work. She will be off treatment for a year then!
Thank you for checking in on us and for your continued prayers.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

Monday, July 21, 2003 8:16 AM CDT

Hello,
Wow, I can't believe how long it has been since I updated.
Emma is doing wonderful. She had her blood work done on July 2 and is doing great. Her ear was still a bit red when she was there so they switched her antibiotic for the 3rd time to Augmentin and it has cleared up now.
She is having a wonderful summer, playing, swimming, doing all of the things she now feels like doing.
Friday she and Jacob played outside pretty much all day, they had a ball!
Today it is raining, so I think I will try to convice her to clean up her room. (Ha!) This usually takes her all day since she plays more than she cleans!
Not a lot more going on , we have had a pretty healthy month as far as Dylan goes also, his tubes in his ears have made a world of difference.
Emma goes back to the clinic on Aug 2 for her bloodwork.
Dylan has learned to take his diaper off and has just done so , so this is going to have to be a quick update, since he is running around naked right now!!
Thanks for checking on us and for your prayers.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

Monday, June 30, 2003 8:49 AM CDT

EMMA HAS BEEN IN REMISSION FOR 3 YEARS TODAY!!!! PRAISE GOD!

Hello,
Three years ago today we were told Emma was in remission. I can remember the doctor coming in and telling us, we were all cheering and Emma was clapping (she wasn't sure why though..) Then they let us go home after being in the hospital for 11 days. I remember thinking, you are letting us take her home, how will we ever take care of her... I wanted to stay until she was finished (26 months!!) I remember it took 3 wagon trips to the car to carry all of the "stuff" she had received while in the hospital. I remember us trying to give her the steroids for the first time when we got home, we tried for 2 days and each time she vomitted them back up, we were all crying each time we had to give them to her. I remember it took us about an hour the first time we changed the dressing on her broviac catheter in her chest. We were all crying by the time we finished. By the end, Emma could walk someone thru the steps to change the dressing. But praise God we made it thru, only a few battle scars and a bit of Post Tramatic Stress Syndrome (I honestly wonder about this sometimes), but here we are with our beautiful healthy little girl!!

Emma is doing good, she was having some more ear pain Friday so we went in to get it checked out and her infection had not cleared up in either ear, so she is on another round of antibiotics. She was having problems hearing too, but that is most likely from the infection.

Dylan had his surgery on Thursday, he now has the ear tubes in. He had finished antibiotics on the Thursday before and there was already an infection brewing, they had to suction his ears out when they placed the tubes. He woke up pretty mean after surgery but he is fine now. You can tell he feels better... he is his old happy self. Emma said he is out of control.
They are so sweet together. They play really well even being almost 4 years apart. She is so patient and sweet with him. Their favorite thing to do is wrestle around on the floor.
I have new pictures of them in the pool last week, Dylan with his speedo on, (this is the only age they should make those for!! ) Emma and Jacob (cousin ) in the pool also.

Thank you for checking in on us, and for your continued prayers, we would not have made it thru the last 3 years without the support of all of you.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma,and Dylan

Monday, June 23, 2003 12:08 AM CDT

Hello,

3 years ago today Emma was diagnosed with Leukemia and began chemotherapy.
Wow, in some ways it seems like yesterday and in some ways it seems like a hundred years ago. I think of all that has happened since then. She has grown so much, she has went to preschool, she has a brother, and has finished chemotherapy treatment. Praise God.
3 years ago we spent 11 days in the hospital, she had her first of about 20 shots of L-Aspariginase in her thighs, she had her first dose of that dreaded doxorubin that eventually made her hair fall out, and the first of that awful steroid prednisone.She had the first of many bone marrow aspirations, the first of about 50 spinal taps, she had tubbies put in her chest, she had bruises from being poked, and she had to wear a mask in public because her counts were so low.
Now 3 years later, she had safety town this morning, and Vacation Bible School this evening. She played outside,ran, jumped, and had a wonderful time and did not have a single medication to take. ALL LIKE A NORMAL LITTLE GIRL!!!! Our prayers have certainly been answered time and time again. Praise God!!
Emma is having a wonderful time in safety town. It is certainly a wonderful program they have for the children. She goes from 9:30 to 11:30 everyday for 2 weeks. She loves it. Vacation Bible school began this week at church also. She loves it. At the end of the session last night they asked for kids who knew their bible verse. She raised her hand and was picked, she got to go up and speak into the microphone her verse: Jesus said, love each other as I have loved you John 15:12. She did so good with her sweet little voice. She got to pick a lollipop and was so excited.
She is excited to go again tonight.
Dylan is doing well, he had a hearing test yesterday (can you just visualize giving a 16 month old a hearing test.... if you can you are most likely right) kind of like wrestling a bear!! Actually he did really well. He wanted no part of the earphones but he did cooperate otherwise.
He can hear each frequency with both ears, so that is good.
His ear surgery has been moved up to this coming Thursday. We are hoping that will help his infections.
Not much else going on now, it has been a busy summer so far, but also one filled with much playing and fun. That is awesome!
Thank you for checking in on us and for your continued prayers.
love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

Sunday, June 8, 2003 7:07 PM CDT

Update...
Emma and Dylan had appointments today. Emma has a double ear infection and is now on amoxicillin, and Dylan's left eardrum is infected and has perforated (ruptured), so he is on cefzil. Geez, when it rains it pours. Emma had a slight fever today, but Dylan has not had a fever at all. He had some discharge and blood coming out but the doctor said this is normal. Hopefully the antibiotics will kick in and they both will feel better soon.
Thanks for checking in on us and for your prayers....
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan


NEW PICTURES ADDED JUNE 8

Hello,
Emma's appointment with Oncology went well on Wednesday. She is doing great and is 10 months off treatment. She continues to be in remission, which is the main blessing. The doctor said she is doing great and she is to come back in a month. She did very well with the blood draw and was actually handing the nurse the items that she needed to draw the blood.... in the correct order too!!
Friday night she started to get red eyes, and they had a bit of yellow discharge in them. The Doctor called in some eye drops and she started them on Saturday morning. Her eyes are doing good now, but I think it may have gone to her ear. She woke up last night crying with ear pain and has a slight fever today. We will be going in to the clinic on Monday for sure to be checked. Dylan woke up this morning with yukky eyes, and a yukky nose too, so he will be going in also. Because we can pretty much bet he will have an ear infection also. He is scheduled for July 10 for surgery to get tubes in his ears. He had an appointment on Wednesday and there was fluid in both ears. So hopefully he can stay ear infection free until then.
They are both not feeling all that great today, and have been laying around most of the day.
I have added new pictures from this weekend at Grandma's house, Emma, Dylan, and Jacob (cousin) love it there... even Dylan recognizes the house when we pull up and gets all excited.
Well that is about all for now, I will update after their appointments tomorrow. Thank you for checking in on us and for your continued prayers.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

Saturday, May 24, 2003 1:53 PM CDT

Hello,
Emma is doing great. She continues to amaze us with her energy. She had her 5 year check up with her pediatrician on Wednesday. She has grown 3.25 inches and gained almost 3 pounds since this time last year. She is at 41.5 pounds and is 42.5 inches tall. She got a good report from the doctor, we go back June 4th to get her bloodwork checked.
Emma's last day of school was Thursday. She was sad that she won't be going there over the summer but also very excited to know she will get to go everyday next year!!
Tuesday is her Preschool Picnic, and she is excited to go. Pray for good weather, the report calls for rain.
Not much going on now, Dylan is doing well also. He had his 15 month check up, he is doing well also, He is slowly catching up to Emma, he weighs almost 27 pounds and is 32 inches ! His ears were looking good at this visit. He goes in on June 4th for a consult about ear tubes. His pediatrician said they will probably wait the summer and see how he does, if no infections, he may be ok. If he gets alot of infections over the summer when kids usually do not, he may have to have tubes.
Well, that is about all that is new here, thank you for checking in on us and for your continued prayers,
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

Thursday, May 15, 2003 6:21 AM CDT

HAPPY 5TH BIRTHDAY EMMA!!

Hello,
Emma is doing great. Today is her 5th birthday, she has been so excited. She has preschool today and we signed up to take the snack. We are going to take a special snack to celebrate with her friends. She has been talking about her birthday all week, not only has she planned this years party, but next years also. This year she wants to have a Strawberry Shortcake Party. Because Strawberry Shortcake has red hair like her.
Yesterday she finished up her antibiotics for her ear infection, so this is the first year since she turned 2 that she does not have to take any medications. This itself is wonderful.
She has so much energy, there are things she can do now that would not have been an option just last summer. Yesterday her preschool took a fieldtrip to the Rainforest at the Cleveland Zoo. They have been learning about it and now went to see all they know. She walked the entire time and did not get tired. Last summer I would have had to take a stroller, her legs would have started hurting.
Oh my did they learn alot! Emma was telling me about the different levels in the rainforest (I didn't know it had levels..) She told me about the Forest floor, the understory, and the canopy! We were going thru the Rainforest and she would say... Look Mommy, a Sloth! A What??? Then I said look at that red Parrot Emma.....
UH Mommy, that is not a parrot, it is a Scarlet Macaw... it says its name when it "chirps" Macaw, Macaw! But it does belong to the parrot family!!!! HAHAHA!!
Wow, how much they know. She had a great time.
We are so thankful she is doing so great, she has been thru so much in her 5 short years, but you would never know it, she is terrific.

Well not much more to report, just that things are great for her. What more could we ask for.....
Thank you for checking on us.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

Wednesday, April 30, 2003 8:49 PM CDT

Hello,
Well Emma's tooth has finally come out!!! She is sooo excited, the first thing she does when she sees someone that doesn't know is pull her lip out about 4 feet and shows them her "bald spot!!".

Today she had her monthly oncology visit. She is doing great. She did have an ear infection though. Last night she woke up crying saying her ear hurt. She took some tylenol and fell back asleep but woke up a few hours later crying again. She slept very restless. She is on amoxicillan for 10 days. Her counts are great and other than her ear she is doing wonderful.

Dylan also had to go to the doctor today, he woke up very very congested, and since he just finished Augmentin on Friday for a sinus infection, I thought he better be checked. He too has an ear infection, the poor thing can't get rid of his congestion. He is now on Zithromax, and hopefully that will clear it up for good this time.

Not much more going on, Emma is looking forward to turning 5 in a few weeks. I asked her what was the big deal about turning 5 and she said: Nothing, I just love birthdays!!!
She is so funny. She has been talking about her birthday party since Christmas!!!

Thank you for checking in on us, please pray that the ear infections clear up and both kids feel better soon...
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

Thursday, April 24, 2003 5:09 PM CDT

Hello,
Emma is doing wonderful! She is full of energy and spunk! She was very glad spring break ended, she missed school. Tuesday she had her spring pictures taken at school. I have added it above, and left the picture from the fall there too. It is amazing to see how she has grown. She looks so "mature" to me. Her hair is so long now.
Her loose tooth is still hanging on, she is so excited for it to fall out. It is kind of icky, the way it wiggles. I made her promise she wouldn't try to pull it out until Sunday. I am leaving to go to a Women's Ministry Convention Friday night and Saturday in Columbus. I don't want to miss the whole tooth fairy experience with her first tooth. I think it will be ok, it is still in there pretty good.
Not much else to report, she goes to the clinic next week for blood work, she is getting ready to plan her 5th birthday party in May, (she has been talking about it since Christmas!!) Dylan is doing well, growing like a weed just like Emma.
Thank you all for checking in on us and for keeping us in your prayers.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

Saturday, April 12, 2003 9:35 PM CDT

Hello,
Emma is feeling much, much, better. She never did get another fever, and the breathing treatments helped right away with her congestion. She is still to take the treatments about 3 times a day until Tuesday or Wednesday, but she is so much better.
Tonight was the church Easter Drama and she did get to go.
She did wonderful! She was so excited to participate and really did a great job! I took pictures of her and Ronnie so I will post them when I get them developed. Ronnie was a Roman Soldier, he did great too. Tomorrow during the morning church service they are doing the play again, so she is excited to get to "act" again. I told her how proud we were of her tonight, and how good she did and she said:
"thanks... I am one talented kid!!" She is so funny.
Well, not much more to report, we are just so thankful she
is feeling better.
Thank you for your prayers for Emma and for checking in on us.
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

Thursday, April 10, 2003 4:40 PM CDT

Hello,
Is it Spring yet???
Emma has been doing well. Today she had a unscheduled appointment with the pediatrician. She had a 103.2' fever overnight and now has a pretty bad cough, watery eyes, and congestion. The doctor felt that it was just viral but did feel that her lungs were a bit congested and she needed to have an aerosol breathing treatment. She also has fluid in her ear, not an infection, but probably some pressure. The doctor did not feel that she had pneumonia, so that is a blessing. They gave her albuterol at the clinic and it helped the congestion. It also made her heart rate go up a bit so the doctor did not prescribe that medicine, instead one called zopenex. It works the same but without the increase in heart rate.
She is feeling much better and has not had a fever all day.
She did have to miss her Easter party at school, I felt so bad for her, she was really excited about it.
We are to give her the breathing treatments every 4 hours for a few days and then 3 times a day until Wednesday.
This weekend is the church play that she is in, if she doesn't have a fever the doctor felt she could go as long as she is feeling up to it. She is so excited about being in the play, I would feel so bad if she had to miss that too.
Next week is Easter Break, and she is not really excited about it... she doesn't get to go to school! She loves school. Another few years and I bet she will look forward to vacations!
Not much more to report, otherwise we are all doing well. Dylan is walking around now, he thinks he is soooo cool. He follows Emma everywhere she goes. Ronnie is busy with work, school, the Easter Drama at church and his new venture... Mighty Bean Coffee & Tea.
He opened a web based coffee and tea store which sells gourmet coffee and tea. We are really excited about it.
The website is: www.mightybeancoffee.com
Take a look and let us know what you think, we are open for input, and suggestions....
Emma had her appointment with the oncologist last week and he said she is doing wonderful. It is such a blessing each month to hear him say those words. We are relieved each month after her appointment goes well.
Please keep Emma in your prayers. Pray that the breathing treatments do their job, and her fever can stay away.
Thank you for checking in on us and for your continued support and prayers for our family.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

Also... please continue to pray for Erin Obrien and family. She recently relapsed after being off treatment for 10 months. Her website is :
www.caringbridge.org/nh/erinsstory
Thank you for your prayers...

Tuesday, March 25, 2003 8:41 PM CST

Hello,
Emma is doing really well. She is feeling great and has recovered from her "bug". She is so excited, she has a loose tooth!!! One of her bottom front teeth is loose. She can't wait for it to fall out.
She is loving every minute of school, last Wednesday she had a field trip to Six Flags Amusement Park to see the Penguin exhibit. They have been studying Penguins for the last month or so. It is amazing how much the kids learned. She was pointing out the different kinds of Penguins... Adelie Penguins, Rockhopper Penguins, Macaroni Penguins. She was telling me today about the line at the center of the earth called the Equator!!! What are they going to teach in Kindergarten if she learns this in PreSchool???
Today she came home fom school very excited, because she prayed for Jesus to come into her heart!!! It was so sweet. She recieved a card that said she has Jesus in her heart with the date and her signature on it. She is so proud.
Tonight she had play practice at church... she is in the Easter play. She is very excited about it. Ronnie is in it also, he is a soldier, and Emma yells at him for being mean to Jesus.
This past Sunday we had to opportunity to go to see Barneys Colorful World. The Cleveland Clinic gave us tickets. We had a wonderful time, the tickets were in the loge, and lunch was provided. Emma loved it. Dylan unfortunately could not go, he was still sick with the stomach bug. But is much better now. He is growing like a weed! He is 13 months old now, weighs 25 pounds, and has 12 teeth (his 4 molars just came in at once... wow was he miserable!!). He loves his big sister, and can walk, but does not feel the need to , why, when someone will carry you??? His favorite thing to do is to stand in the chair (preferably one that rocks) and yell SIT!!!
That is about all for now, Emma has an appointment on April 3rd. She will have her blood counts done.
Please keep a little friend of ours Erin, in your prayers. Erin finished treatment for Leukemia this past May, and after 10 months of being off treatment she has relapsed. Her family is blown away by this obviously, they basically have to start from square one. She was having some more testing done today and having her port or broviac catheter put back in. I can't imagine how they must feel. They live in New Hampshire, and are still not sure what the treatment will be, either more chemo, or a bone marrow transplant.
Either way, please keep them in your prayers, as well as pray for a cure for this Beast of a disease.
Thanks for checking in on us and for you continued prayers.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

Friday, March 7, 2003 1:06 PM CST

Hello,
Emma is doing much better. She did have her appointment yesterday and her blood work is great. They did however find the beginnings of an ear infection and also a touch of croup. She has had a horrible cough since Tuesday. They prescribed amoxicillan for her ear and a codeine syrup for her cough to help her sleep. She was up all night Tuesday night coughing. She was coughing almost every breath. We gave her cough medicine, used the vaporizer, and even sat in the bathroom with the shower on in hopes that the steam would help relieve her cough. It did not help all that much. The codeine has helped tremendously and she has had good night sleep and is really feeling a lot better. It is so hard when she can't sleep, she really feels worse then. If her cough lasts more than a week they may do a chest xray just to check things out. But, she is already starting to breath better and is not coughing nearly as bad, so I expect she will be fine in a day or so.
The rest of us are mending also. It is pretty much run it;s course but now Jacob has it. He woke up Thursday morning sick and is still pretty "wukky" as Emma says.
Emma's blood counts are great. They were :
WBC (infection fighters): 5.07
normal is 5.5-15.5
Hgb(iron level): 13.6
normal is 11.5-13.5
Platelets (blood clotters): 285
normal is 150-400
ANC (ablility to fight off infection) : normal at 2520.
So she is doing great and is scheduled to come back for another check in a month. She had to get poked twiced yesterday. They poked the first arm and a tiny amount of blood came out then it stopped. So, needless to say they had to do the other arm which worked just fine. So, tonight we are going to go get the Scooby Doo movie she wants as a "bribe/prize" for letting them do the second arm and being brave. My opinion is whatever works. She has been thru so much and what ever helps her do so is fine...
She is really feeling so much better today, and singing and whistling again, always a sign she is feeling good.
Not much else to report. Please keep her in your prayers, pray that her cough does go away and no xrays are needed. Also, please pray for Jacob, that his stomach bug runs its course quickly and that my sister Melanie does not catch it.
Thank you for checking in on us.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

Tuesday, March 4, 2003 8:07 AM CST

Hello,
Well, the flu bug has hit the Hall house. It is horrible. Emma started getting sick Saturday night. She started vomitting around 8:00 and was sick most of the night about every half hour or so. Dylan woke up around 1:00 am Sunday morning sick, but he has never thrown up before so he couldn't do it , it just freaked him out and he was screaming. Then about 3:00 am I started,Emma finally stopped around 6:00 am Sunday morning, then she started getting achy and feverish. Sunday night Ronnie started feeling yukky and achy, until now he had been the taking care of all of us. Luckily I am now starting to feel better and can take care of everyone because last night Dylan got it worse and started throwing up again. Then a little while later Ronnie started and is really sick now. My, it is a horrible bug going around. I am just about better, just a bit sore and really drained. Emma is ok, but she said she doesn't feel very powerful. She is finally starting to eat a bit. Dylan has bad diarreah now, and won't eat much either. Please keep us in your prayers, it is a nasty bug that has to run its course and we pray is does this soon. Emma has a appointment for her monthly blood work on Thursday, hopefully she is feeling all better because if now we will postpone it because we don't want to spread it around the clinic. Thank you for checking in on us and for your prayers. I will update on Thursday after Emma's appointment (if we can go).
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

Monday, February 17, 2003 6:47 PM CST

Hello,
Emma is doing well. She had a bad cold/cough over the weekend and lost her voice. It was really squeeky. She is feeling so much better now. It is amazing how fast she is bouncing back now that she is off chemo. Her new think is to play on "perfect word" (word perfect program) she likes to type and has learned how to insert pictures and color objects... she is quite the computer geek!!! She loves it!!!
We celebrated Dylan's birthday party this weekend too. He was very funny with his cake. He started off by just touching it and then squishing it in his fingers then tasting it then rubbing it thru his hair. It was very funny. He loved it!!! Yesterday he had his first Oreo cookie. Emma had them and he wanted one, so he crawled over to her and laid on her chest holding her down and took a bit out of each of her cookies. They were both laughing and squeeling. It was adorable. He is such a moose!!!
Not a lot more is going on, Emma is terrific, and feeling pretty good.
Thank you for checking in on us and for your continued prayers for our family.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

Thursday, February 6, 2003 7:15 AM CST

Hello,
Emma had her monthly appointment yesterday and is doing great. Her blood work is almost perfect and she is terrific. She gained a couple of pounds since last visit also. She has been eating very well lately.
Her blood work was:
WBC (infection fighters): 5.61
(normal is 5.5-15.5)
Platelets (blood clotters):267
(normal is 150-400)
Hemoglobin (iron level): 13.1
(normal is 11.5-13.5)
Her ANC (ability to fight off infection) was 3340 which is terrific.
Emma had a very important question to ask the doctor yesterday. She asked him if it was ok for her to get her ears pierced. He said it was fine it it was fine with me.
Grandma had the day off and was with us, so, right after her appointment we had her ears pierced! She is sooooooo excited. She did not even blink when they did it! We prepared her for the fact that it hurts a bit. She was ok with that and they did the first ear and she had this look on her face like ... ok come on ... I think she thought it was going to hurt a lot more. Grandma and I wanted to cry but Emma was fine. I guess when you have had a gazillion spinal taps and bone marrow taken out of your hip , ear piercing is like a mosquito bite!!
I remember getting my ears pierced and it hurt... bad, I don't think I would do it again!!!HA!
We were so proud of her, and she is sooooo excited about it. She showed everyone at church last night.
Not a lot more to report today, she is doing wonderful and we are so blessed. The doctor made a comment that he could tell just by looking at her that she feels good. She looks terrific.
Dylan is a year old today. I can't believe it, this past year has gone so fast. He is so sweet, and a huge huge, huge Mama's boy. He is like a little monkey on the Mama Monkey that just hangs there all day. He would be totally content for me to carry him around where ever I go.
Well, thank you for checking in on us and for your continued prayers.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

Thursday, February 6, 2003 7:15 AM CST

Hello,
Emma had her monthly appointment yesterday and is doing great. Her blood work is almost perfect and she is terrific. She gained a couple of pounds since last visit also. She has been eating very well lately.
Her blood work was:
WBC (infection fighters): 5.61
(normal is 5.5-15.5)
Platelets (blood clotters):267
(normal is 150-400)
Hemoglobin (iron level): 13.1
(normal is 11.5-13.5)
Her ANC (ability to fight off infection) was 3340 which is terrific.
Emma had a very important question to ask the doctor yesterday. She asked him if it was ok for her to get her ears pierced. He said it was fine it it was fine with me.
Grandma had the day off and was with us, so, right after her appointment we had her ears pierced! She is sooooooo excited. She did not even blink when they did it! We prepared her for the fact that it hurts a bit. She was ok with that and they did the first ear and she had this look on her face like ... ok come on ... I think she thought it was going to hurt a lot more. Grandma and I wanted to cry but Emma was fine. I guess when you have had a gazillion spinal taps and bone marrow taken out of your hip , ear piercing is like a mosquito bite!!
I remember getting my ears pierced and it hurt... bad, I don't think I would do it again!!!HA!
We were so proud of her, and she is sooooo excited about it. She showed everyone at church last night.
Not a lot more to report today, she is doing wonderful and we are so blessed. The doctor made a comment that he could tell just by looking at her that she feels good. She looks terrific.
Dylan is a year old today. I can't believe it, this past year has gone so fast. He is so sweet, and a huge huge, huge Mama's boy. He is like a little monkey on the Mama Monkey that just hangs there all day. He would be totally content for me to carry him around where ever I go.
Well, thank you for checking in on us and for your continued prayers.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

Thursday, January 09, 2003 at 12:41 PM (CST)

Hello,
Emma's appointment went well. She is doing great. Her counts were really good and she is bouncing back terrific.
She did really well with them taking blood out of her arm. They poked the right arm and the vein collapsed and stopped giving blood, so they had to poke her other arm and were able to get enough. She did really well. The emla is amazing at numbing her skin.
Her counts were:
WBC (infection fighters): 4.55
normal is 5.5-15.5
Hgb (iron level in blood): 13.1
normal is 11.5-13.5
Platelets (blood clotters): 245
normal is 150-400
ANC (ability to fight off infection) was 2390, which is wonderful. An ANC over 1000 is good.
So, she has to go back in a month, for the same thing, blood counts.
She is at school right now, she absolutely loves school and is learning so much.
Not much more to update now, thank you for checking in on her and please keep her in your prayers. We pray for continued remission and for her to be cured!
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

Sunday, January 05, 2003 at 04:35 PM (CST)

Hello,
Hope you all had a Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year so far. We had a wonderful Christmas, Emma is feeling great and doing well. She has been busy playing with the new toys Santa brought her for Christmas. She is looking forward to returning to preschool on Tuesday, she really loves it.
So far she has been able to fight off the cold that Dylan has. He started a runny nose on Dec 28 and was really fussy for a couple of days and when we took him in to the clinic he had an ear infection. Never a fever, just fussiness. He is on antibiotics now but I am not sure if they are clearing the infection up as much as they should have been by now. He is still pretty fussy and has a lot of congestion still. Tomorrow he will be 11 months old! My baby is almost a year, time has flown by. Other wise he is doing good, he weighed in at 25 pounds at his clinic visit! He is as big as Emma was when she was diagnosed at age 2!!!!
So far Emma has been able to fight the cold off, this is good, her body is getting stronger. She is really growing and she herself even commented that she is getting stronger each day.
Not a lot more to update on, she has her monthly check up this coming Wednesday, so we are anxious to see how her counts are. I will update after her appointment.
We are praying that she has an uneventful 2003. So far this new millenium has been hard on her, she was diagnosed in 2000 and felt pretty "wukky" for 2001 and most of 2002, so we are looking forward to a wonderful year full of good health and fun for her.
Please keep her in your prayers, pray that her counts are good and she can continue to fight off the cold that Dylan has. Thanks for checking on us, and for your prayers.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

Saturday, December 21, 2002 at 10:05 PM (CST)

NEW PICTURES ADDED 12/21

Hello,
It has been forever since I last updated Emma's site.
She is doing great, she is feeling good, and we have noticed her getting a lot stronger physically. She is also growing like a weed, she is getting taller. She is still though the smallest in her class, but she is also the youngest.
She had blood counts done on December 4th and she got an A+ on the results! She is now off the antibiotics she had been taking from pretty much the beginning of treatment.
Her blood counts were:
WBC(infection fighters): 6.13
normal is 5.5-15.5
Hgb (iron level in blood): 14.0
normal is 11.5-13.5
Platelets (blood clotters): 332
normal is 150-400
ANC (ability to fight off infection): 3450 (an ANC of 1000 is adequate).
She is doing great. Each day we give thanks for the huge blessing he have.
She is really getting excited for Christmas. She and Dylan went to sit on Santa's lap and as the picture shows, she was all smiles but Dylan did not like Santa one bit. Santa asked Emma what she would like him to bring her and she told him a toy for Dylan. It was very cute. Dylan though wants nothing to do with him or his toys!!!
Emma had her Christmas play at church. It was adorable. Her class spelled out Merry Christmas and each letter had a line for a child to say. Emma went first and said "M is for the many blessings He gives to me!" I thought this line was very appropriate for her to say, because she has recieved so many blessings. Then after they spelled out Merry Christmas, they sang We wish you a Merry Christmas. It was very cute.
This past week at preschool she had her program also. The group of preschoolers had a verse to recite and they sang Away in a Manger. It was so sweet. Thursday was her class Christmas party. They had a birthday cake for Jesus and sang Happy Birthday to Him. They made gingerbread a gingerbread ornament for the tree. She had a lot of fun.
Well, that is about all for now. I promise to make my resolution for the New Year to be to update the site on a regular basis (How is that MOM??? :0) )))
Thank you for checking in on us and as you may have noticed the counter for the web page is down (temporarily)so we can not know how many people check in on her. Please sign the guest book and let us know you stopped by.
Have a very Merry Christmas, we have so much to be thankful for, and we have the best present ever, Emma is doing great.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

Sunday, November 24, 2002 at 08:36 AM (CST)

Hello,
Wow, it has been a while since I updated..... time is flying by! Emma is doing pretty good, she has a nasty cold and that horrible cough she always gets but otherwise she has been feeling great. We are still out of church because of the chicken pox. I think we will be able to go back next Sunday since there have been no new cases in a few weeks.
She is getting ready for Thanksgiving... she has her Thanksgiving party on Tuesday at preschool. Two years ago on Thanksgiving she was very sick from the intense chemo, and she had developed a fever and we thought we were going to be admitted. This year we have so very much to be thankful for.... she is off treatment, feeling great and is just a normal little girl. We are truly blessed.

Emma had her off treatment party last weekend. It was a wonderful party and she had a great time, it was wonderful to celebrate her being finished. She was so strong and brave thru this whole ordeal. She understood that the party was for her, but she really did not understand what it really meant. Someday she will, and realize what a brave little girl she was.

Dylan is doing great, he has a nasty cold also. He went to his 9 month physical on Wednesday, he is doing great. He is 23 pounds 10 ounces and is 29 1/2 inches long. He is a moose, although the doctor said he is still in the normal range, just the high end of normal, and he is proportionate. He has 4 teeth and will eat anything you give him.... (except Hawaiian Delight, and Tutti Frutti baby food... he doesn't like pineapple I think.....I didn't know there was a child alive that did not like Tutti Frutt!!!!!!!!!!). He got 3 shots and was pretty dramatic with them... I think they hurt his feelings more than his legs! It was very sweet, Emma gave him tips on getting shots... she is a pro at this..... She told him just not to look and it will be over in no time!!! This made him laugh, and when he laughed at her it mad her mad because she "Was trying to be serious and help you Dylan" (her words!!!)
She is such a wonderful, patient, and helpful big sister, and he adores her (although we all do !!)
Well, thank you for checking in on us, I am hoping to have some new pictures very soon..... Have a wonderful thanksgiving.... there is so much to be thankful for.
Love and blessings to you all....
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

Thursday, November 07, 2002 at 07:38 AM (CST)

Hello,
Emma is doing wonderful. She had an appointment with the oncologists on Monday and an echo of her heart. She is doing great. Her echo of her heart was normal, and her counts are good. She also recieved her flu shot.
She did not cry or fuss at all when they took the blood sample out of her arm.
Her blood counts were:
WBC (infection fighters): 5.05
normal is 5.5-15.5
HGB (iron level in blood): 12.5
normal is 11.5-13.5
Platelets (blood clotters): 299
normal is 150-400
So, everything is fine, she is growing, she finally hit the 40 pound mark.... she has been hovering at about 38 or 39 for a while now. She has also gotten taller, she looks great!!!
We have been so blessed, you would never guess she has been thru all she has..... she is such an amazing little girl.
Thank you all for your prayers and support, and thank you for checking in on us.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

Saturday, October 26, 2002 at 01:16 PM (CDT)

Hello,
Sorry it has been so long since I last updated.... Emma is feeling wonderful! She is so happy and energetic and feeling great! She is having a wonderful time in preschool, and wants to go everyday instead of 2 afternoons a week!
She is sleeping better, eating better, and is growing like a weed lately. It is so nice to see her feeling so well.
Her school went on a field trip to an orchard last week and she had sooooo much fun, except she fed a goat and it licked her and she was very grossed out by that!!!!!!! She said it was deeeescustin!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Dylan was back in the clinic yesterday, for a fever, it turns out he had ear infections brewing and now is back on Augmentin. He is very dramatic and whiney when he isn't feeling good, he was up last night about 7 times I think there may be pressure in his ears and it may hurt to lay flat, I rock him back to sleep a few times (something I never have to do, he usually just lays down and falls asleep!) but then he would wake up an hour or so later. His fever is gone, so hopefully he will feel better in a few days. He is also growing like a weed! He is already 8 1/2 months, has 4 teeth, can crawl, pull himself up and cruise around the furniture..... and he weights about 23 pounds!!!!!!!!
The chicken pox are now going around the church, a boy in her class came down with them and was around a few of the other kids in class so they may come down with them too. I called the oncologist yesterday and she says just to stay home for a while so unfortunately Emma will have to stay home for the next 3 weeks. Even though she is off chemo, her immune system is still weak and her counts may be fluctuating and she could still come down with them pretty bad, so better to be safe then sorry.
Not much more to update, she returns for bloodwork and an EKG of her heart on November 4th.
Thank you for checking in on us and for your prayers....
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan.

Wednesday, October 09, 2002 at 02:28 PM (CDT)

Hello,
Emma is feeling much better, we got a call from the pediatrician and her throat culture and urine culture both came back negative. So, most likely it was a virus. She is doing well, although yesterday she was tired in school. Her teacher said she participated really good, but Emma told her she was tired and she could tell that she just did not have her usual pep. She took at easy today and seems to feel better, I think the virus just wiped her out. It just shows how she is still not up to par from the chemo.
Otherwise, all is well, she is looking forward to going on a field trip next week with her preschool. She will be going to Boyerts Orchard where the class will go on a hayride to a pumpkin field and pick their own pumpkin, and then come back and have donuts, apples, and cider, then go into the barn and see the animals. Sounds like a lot of fun.
Well, that is all for now. Thank you for checking in on us and for your prayers.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

Sunday, October 06, 2002 at 07:45 PM (CDT)

Hello,
Emma is still running a fever, though thankfully it has not gotten as high as before. The highest it has gotten this weekend is 102'. She is feeling a bit better although she did have chills earlier when her temp spiked up. I am thinking it is a virus, I think temps can go up and down with a virus right???
Not a lot to report otherwise, she is laying around and resting, watching a lot of movies and such.
Please keep her in your prayers. Pray that her fever subsides and she can begin feeling better soon. She is finally off chemo and can begin to feel better, but now this.... it is kind of aggrivating!!!!!!!
Thank you for checking in on us......
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

Friday, October 04, 2002 at 08:40 PM (CDT)

Hello,
Well, we certainly have had our share of appointments this week! We are 4 for 5 this week, with only one being scheduled and the other were sick visits!! Emma woke up this morning with a 105' fever!!! She was so hot! It really scared us. I took her to the pediatrician today and she really did not find anything, she did do a throat culture, and then a urine culture which came back positive for trace amounts of blood and leukocytes. So, she may have a urinary tract infection. She was started on Augmentin and they are going to culture her urine. She has had a fever pretty much all day, not as high as this morning though, and it comes down with the motrin and tylenol. She seems to be feeling ok, just a bit tired.
Please keep her in your prayers. We are praying that her fever stays down and she begins to have more energy. She is not eating that well either. Although, thankfully she is drinking good, that is very important now.
She did go to preschool Thursday because she was feeling fine and did not have a fever. She was so cute when I picked her up and asked her what she learned, she told me she learned a really sad story that was just too sad to talk about now, she would have to tell me another day because it was a long one! They learned the story of Cain and Abel, Adam and Eve's sons, and Cain killed Able with a stick and Emma is very upset that he did that....... She also has learned about Adam and Eve being thrown out of the Garden of Eden.... She asked me that if our sins are forgiven, then why God threw them out of the Garden... A very "deep" question for a 4 year old I thought, it amazes me how much kids really pay attention and think about what they learn.
Not a lot more to report, Dylan is feeling much better now, and is crawling around like a maniac and has also started to pull himself up on things.... watch out here he comes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He is so cute he thinks he is going 100 miles an hour when he is crawling. He is a very determined little boy.......
Thank you for checking in on us and I will keep the site updated on her fever. Thanks for the prayers.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

Wednesday, October 02, 2002 at 06:45 PM (CDT)

Hello,
Emma is doing well, she had an appointment today and all went well. She had a fever of 102 Monday night and Tuesday, and she went to the pediatrician on Tuesday and nothing was found , so she was diagnosed with just a virus. Her fever was gone by Tuesday night and she if totally fine today. Yesterday at her appointment she complained for about the 4th time in 2 months that she sees "smoke" So, the doctor sent her for an eye exam that we were lucky enough to have scheduled for today. Emma did very well at the eye exam, she cooperated well, let them dilate her eyes and look in the back of her eye with the bright light. Her eye exam was normal and there was no explanation for the "smoke" other than maybe glare.... I was so proud of how well she did at the exam.
Then, she had her first off treatment blood work today. She does not have her port in anymore so we had to put emla cream on both arms (incase one side had better veins than the other). She was soooo brave when they drew the blood, she just sat there and watch them poke the needle in, and did not even flinch!!! I was so proud but also felt a bit sad, because she is so used to being poked.
Her counts were very very good, and she is doing great.
Her counts were:
WBC (infection fighters): 9.32 (normal is 5.5-151.5)
Hgb (iron level): 11.8 (normal is 11.5-13.5)
Platelets(blood clotters): 336 (normal is 150-400)
ANC (ability to fight off infection is 7150. So she is definetely not neutropenic, and is feeling great.
Today was a long day and I really noticed how well she is feeling. She walked rather than rode in the stoller for most of the day, she would not have been able to do as much walking as she did today when she was on chemo.
She is at Rainbows right now, she will earn a new badge today if she recites her verse.
Dylan is feeling better too, he had to go back to the doctor on Monday because he had another fever and was very fussy. His ear infection from last week had not cleared up and his eardrum had ruptured (perforated) and was still infected. The amoxicillan did not clear up the initial infection and he was put on a stronger one, augmentin. The eardrum is supposed to heal itself within 24 hours and not scar or leave hearing damage. He is totally back to himself today and thankfully feeling better.
So, we have had 3 appointments in 3 days.... but thankfully everybody is feeling better and back to themselves.
Emma can go back to preschool tomorrow and is very excited about it. She had to miss on Tuesday because of the fever and was very very mad about it.
That is about all for now, she is scheduled to go back for blood work in a month. She willl also have an echo of her heart done then, they will do these about yearly to make sure the chemo did not damage her heart.
Thank you for checking in on us and for keeping us in your prayers.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

Friday, September 27, 2002 at 08:19 AM (CDT)

Hello,
Sorry to have not updated all week..... Emma is doing good, her cough is just about gone. I took her to the Pediatrician on Monday and her lungs were clear and she said it was just probably a virus. Dylan wound up with an ear infection, and has had the "poor me's" all week. He is a good baby until he is sick, then he is really whiny. This morning when he got up at his usual 5:00 am to eat, I fed him and then laid him down to do back to sleep, he grabbed my arm and hugged it and was ok as long as he was holding my arm or my hand, until he fell asleep. It was very cute.
Not a lot more to report, they are thankfully both feeling better. Emma goes in next Wednesday for her first off treatment blood work. I am nervous about this because she does not have her port so they will have to use her arm, and I am also anxious to see how her counts are. I can definetely tell she is feeling better than when she was on chemo. I can also tell that her sense of sell is getting better. I had not noticed that she may have not smelled things very well, but now she is always telling me when something stinks (and most of the time it is Dylan!!!)
That is about all for now, thanks for checking in on us and for your continued prayers.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

Sunday, September 22, 2002 at 09:03 AM (CDT)

Hello,
Emma is doing good, she has a bit of a cold right now, and a horrible cough. We had to stay home from church today because of it and she is pretty ticked off!! She was up a lot last night coughing..... finally fell back to sleep around 6:00 am. I am going to call the pediatrician in the morning to see if we can get an appointment for her to at least listen to her chest and make sure her lungs sound clear. We were able to take the bandage off of her port site yesterday (day 7) and the incision looks great! It has healed really good and there is hardly a mark! When I took the bandage off she wanted to go look in the mirror.... she couldn't believe she had her port out!
Otherwise, all is quiet and getting back to "normal" here.... They are both growing like a weed!
Thank you for checking in on us..... please keep her in your prayers and pray that her cough goes away and she can go to school on Tuesday... she is worried she will not be able to.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

Saturday, September 14, 2002 at 04:12 PM (CDT)

Hello,
Emma had surgery yesterday to remove her port and everything went fine. We had to be at the clinic at 6:30am and she had surgery around 8:00. The surgery took about a half hour and she woke up not long after. She was kind of crabby but once she ate she was ok. They put and IV in her hand after she was asleep and when she woke up it was still there.... she hates IV's and did not want it there at all!!!They were able to take it out and she was fine.
She just has an incision on her collar bone where the port was and has disolvable stitches. She has to leave the dressing on for about a week. It is waterproof so she can take a bath.
She has not had a lot of pain in the incision, they gave us tylenol with codeine and I only gave it to her twice. She seems to be fine and has not complained about pain at all.
She is doing really well and feels great!
I have put some new pictures on the site, the one is from her first day of school, the other is her and Dylan recently and the third is her ALL Done Cake and her receiving her last dose of chemo.......
Thank you for checking in on us.... please continue to keep her in your prayers.....
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

Tuesday, September 10, 2002 at 08:09 PM (CDT)

Hello,
Emma started preschool today. She did really well. She was very excited this morning ..... school starts at 12:15pm. She looked so cute and of course had a back pack that is as big as she is!
She had a very cute dress for the first day of school that Jama bought her. It was blue and it had red plaid. I took pictures and will post one soon. While I was taking her picture Emma said "I bet you can't believe that your baby girl is going to school already.... I bet you will start crying before we leave the house!!!!!!!" She was right... I did cry! It was so funny..... she was also right... I can't believe my baby girl is starting school...... Next year will be worse.... Kindergarden!!!!!!!!!!!
Ronnie came home at lunch time and we both took her to school for the first day. We took her in the room and put her supplies in her tray and her book bag in her cubby, helped her pin her name tag on and then she began playing with toys and that was that.... She had absolutely no problem with us leaving her there.... she had her back turned to us playing on the floor and kind of waved over her shoulder as we kissed her good bye..... No problem.....
I am very glad though, I did not want her to be upset. I was the only one who had any seperation anxiety today!! She had a short day today, only until 2:00, next week they will go until 3:30.
She is feeling really well. We got a call today to schedule her port removal. She will be getting her port out this Friday! I was very suprised that they could do it so fast, I requested a Friday, that way she had a few days before she had to go back to school on Friday.
She is very excited to go back to school on Thursday, there are only 7 kids in her class and they are all girls!
Well that is all for now.... thanks for checking in on her and please keep her in your prayers. Please pray that all goes smoothly on Friday and she does not have a lot of pain after the surgery. Also please pray that her surgery is early and on time and she will not have to wait without eating. That is always very hard for her.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

Wednesday, September 04, 2002 at 04:06 PM (CDT)

Hello,
This is probably the best update I will ever write. Emma had her final Spinal Tap and Bone Marrow Biopsy and the results are NORMAL!!!!! Praise God!!!! The Nurse Practitioner called a few minutes ago with the good news!!!!! Now she is officially finished!!! She will have her port taken out in the next couple of weeks.
Emma did really well today, despite the fact she had to wake up early and not eat breakfast.... she told us it was still time to sleep because it was dark out!!! We had to be at the clinic at 8:30 this morning, and they accessed her port and sent us right over to the OR because they did not have to wait on counts today because they just did them last week. So, everything was very timly and she was in and out in no time. She slept for a little while after the procedure but woke up happy and smiling like she usually does. She just takes this in stride. Her hip was numb for a while, but seems to be ok now. She says it does not hurt.
Tonight is Rainbow night at church and she says she wants to go. She has practice for her program on Friday. It is the Missionette crowning ceremony and all of the different classes are recognized and change classes if it is time. Emma will be a Fainbow another year and when she is in Kindergarden she will be a Daisy. She feels really well so I see no reason in keeping her home. Ronnie will be there working with the Youth Group in case she starts to get sore or tired.
Well that is all for now..... she is scheduled for blood work on October 2 and her port surgery some time before that.
Thank you for all of your prayers...... please keep praying for Emma.... pray that she is blessed with continued remission and good health.
Love to you All...
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

Tuesday, August 27, 2002 at 07:11 PM (CDT)

Hello,
Well Emma had her last treatment of Vincristine today!!! She has to take the steroids for 5 days and she is done with treatment. I can't believe it, looking back I can't really say it has gone fast or slow. Sometimes it feels like it has really sped by, and others (particularly those times when we were cooped in the house for 2 months at a time) went really slow. When she was diagnosed, I never thought we would be done, but here it is and PRAISE GOD she is finished and doing well.
We are definetly not the same family we were when this ordeal began, we are different not only in size, with the addition of our precious Dylan but we are different in attitude also. I believe we have learned a lot from this journey. We are much closer, to not only each other but to God. We know now not to take a single breath or moment for granted, because in a blink of an eye, your life can change. We know that we can count on each other for absolutely anything day or night, Thank you Jama!!! I really do not know how we would have made it if it weren't for the love and support of our family and friends. We are very lucky to be part of Medina Assembly of God church, who were all very supportive. We have learned the power of prayer through this also, we know that we can get on our knees in prayer and our needs and prayers will be heard. In my eyes Emma is a walking example of answered prayers. We have made many new friends through out the journey and became much closer to those we already had. Some friends that we met were also going thru the same situation and know how we felt. We thank you for the encouragement and comfort we gained from knowing that we were not alone. We thank you all for your support through out the past 26 months. Our journey is far from over, please continue to keep Emma in your prayers. Her blood counts will be checked every month and we are asking for your prayers for continued remission.
She will be officially deemed "cured" after 5 years of remission. So we have almost 3 years before that happens. It scares me to think that now that she is off chemo, there is nothing to "fight off" the leukemia, but I am leaving it in the hands of God, that the leukemia is gone and there is nothing left to fight off!!
Emma's treatment went well today, her blood counts were good, and her ear infection is cleared up. She will continue on the antibiotic bactrim for a few months until her counts get back to normal.
Her counts were:
WBC (infection fighters): 3.49 (normal is 5.5-15.5)
Hgb (iron level in blood): 11.1 (normal is 11.5-13.5)
Platelets (blood clotters): 445 (normal is 150-400)
ANC (ability to fight off infection): 2800 (an ANC of 1000 is considered adequate)
So, she is doing great, we took a cake in to the clinic today to celebrate with the doctors and staff. The cake was beautiful, it was purple flowers (Emma's favorite color) and on it is said..... Emma's A.L.L. Done!!! The type of leukemia she had was A.L.L.
Emma is scheduled to go back to the clinic for her final spinal tap and bone marrow biopsy next Wednesday Sept. 4th. Please pray for good results and an easy time in the OR.
Emma had an orientation for preschool tonight, she is very excited to start. So, she has had a big day. Thank you all for checking in on us and for your prayers. I can never ever, find the right words to express how much your support, love, and prayers carried us thru this.
We love you.
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

Thursday, August 22, 2002 at 08:40 PM (CDT)

Hello,
Well Emma is really trying to end treatment with an BANG!!!
Yesterday, she was VERY, VERY, crabby, and finally complained that her ear hurt. I called the doctor because it is not like her to complain if she is feeling bad. She has a very nasty ear infection. The pediatrician said she couldn't believe she did not have a high fever, I guess the ear is pretty infected. She is on antibiotics now, and seems better already. She says it does not hurt anymore.
She is also in a better mood.
She is scheduled for her last round of chemo on Tuesday....she is excited. She keeps having me show her on the day when she doesn't have to take her medicine anymore.
She is also excited because she will be starting preschool on Sept 10th. We were talking to her about taking her on the first day and she said she doesn't want us to take her , just give her directions and she will ride her bike!!!!!!!!!! So much for separation anxiety..... at least on her part. I know I will have it!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Not a lot more to report.... Dylan is doing great... he has learned to throw a tantrum when he gets mad.... he is so funny, he balls up his little fists and straightens out his body and screams at the top of his lungs. I think it is the red headed temper already!!!!!!! He is the best baby, just feed him and he is fine.....
Thank you for checking in on us, and please continue to pray for Emma.....
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

Thursday, August 22, 2002 at 01:02 PM (CDT)

Hello,
Emma is really ending trying to end treatment with a bang. Yesterday she was VERY VERY crabby, and finally complained of an earache. She never complains when she doesn't feel good, so I thought I had better call the doctor. We took her in and she has a "very nasty" ear infection!!! The pediatrician was suprised that she did not have a high fever considering how the ear looked. So, she is on antibiotics, and so far she says it is feeling better. She never got a fever either. So, hopefully the antibiotics are doing their job quickly.
Emma is scheduled for her last round of vincristine in her port on Tuesday.... she is excited, and keeps asking me to show her on the calendar the day when she doesn't have to take her medicine. She will finish chemo just in time to start preschool. That begins on Sept 10, she is very excited. She told me that on the first day of preschool she wants us to stay home and she will just ride her bike to school, and that I can just give her directions!!!!!!!!!!
I don't think there will be any "separation anxiety" here... from her anyway, I can't say I won't have any!!!!!!!!
Not a lot more to report.... Dylan is good and has learned to ball his fists up, straighten his body out and "scream" really loud when he wants something ... Could it be the red hair??!!!
That is all for now, please keep Emma in your prayers..... pray that the antibiotic clears up the infection and her last treatment can go on as planned.
Thanks for checking in on us...
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

Monday, August 12, 2002 at 08:02 PM (CDT)

Hello,
Emma is doing very well..... not a lot to report... we like it that way!!!
Dylan was back to the clinic today. He has a very bad runny nose and this morning he woke up with dried blood around his nose. The pediatrician thinks perhaps it may be a sinus infection, or since his sinuses are still very small since he is so young, it may be that his nasal passages are inflammed from the respiratory virus and a small vessel burst and made his nose bleed.
So, just in case, she gave him a prescription for amoxicillin. She also said that his lungs sound a bit congested, and gave us a prescription for medicine for the breathing treatment machine.....just in case. He is due this Wednesday for his 6 month well baby check and shots, so they will check his lungs again then. He seems to feel a bit better, he is still kind of fussy.
Please keep both Emma and Dylan in your prayers.....we are praying that she stays healthy, and he starts feeling better. Thank you for your prayer and for checking in on us.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

Saturday, August 10, 2002 at 09:17 PM (CDT)

Hello,
Emma is doing really good. She really enjoyed having her cousins to play with this week.
Dylan isn't feeling all that good now. He woke up early Friday morning with a temperature of 103'. The first thing I thought was..... oh my, we are going to be admitted. Then I thought wait, no not with him...it didn't feel right to just give him tylenol and see if his fever broke......
We took him to the clinic to the pediatrician on Friday and he still had a fever. His ears were fine, they did a chest x ray because they couldn't hear his lungs good because he was screaming (they ticked him off looking at his ears). The x ray came back clear. They had to put him in this tube thing, which held his arms up above his head, and held him still. The infant tube was 2 small because he is so chubby so they had to get the bigger tube out!! He was 20 pounds 4.5 ounces!!
They said it was most likely viral,and to just watch him and if he got worse or the fever persisted to bring him back. He has an appointment on Wednesday for his 6 month check up so he will be checked again then. He woke up this morning without a fever. He did not sleep well last night, he is very congested and can't sleep. We spent the night with Jama, Ronnie is in Columbus (he left Friday night and will be back Sunday evening), and Papa is on his way back from South Dakota ( he should be home Sunday morning), so we stayed with her. Dylan was up most of the night fussing.
He is feeling a bit better now, no fever all day, but really congested. You can tell he doesn't feel good because he doesn't smile a lot. He is always smiling and is a very happy baby. But you really have to work to get a smile out now. With Emma we know when she doesn't feel good, because she isn't singing, with him it is the smiling.......
Please keep Dylan and Emma in your prayers. We are hoping she will not catch this and can stay healthy for the rest of her treatment. Also, please keep Ronnie and Papa in your prayers... pray they both make it home safely.Thank you for checking in on us and for your prayers....
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

Tuesday, August 06, 2002 at 03:43 PM (CDT)

Hello,
Emma is doing very well.... she feels great and has a lot of energy. Yesterday we went with our church's youth group to Cedar Point Amusement Park. We had so much fun. Jama came and so did Jacob. Emma and Jacob have no fear!!! (Jama of course was a big chicken!!!) but they would have went on the huge roller coasters if they would have been tall enough!!! They had a blast! There were really a lot of rides for them to go on.
Emma's cough is just about gone, I am beginning to think it is related to the decadron that she took last week.....if not, it is just a strange coincedence that it happens monthly when she is on the steroids. Her cough started to go away the day after she took her last pill. I am going to bring it up at her next appointment and see if there is anything to my "theory". She only has one pulse of steroids left.
Emma had a lot of fun today, I am watching my sisters son Jacob who is just about to turn 3 ( and thinks he is the Blue Power Ranger) and also Ronnie's sisters 2 kids Taylor who just turned 3 in May (who told me she was going to go home and "watch herself",) and Justin who is 3 months..... boy am I exhausted.... 5 kids ages: 3 months, 6 months, two that are 3 years old and a 4 year old whew.... just the thought gives me chills....Actually, they were really good today, they played really well together, and Dylan loved watching them, and Justin slept on and off and watched them play also. She is lonely now that they have left.
Not a lot more to report, she is doing great and counting down the days "until no more medicine" on the calendar.
Thanks for checking in on us and for your continued prayers.....
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

Friday, August 02, 2002 at 10:17 AM (CDT)

Hello,
Emma is doing good, the steroids have hit her and she is very tired and crabby. She is hungry for something but can't figure out what it is.... Wednesday she at a whole bag of baby carrots and dip. Yesterday she wanted pizza, and she hasn't figured out what she craves today!
The Nurse Practitioner called today to tell us about the end of treatment. Emma WILL be finishing up her treatment at the end of this month!! She is scheduled to have her last treatment on August 27th. She will then take 5 days of steroids and be finished!! She will be scheduled for a bone marrow aspiration not long after. This is very exciting,but even more scary!! It has become a way of life for us and it worries me that she will not have anything to fight off the leukemia. I know that this is just my psychotic thinking again, I am sure the leukemia is gone, but I still can't help but worry. That is one of the main things I remember thinking when she was diagnosed, "I will never, ever, stop worrying about this...." Please keep our family in your prayers....
They will be following Emma very frequently even though she is finished with chemo.... I know for the first year off treatment she will still go in monthly for blood work. This is a comfort..... it will be reassuring to see her blood counts and know they are normal.
Thank you for checking in on us and for your prayers..... your love and support have gotten us thru the last few years. We love you all.....
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

Tuesday, July 30, 2002 at 09:17 PM (CDT)

Hello,
Emma's appointment went well today, she is doing really good. Her counts were good and she was able to receive her vincristine in her port.
Her counts were:
WBC (infection fighters): 2.74 normal is 5.5-15.5
Hgb (iron level): 11.5 normal is 11.5-13.5
Platelets (blood clotters): 614 normal is 150-400
Her ANC (infection fighting ability) was 1730, An ANC of 1000 is the goal, so she is doing good.
We did find out that her treatment is most likely not done in August. There was some sort of miscaculation or something when she was switched from one treatment plan to another (this occured because they wanted her on decadron instead of prednisone and one plan had prednisone and the other had decadron)and she may not be done until October or December. So, it was a bit disappointing, but at least she will be getting all of the treatment she should. They are going to review her past treatments and figure out her real end of treatment date. Hopefully we will know in a week or 2. This has nothing what so ever to do with how she is doing, she is doing really great, and no matter what, the length of treatment is a certain number of weeks for everyone. So, we are scheduled to go back in a month, and are really praying we can stay away for the whole month....it seems something always comes up, a bad cough, fever or something, and we need to go in sooner.
Emma is doing well, she starts steroids today, so Pray for us all, she gets quite crabby, and her red headed temper is a bit quicker than usual....but who can blame her, they make her feel "wukky!!!".
Thank you for checking in on us, and for keeping us in your prayers....I have added a new picture, of Emma and her cousin Jacob. They are so cute..... Jacob will be 3 in a few weeks.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

Friday, July 26, 2002 at 07:46 PM (CDT)

Hello,
Emma is doing well. She had an appointment with the infectious disease doctor who handled her infection while she was in the hospital. He said she is doing great and her tube was removed from her port. Today was the last dose of the antibiotics and he feels that she will be fine. They are going to do another culture on Tuesday when she goes in for chemo, that way the antibiotic will be out of her blood and if there is any bacteria left, it will grow. He feels that this will not happen because they treated the infection very aggressivly for over a week. She feels fine, and is very active.
Today after the appointment we took her to the Kiddie Park they have about 10 mini amusement park rides there and she always have fun.....Ronnie and I remember going there when we were her age. It is a very neat place and a lot of fun.
Emma says she can't wait until Dylan can ride on the rides with her.
Not a lot else to update, we go for chemo next Tuesday so I will update again then, she will have blood counts and such.
Thank you for checking in on us and for your continued prayers.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

Wednesday, July 24, 2002 at 09:45 PM (CDT)

Hello,
Emma is doing great, she feels fine, and has had no problems with the IV antibiotics. Today she had to go the the clinic to get her port deaccessed and reaccessed since the tube can only be used for a week. They took the tape off with no problems, and then put the numbing cream on it and we waited until it was numb. Then they reaccessed the port and we were done. She did very well..... she amazes me everyday!!! She has 2 more days of antibiotics and then the tube can come out of the port. The IV has gone very well, we have had no problems with it at all. Each time I hook her up to it, I still can't believe we are having to do this.... I would have never thought that I would have to hook up my child to an IV, let alone administer chemo for over 2 years..... This was definetely not in the Mommy manual!!!!!!!
After her appointment today we went to the Zoo, she had a lot of fun, it was a beautiful day. Daddy is on vacation this week.....we really love having him home during the day!! She is scheduled to go back to the clinic on Friday to see the infectious disease doctor that handled her blood infection. They will draw more blood cultures and take her tube out. Then next Tuesday she is scheduled for her 2nd to last round of IV chemo and decadron.
I have added a new picture of her and Dylan, he is giving her kisses. He adores his big sister, although in this picture their heads look about the same size!!!
That is all for now... please continue to pray that we can administer her IV antibiotics smoothly without any problems. Also pray that the cultures will be negative and she will be able to stay of the antibiotics and have a smooth last few weeks fo treatment.
We love you all.....
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

Saturday, July 20, 2002 at 08:46 PM (CDT)

Hello,
Emma is doing very well, she is full of energy and you would never guess she was just in the hospital. The visiting nurse came today and taught us how to hook her up to the IV. They will come back tomorrow and make sure we are comfortable with it. It really was not hard at all, it was a lot like the broviac care...so we both feel comfortable with it.
She spent most of the day with Jama and Papa. I think she needed some time away from us after being cooped up in the hospital room for 3 days!!
Not a lot more to report thankfully..... I have to call the clinic on Monday and will find out what next weeks appointments look like.
Thanks for checking in on us and for your prayers.....keep praying that the antibiotics will do their job and there are no problems.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

Friday, July 19, 2002 at 06:06 PM (CDT)

Hello,
Well after 3 days in the hospital Emma is finally home!! She is feeling good and has A LOT OF ENERGY!!!.... the doctors said that she could at least "act sick!!" The blood culture came back positive for bacteria, it also stumped them because when they identified the "bug" it was not what they expected. Usually it is a bacteria from the skin that somehow infects the medport, but the bacteria that they identified was one that usually causes ear infections, sinus infections, or pneumonia......and she has none of these. So, they are a bit stumped but they said that this does happen, so not to worry. Emma was sent home on IV antibiotic therapy. The bug that grew, was resistant to oral antibiotics, so they had to leave her port accessed and we will administer IV antibiotics(Rocefin) for 7 days. We have to follow up with them next week. She feels fine, and has not had a fever since Tuesday. They most likely will not have to take her port out, which is a tremendous blessing because she only will have 2 more chemotherapy treatments and it would have been harder without her port.
So, thankfully everything went ok in the hospital and we are very glad to be home. Thank you all so much for praying for her and for your support. Ronnie is on vacation next week, so we have a few fun things planned and she is excited. We are glad she is feeling good. Please continue to keep Emma in your prayers, pray that the IV antibiotic will work, and we will not have any problems giving them to her.
I will keep you all updated....
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

Wednesday, July 17, 2002 at 12:15 PM (CDT)

Hello,
With only 6 more weeks of treatment, Emma has to be admitted to the hospital for antibiotics. Her blood cultures from yesterday have come back positive. So, we are on the way to the hospital for a few days of iv antibiotics. She will be admitted to M-33 at the Cleveland Clinic. I will try to keep you all updated. Please keep her in your prayers, since she has the med port in her chest, they have to give her antibiotics. I am not sure if they will have to remove it or not. If they do remove it, I am not sure if they will replace it since she only has about 2 treatments to go.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

Tuesday, July 16, 2002 at 02:07 PM (CDT)

Hello,
Well we just got back from an unscheduled trip to the clinic. Emma woke up this morning with a temp of 102, nothing else is the matter, she said she feels fine, she has no runny nose or cough, just a fever. We took her to the clinic this morning, and her counts are pretty good:
WBC (infection fighters): 3.34 (normal is 5.5-15.5)
Platelets(blood clotters): 289 (normal is 150-400
Hgb (iron level in blood): 10.7 (normal is 11.5-13.5)
ANC (ability to fight off infection): 2740, an ANC of 1000 or higher is good.
So, her counts and ANC are good. They took blood to culture and she received an IV Bag of Ceftriaxone, an antibiotic and sent home. They said they think she is just a Ceftriaxone Junkie and had to come in for her "fix" !!:0)
So, we are to call if she gets another fever or starts to feel bad, and they will call us with the results of the cultures. So, just keep her in your prayers, pray that the cultures are negative, and the fever stays away.
Thanks for checking in on us.....
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

Friday, July 12, 2002 at 10:28 PM (CDT)

Hello,
Emma is doing really good, she is feeling fine. She is singing, whistling and talking from sun up to sun down!!!!! (But we would not have it any other way!!) She was supposed to have a t ball game tomorrow but she has decided "Mommy, I don't want to play t ball anymore...I just don't like the game!! So, her short t ball career has ended, she will retire and now wants to play Soccer!!!! This should be fun!!! Not a lot more to report, she is doing well and we are so thankful. She doesn't go back to the clinic until the 30th, we may actually make it a whole month without returning, that is how maintenance was supposed to be, once a month, but we rarely have had that schedule.
I have put new pictures on the photo page, from her party and one of Dylan. Thank you for checking in on us and keeping us in your prayers.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

Monday, July 08, 2002 at 08:37 PM (CDT)

Hello,
Well Emma is just fine, she has been very "Powerful" today and back to her old self, so I really think it was the Augmentin making her sick. There is no way that she could have bounced back from this stomach bug as fast as she did with a low immune system. I have been sick since Friday, and am just now beginning to feel better. She played a lot today and was outside riding her bike. She has also been singing, so we know she feels better. Now, Jama has the flu though, she has been sick since yesterday and missed work today, she is beginning to feel a little bit better. Emma has been calling her and giving her "kisses" over the phone, I am sure that will help.....:0)
Please continue to pray that Emma stays healthy and can continue chemotherapy with no delays for the rest of her treatment which unbelievably is only about 6 weeks!!!
Please also pray that Jama feels better too.
Thanks for checking in on us.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

Saturday, July 06, 2002 at 07:52 PM (CDT)

Hello,
Well the stomach flu bug has hit our house now...... It never ends. Emma has had diarrhea since Thursday, at first we though it could be from the Augmentin antibiotic though.... but now we are not so sure because I was sick on Friday with the stomach flu and now Ronnie has it. She is feeling better, starting to eat more, and is drinking good. She is starting to feel more "powerful". Please pray that we can all kick this bug and it does not affect her counts. I am going to call the clinic on Monday and see if they want us to get a blood count done to see fi her counts are ok. Thanks for checking in on us....
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

Wednesday, July 03, 2002 at 04:53 PM (CDT)

Hello,
Emma is feeling a bit better today, but still pretty tired. She told me she was fine but "not Powerful today" I think she meant she had no energy. She took a 2 hour nap today and has a bit more energy now. Not a lot more to report..... please keep the prayers coming.... thank you for checking in on us.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma, and Dylan

Tuesday, July 02, 2002 at 06:37 PM (CDT)

Hello,
Well, no fever today. Emma feels ok, she is very tired and her back is a bit sore. She has been lying around all day and she really hasn't eaten all that great. The decadron has given her the dark circles under her eyes already. She just woke up from an hour and a half nap, but is still lying around. Please continue to pray that she begins to feel better, and that her fever stays away. I will keep you all updated on how Emma is feeling.
Thank you for checking on her....
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma, and Dylan

Monday, July 01, 2002 at 08:30 PM (CDT)

PM UPDATE:
Well, the fever is back.... I took it a bit ago and it was up to 102 again. I spoke to one of Emma's oncologists, and she said to just watch her and call if she gets worse. All of her tests are negative, and her counts were ok today. It is probably just a virus. Please pray that her fever will pass and she begins to feel better.... she is also having a bit of back pain tonight in the spinal tap site, pray that it too will pass..... I will update if there are any changes. She is asleep now, she is very tired .

Hello,
Emma did well today, she had her chemo and spinal tap. She did good. She is feeling ok, her counts were:
WBC (infection fighters): 1.81
normal is 5.5-15.5
Hgb (iron level):11.1
normal is 11.5-13.5
Platelets (blood clotters): 244
normal is 150-400
ANC was 1190, an ANC of 1000 is good.
She did well today with the spinal tap but could not eat or drink after midnight... her spinal tap was not until around 11:00am, and that was a long time with out eating or drinking. At one point she got thirsty and it broke my heart when she said, " I am thirsty Mommy, please can I just have one drink.... I won't ask for anything else." I am in tears just writing it...... she should not have to go thru this...... WHY???? I know I should be thankful that she is doing so well but sometimes enough is enough!!!! and this is one of those times! Thankfully they took her not long after she was asking for juice. When she woke up from the spinal tap.... she popped her little head up and said is it time to wake up??? I had packed her some grapes, watermelon, yogurt and juice. She ate some grapes, juice, and watermelon, and felt better.
She also received her Vincristine in her port, and started on Decadron today.
Please keep her in your prayers...... it has been a rough couple of days for her.... Thank you all so much for checking in on us. Your support has been a real comfort to our family.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan.
***Dylan is doing really well..... he will be 5 months old on Saturday. I can't believe he is already that old. I weighed him the other day and he was 18 pounds!!!!! He is all chub and rolls!!! His cheeks touch his shoulders!!!
Hopefully I will have pictures to post soon, the pile of undeveloped film is growing...... :0)

Sunday, June 30, 2002 at 09:10 PM (CDT)

Hello,
Just when things start to get "normal" WHAM!!! we get slapped in the face with a fever and have to go to the Emergency Room! Yesterday afternoon Emma spiked a fever of 101.5, we called her oncologist and he sent us to the ER to get blood counts and cultures done. At the ER, they did the blood work, a urine culture, and a chest xray. The x ray came back clear, the cultures are pending. Her blood counts were ok, her ANC was about 3000. They gave her a bag of IV antibiotics and sent her home with a rx of augmentin. Her fever went down before we left the hospital, and she has been fine ever since. We were scheduled to go in for blood work, chemo and a spinal tap tomorrow anyway, so we will see how her counts are again.
Emma had a very fun filled week, she went to Vacation Bible School and had sooooo much fun. Each day before dismissal, they had a child who knew their daily scripture memory verse from each class come to the front and recite the verse. On Thursday Emma got to go up and recite her verse. She was sooooo sweet, she knew her verse: "Thy word have I hid in my heart Psalms 119:11" . It was so sweet, it brought tears to my eyes, I am so thankful she was able to go to VBS and play with other children and have fun.
Emma is feeling fine today, her fever has stayed down, and she says she feels good.
Please keep her in your prayers, please pray that her fever stays away, and her counts stay up. Also pray that she can get her chemo tomorrow and her spinal tap goes smoothly and comes back negative. Thank you all so much for the prayers being sent on Emma's behalf, she is certainly proof that He hears our prayers and answers them.
I will update tomorrow when we get home.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma & Dylan

Tuesday, June 25, 2002 at 08:00 AM (CDT)

Hello,
Emma is doing very well. She is feeling really good. She is back up to 100% chemo, and seems to be tolerating it well. I can't believe this whole ordeal began 2 years ago this past Sunday. That is the day she was officially diagnosed with leukemia and started on Chemo. In some aspects it seems like it was just yesterday, but then other times it seems like we have been doing this forever. Emma has been on chemotherapy for over half of her life. But, we can't complain and dwell on it, need to be thankful that she is still here with us and doing well. We are very blessed that she has done as well as she has. The end of treatment is getting near, she will be done 2 months from today. August 25th. Emma goes in for a spinal tap next Monday, July 1st. It is that last spinal tap besides the one done in the final tests.
We celebrated Emma's birthday on Saturday, she had some friends over from Sunday school, and her cousins Jacob and Taylor were also there. She had so much fun! They swam in Emma's pool and played in the sprinkler. It was so nice to see her play and have fun.
This week is vacation bible school, She went last night and had a lot of fun. I was leary about leaving her by herself for a couple of hours. I usually volunteer to help but did not this year because of Dylan. Emma reassured me that she would be fine, "Mommy, I know my phone number, I will call you if I need you!!!!" She had so much fun, she did not need me at all!.

Well that is all for now, thank you for checking in on us, and please keep Emma in your prayers.....only 2 months left but she still needs prayers. Thanks
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

Monday, June 17, 2002 at 02:28 PM (CDT)

Hello,
I am very behind in my updating......but no news is good news right?? Emma is doing very well, she is now back on 100% chemo, and feeling really good. She went on 6/6 and her counts were really up..... this was for the most part due to the decadron steroid she had been on. Her counts were:
WBC (infection fighters): 12.49
normal is 5.5-15.5
Hgb(iron level in blood): 11.1
normal is 11.5-13.5
Platelets(blood clotters): 344
normal is 150-400
Her ANC (infection fighting ability) was 10,000!!!!!!!!! WOW! we always hope for at least 1000.
They increased her chemo to 75% for a week and then on 6/13 she went back and her counts were down, but still really good:
WBC:5.97
Hgb:11.0
Platelets:376
ANC was 4730, so she is still pretty high.
We actually have 2 weeks off from going to the clinic!!!!!!!What will we do with ourselves!!! She goes back in on 7/1 for chemo and a spinal...this is the last of her spinals until the end of treatment testing. Wow...I can't believe only a few more months left.
Emma is really looking forward to her birthday party this weekend....it had to be postponed back in May so she is really excited. Also, next week she is going to Vacation Bible School at church. She is so excited because she gets to go to church every evening from 6:00 to 9:00! She is doing really well in Rainbows, she earned 3 new badges last week, she is now caught up from being absent due to her low counts.
Dylan is doing well too, he is growing like a weed! We took him for his 4 month physical on 6/6 and he was 16 lbs 8.5 ounces and 25 inches long!!! He is almost square he is so chubby!
Well, that is about all for now. Thank you for checking in on us, please keep Emma in your prayers.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

Wednesday, June 05, 2002 at 08:26 AM (CDT)

Hello,
Sorry for the delay in the update again. Emma's appointment went very well last Thursday. Her counts remain steady and she was able to get her chemo.They Were:
WBC (infection figters): 2.47
normal is 5.5-15.5
Platelets (blood clotters): 317
normal is 150-400
Hgb (iron level): 10.9
normal is 11.5-13.5
Her ANC is holding at 1300 which is good. She received Vincristine in her port and her oral chemo medicines are still at 50%. She also took decadron from Thursday until Monday, it really hit her hard and made her feel pretty bad. She ate and ate and ate some more. She had a craving for Mashed Potatoes at church on Sunday so we had to get them for her from KFC and she ate them in the car on the way home. Monday she game up to me kind of growling and I asked her what was wrong and she told me "I just need to EAT something!!!!!!!" This was after she had already eaten a can of mushrooms, 1/2 box of macaroni and cheese, 3 pickles, salsa and chips, and two hotdogs!!!!!!She gets dark circles under her eyes from the decadron, but they are fading now. She is starting to feel better. (But Still Eating). Tonight is Rainbow night at church and she is excited to go. We go tomorrow for another blood count so I will update more then.
Thank you for checking in on us........
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

Sunday, May 26, 2002 at 09:11 PM (CDT)

Hello,
YAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! Emma's counts are finally back up! She went in on Thursday (sorry for the delay in updating). Her counts were as follows:
WBC(infection fighters): 3.71
normal is 5.5-15.5
Platelets(blood clotters): 302
normal is 150-400
Hgb(Iron level): 10.9
normal is 11.5-13.5
ANC is 1940, an ANC of 1000 is adequate.
So she has been started back on chemo, but only at 50%. They want to make sure her counts do not bottom out again. She is scheduled to go in next Thursday for her monthly chemo..... it is that time again already. She will receive Vincristine and then have a week of Decadron (steroid). Only 3 more weeks (one each in June, July, and August) of this left!!! Yahooooo!!
We were able to go to church today as a family, it was really nice, Emma was really missing her Sunday School Class and friends. Today after church we took her to the Kiddie Park...... she loves it there. It is a mini amusement park with Kid size rides. She had sooooo much fun. It was very nice to be out, and thankfully the weather was beautiful. She is exhausted tonight, but still feeling pretty good.
Well that is about all for now, I took a ton of pictures today so I will post new ones soon. Please keep her in your prayers... pray that her little body tolerates the chemo well and that her counts are ok to proceed to 75% chemo then the full dosage. She only has a few months left of treatment and we want her to get the full amount.
Thank you for checking in on our family.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

Thursday, May 16, 2002 at 07:29 PM (CDT)

Hello,
Emma had an appointment today. Her counts are getting better but still low. She is still neutropenic. Her counts were:
WBC (infection fighters): 2.09
normal is 5.5-15.5
Hgb (iron level in blood): 10.0
normal is 11.5-13.5
Platelets (blood clotters): 342
normal is 150-400
ANC is 550, they like the ANC at about 1000.
So, she is still of chemo for another week. We can tell she is feeling better, but she still gets tired easily.
Emma's birthday was good, Jama came over and spent the day with us. Emma got to pick what we had for dinner. Her birthday dinner consisted of her favorite foods. She wanted Spaghetti, mashed potatoes & gravy, and pickles!!!! She wanted a pickle pie (I know gross!!!!) but settled for pickles by them self. We are going to have to postpone her birthday party, we can't be sure her counts are going to be up by next week, and don't want to have a pony if she has low counts. So we will have it in June instead.
Otherwise we are all doing good, we weighed Dylan at the Doctors office today and the little moose weighs 15 pounds 3.5 ounces with his clothes on. He is 14 weeks old... Emma weighed that at 6 months..... what can we say, Dylan really enjoys eating! I can't imagine what he will weigh when he begins eating baby food!!!
Well, that is about all for now, please join us in praying for Emma's counts to keep increasing and for her cough to finally go away!! Thanks for checking in on us.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma & Dylan

Wednesday, May 15, 2002 at 07:36 AM (CDT)

HAPPY 4TH BIRTHDAY EMMA!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I can't believe she is already 4 years old! It seems like just yesterday that she was Dylans size. She is doing much better, she is feeling pretty good, although she still has a bit of a cough. She coughed pretty good last night for about an hour.
I knew yesterday she was feeling good because she was trying to convince me to allow her to take a laundry basket to the top of the stairs that go to the upstairs and get in it an slide down!!! There are about 10 stairs that lead to a landing that turns and then there are another 4 stairs. She told me "It's really ok Mommy, I won't get hurt because I will be in the laundry basket!!!!!" Then she tried to make a deal and only go down the part with the 4 stairs!! Needless to say that she did not do it, but I have a feeling it would be something Jama would let her try (with help of course!) :0)
Emma is getting so big, she is "Miss Little Independent", and so very smart. We are so proud of her. She has been thru more in her 4 years then most will go thru in a lifetime. She still has a long road until she is finished (she will be considered cured at about age 7). She uses terms like chemotherapy, neutropenic, and medicines like it is no big deal. She asked me the other day "Mommy, were you neutropenic a lot when you were a kid?" It broke my heart. She thinks this is just how it is supposed to be.
We praise God and thank Him each and everyday for Emma and how well she is doing. She is truly a miracle, and I am so proud to be her Mommy.
Please keep her in your prayers. We go tomorrow for blood work and are praying that her counts will be back up.
Thank you so much for checking in on our family and for your prayers.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

Wednesday, May 15, 2002 at 07:36 AM (CDT)

HAPPY 4TH BIRTHDAY EMMA!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I can't believe she is already 4 years old! It seems like just yesterday that she was Dylans size. She is doing much better, she is feeling pretty good, although she still has a bit of a cough. She coughed pretty good last night for about an hour.
I knew yesterday she was feeling good because she was trying to convince me to allow her to take a laundry basket to the top of the stairs that go to the upstairs and get in it an slide down!!! There are about 10 stairs that lead to a landing that turns and then there are another 4 stairs. She told me "It's really ok Mommy, I won't get hurt because I will be in the laundry basket!!!!!" Then she tried to make a deal and only go down the part with the 4 stairs!! Needless to say that she did not do it, but I have a feeling it would be something Jama would let her try (with help of course!) :0)
Emma is getting so big, she is "Miss Little Independent", and so very smart. We are so proud of her. She has been thru more in her 4 years then most will go thru in a lifetime. She uses terms like chemotherapy, neutropenic, and medicines like it is no big deal. She asked me the other day "Mommy, were you neutropenic a lot when you were a kid?" It broke my heart. She thinks this is just how it is supposed to be.
We praise God and thank Him each and everyday for Emma and how well she is doing. She is truly a miracle, and I am so proud to be her Mommy.
Please keep her in your prayers. We go tomorrow for blood work and are praying that her counts will be back up.
Thank you so much for checking in on our family and for your prayers.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

Monday, May 13, 2002 at 07:37 AM (CDT)

Hello,
Emma is slowly starting to feel better. Her fever finally broke late Saturday, and her cough is starting to go away also. I think last night is the first night in a few months that she did not wake up in the middle of the night with a coughing attack.
We can tell she is feeling better because last night she was singing!! She always is singing or humming, but when she feels really bad she stops, and she has not been singing for the last week.
We go in on Thursday for blood counts to see if her counts are up. Please keep her in your prayers. We pray that her counts are going to be ok, and she can resume treatment. Wednesday is her 4th birthday and we are praying she will be feeling good.
We are also praying that we will not have to postpone her birthday party also. We have already moved it back in the month, so the weather would be nicer this year, and I would hate to have to move it into June.
Thank you for checking in on her and for your continued prayers.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

Thursday, May 09, 2002 at 07:28 AM (CDT)

*****PM UPDATE*****
Hello,
Well, we are at home. Emma's counts were the same, very low.
WBC(infection fighters): 0.70
normal is 5.5-15.5
HgB (iron level): 10.1
normal is 11.5-13.5
Platelets (blood clotters): 352
normal is 150-400
Her ANC is still only 170. The oncologist feels that it is most likely a viral thing, and that is why she was not admitted. They did however draw blood cultures, and if they come back positive she will have to be admitted. The Doctor said she feels they will not be positive. She did however give Emma a prescription for Erythromycin antibiotic for her cough. She said it could be a "microplasm" (I think that is how you say it) which can cause bronchitis/pneumonia kind of thing. She said that the Erythromycin will wipe it out if that is the case. So, we will know more tomorrow about her blood cultures. Emma still has a fever of around 101, and is feeling pretty yukky. She did not sleep at all last night, and has only had a few short naps today.
Please keep Emma in your prayers. Pray that her counts will rebound and she will be able to fight off what ever this "bug" is, and pray that her blood cultures come back negative and she will not have to be admitted. Also, please pray for a CURE for this awful disease. It is horrible and it is heartbreaking to know that there are so many children (and adults) fighting it. Thank you for checking in on us and for your continued prayers. I will update again tomorrow with her blood culture results.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan
********************************************************************************











Hello,
Emma has been up coughing since 2:oo am. She has a horrible cough and now has a fever of 101. We are about to leave for the clinic. If her counts are not up from Friday she will most likely be admitted. Her ANC (ability to fight off infection) was only 170 on Friday which is extremely low. An ANC of 1000 is adequate.
Please pray that this is just a virus and nothing more and that her counts are up and she can come home and not have to be admitted. I will keep you all updated. Thank you for your prayers.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

Saturday, May 04, 2002 at 07:46 AM (CDT)

Hello,
Emma had an appointment yesterday. She is neutropenic (has low blood counts). This is kind of surprising. The Nurse Practitioner feels that it may be a virus, or her body recovering from a virus. Or maybe just the chemo really doing its job. She said her other counts are fine and not to worry. (YEA RIGHT...) Her counts were:
WBC (infection fighters): 0.54
normal is 5.5-15.5
Hemoglobin (iron level): 10.4
normal is 11.55-13.5
Platelets (blood clotters): 352
normal is 150-400
ANC is 170. An ANC of 1000 is adequate to fight of infection. So, she is really low in this area. That means that she is very susceptible to infection.
So we will be staying in away from crowds. She seems to be feeling ok, maybe a bit tired, but otherwise fine. She received her vincristine chemo yesterday and started on steroids. The steroids will help boost her counts up also. She has to return to the clinic for blood work next Friday. She is off all other chemo until then. We are just supposed to watch her for a fever and call if she developes one. Who said the maintenance phase of chemo was easier??????
Otherwise we are all doing well. Emma's beginning to get very excited about her upcoming birthday. She will be turning 4 years old on May 15th!!! I can't believe my baby will be 4!!!!!!!
Please keep Emma in your prayers, we are praying that her counts rebound and she does not develop a fever. Thank you for checking on us and for your prayers.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

**********A few journal entries ago, I asked for your prayers for The Agee Family. They are still needing your prayers, their mom as I mentioned has breast cancer and is beginning her treatment, and their son has Leukemia and has just relapsed in his central nervous system. Please keep this wonderful family in your prayers.***********

Tuesday, April 23, 2002 at 06:25 PM (CDT)

Hello,
All is well here..... nice and quiet and calm. Emma is feeling good, she had a cough last week. I took her to the pediatrician who thinks it could be allergies or a virus. She had a pretty good cough all week, and everyday she played outside. Now that the weather has gotten cold again and she can not go outside, her cough has gone. So, it was either allergies, or a coincedence that the cough left at the same time she was not outside. I guess we will know when it gets warm out again. She seems to be feeling good, which is always a blessing.
Emma has learned to whistle. She thinks it is sooooo cool. She is really getting good too. She tries to whistle different songs, and have me guess it. She also has a new joke.... What did the banana say to the hippo??????????
Nothing!!!! Banana's don't talk!!!!!!
She thinks she is hilarious... it is so cute.
Dylan is doing well also, growing like a weed. Not a whole lot more to report, like I said, it is nice and calm here. Thank you for checking in on us, and for your continued prayers.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma, and Dylan

Tuesday, April 16, 2002 at 07:29 AM (CDT)

**************************************
Please keep The Agee family in your prayers. They have a son that has leukemia and is going through chemotherapy and the mom has just found out that she has Breast Cancer. Their web site is: www.caringbridge.com/page/ross/
***************************************

Hello,
Emma is doing great. She was able to get her spinal tap on Friday and everything went fine. She was so good, she was not scheduled until noon, and she could not eat until afterward. She did really well, we could tell she was hungry and thinking about it though, because she kept telling us what she was going to eat when she woke up.
Her counts were good too:
WBC (infection fighters): 3.39
Normal is 5.5-13.5
Hemoglobin (iron level): 11.1
Normal is 11.5-13.5
Platelets (blood clotter):478
Normal is 150-400
ANC was : 2350
an ANC of 1000 or higher is adequate.
She is feeling really good, and really enjoying playing outside in the warm weather we have been having. She is scheduled to go back to the clinic on May 3rd.
Dylan is doing well also. He recevied his 2 month shots on Thursday. He weighed 12 pounds 10 ounces and is now 22.75 inches long. He has grown so much.... he is smiling a lot now and loves Emma to talk to him, and Emma loves her "Dilly".
There is not a lot going on right now, it is nice and calm here.... that is the way we like it. Thank you for checking in on us and for keeping Emma in your prayers..... her chemotherapy is almost over, only a few months.... we are looking forward to her being off treatment, but it does leave us a bit nervous...
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan.

Tuesday, April 09, 2002 at 08:18 AM (CDT)

Hello,
Things are starting to get back to normal or what is normal to us. Emma still has her cough, but Dylan is just about better. Emma had an appointment on Friday and she received her chemo, but they did cancel her spinal tap. They felt her cough was still too bad for anesthesia, and that the spinal tap could wait one week. Her cough is still lingering but it is not as frequent. She is not on the breathing treatments any longer. Her counts on Friday were wonderful:
WBC (infection fighters): 3.41
normal is 5.5-15.5
Hemoglobin (iron level): 11.0
normal is 11.5-13.5
Platelets (blood clotters): 533
normal is 150-400
ANC (ability to fight off infection): 2450
an ANC of 1000 or more is good.
She feels good, and is playing, singing, and happy. Emma was able to go to Rainbows on Wednesday. She earned a new badge. It is a big Noah's Ark badge that she received for knowing her Rainbows Distinctives. She had to recite by memory the following to get the badge:
Pledge: As a Rainbow, I will be a good helper, pleasing Jesus every day.
Motto: Rainbows are helpers.
Scripture: "We.... are helpers" (2 Corinthinans 1:24)
Colors: Green and White, which stand for growth and purity.
She was so excited when she received this badge.
Emma has an appointment on Friday and if her cough is gone, and her lungs are clear they will do her spinal tap.
We signed Emma up for preschool yesterday. She will begin in September. She is going to go to Medina Christian Academy. She is sooooooo excited. She will go 2 days a week. She will be off treatment by then, so she will be feeling really good. I can't believe my baby girl is going to start preschool... she is getting so big!!!!!
Dylan is doing well also. He is also getting big, kind of square. He is very chubby. He is starting to smile. He mainly only smiles at Emma and Papa, the rest of us have to really work to get a smile out of him. He has to go on Thursday for his 2 month physical and shots.
Please keep Emma in your prayers. Pray that her cough passes and she is able to get back on track and get her spinal tap. (It just seems weird to pray for a spinal tap... but that is the best thing in this case.) Please pray that when she does have the spinal tap she does not have any pain afterward in her back. That has happened a couple of times. Thank you so much for keeping her in your prayers and for checking in on our family.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

Saturday, March 30, 2002 at 06:02 PM (CST)

Hello,
I am sorry that it has been so long since the last update. Things have been a bit hectic around here. Both Emma and Dylan have bad respiratory viruses. The Doctor initially thought it was RSV, and did a Nasal swab on Dylan the thankfully came back negative. They are both coughing pretty hard, and Dylan has a bit of laryngitis. His cry is very squeeky, and raspy. He has had a fever up to 100.6. Emma thankfully has not had a fever at all. The were both sent home with breathing treatments. We have to give them aroesol breathing treatments and Dylan is on prednisone also. It has been a very rough week, but Praise God they have both improved. Emma had her counts done on 3/21/02 and they were as follows:
WBC (infection fighters): 2.71
normal is 5.5-15.5
Hgb (iron level): 11.00
normal is 11.5-13.5
Platelets (blood clotters): 347
normal is 150-400
and her ANC (infection fighting ability)
is 1650, an ANC of 1000 is usually adequate.
This past Thursday her counts were done again to make sure that the chemo and the virus was not too much all at once, and her counts remain good. Her ANC is up to 3500, which is wonderful because she may be able to fight it off easier.
We did receive some good news this week. I do not have to go in for surgery. There was talk that I would have some more surgery to make sure the other ovary did not have a cyst also. The surgery would have been next week. Well, the Doctor feels that I can be followed with blood work, ultrasounds and possible CT Scans and there is no need for surgery at this time. My blood work came back normal, and they feel that they got a good look at the ovary when they did surgery in October.
I have to go back in for an ultrasound in August and will then see the doctor in September. This is such a relief, I would have been in the hospital for 2 to 3 days, and with the kids being sick and Dylan being so little and the fact that he is a big Mama's boy :0), it would have been pretty rough. God has answered yet another prayer!!!
Emma is scheduled to go in for chemotherapy and a spinal tap next Friday the 5th. She will only have to have 2 more after this one, we are so thrilled.
Please keep both Emma and Dylan in your prayers.... this is a nasty virus. Pray that they recover quickly and Emma's counts are not compromised because of the virus.
Thank you all for checking in on us and for your prayers. We appreciate and love you all. Have a wonderful Easter.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma & Dylan

Saturday, March 16, 2002 at 07:48 PM (CST)

Hello,
Emma is doing very well. She did well with this months round of steroids. She seems to be taking the 100% chemo really well. She goes back to the clinic on Thursday for blood work. She had a lunch date with Auntie today. She had so much fun.... they went to Chi Chi's which is her favorite...then went to the toy store and the craft store. She had a lot of fun.....
Dylan has had a fever Since Friday. It has gotten to 100'. The pediatrician feels it is viral, and he should be fine in a few days. He is very fussy and not eating well. If his fever gets above 100.5' he will have to be admitted to the hospital for blood cultures and spinal tap to rule out a bacterial infection. But she does not feel this will be necessary but because of his being under 2 months old they are very cautious. He is 5 weeks old already... time has really gone by fast...Friday he weighed 11 pounds 1 1/2 ounces!!! he has gained over 4 pounds in 5 weeks!!!
Emma has started to call him Dilly..... I told her he will probably beat her up for that one day!!!
Well that is all for now, please keep both Emma and Dylan in your prayers... we pray that Dylan's fever passes and Emma does not catch what ever it is.
Thanks for checking in on us.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma and Dylan

Saturday, March 09, 2002 at 05:10 PM (CST)

Hello,
Emma's appointment went very well yesterday. She is doing really good, and is now back to her full 100% dose of chemo. Her counts are good:
WBC (infection fighters): 2.40
normal is 5.5-15.5
Hgb (iron level in blood): 10.3
normal is 11.5-13.5
Platelets (blood clotters): 361
normal is 150-400
ANC is 1500, an ANC of 1000 is usually good enough to protect from illness.
She is feeling good, she received her dose of Vincristine in her port yesterday and started steroids. They have hit her pretty hard again this time. I noticed dark circles under her eyes last night after only 2 doses.
She is to go back to the clinic in 2 weeks to make sure that she is tolerating 100% chemo ok and that her counts are ok at that level.
Otherwise, she is doing well, she has gotten to go to Rainbows and Sunday School for the last couple of weeks and she really enjoys it. She is also a very wonderful big sister. She is such a helper. She loves her baby brother. Dylan is doing really well also, he went for his one month weight check and is now 9 pounds 14 1/2 ounces. He has gained almost 3 pounds in 3 weeks!!! He is a very good eater, in fact he does it aboutevery 2 - 3 hours although he does go about 4 hours in the night so I can not complain about it!
Thank you for checking in on us and keeping us in your prayers.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma & Dylan

Sunday, February 24, 2002 at 06:53 PM (CST)

Hello,
Emma is doing really well. She had an appointment on Friday for bloodwork and although her counts have dropped, they are still good. Her counts were:
WBC (infection fighters): 2.93
normal is 5.5-15.5
Hgb(iron level in blood): 10.4
normal is 11.5-13.5
Platelets (blood clotters): 324
normal is 150-400
Her ANC count is 1290, above 1000 is were the doctors like it to be... to provide adequate protection from illness.
They have increased her chemo to 75% of the normal dose. She is to go back to the clinic in 2 weeks for her monthly dose of vincristine and she will start on steroids then also.
We are all doing very well.... Dylan is growing like a weed, he already looks different at 18 days old. Emma is such a great big sister.
Thank you for checking in on us and for your prayers...
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma & Dylan

Monday February 18, 2002 10:55 AM CST

********New picture of Emma and her baby brother Dylan********

Hello,
It has been a while since I updated, as you read in the previous update, we received a early present. Dylan was born on 2/6. We are all doing wonderful and Emma has given the ok to keep him!!!
Emma is doing much better, the RSV has passed and her counts which bottomed out (ANC of 160 (1000 is good)) have recovered. We went to the clinic for bloodwork on Friday and her counts were:
WBC (infection fighters):5.56
(normal is 5.5-15.5)
Hgb (iron in blood): 10.4
(normal is 11.5-13.5)
Platelets (blood clotters): 457
(normal is 150-400)
ANC is 3460, an ANC of 1000 usually provides enough protection to fight of illness.
She is feeling pretty good, she has a bit of an eye infection which she is taking drops for, but it has pretty much already cleared up. We are just finishing the medication as told.
We got to go to church yesterday for the first time in over a month. Emma got to show of her baby brother. She is really good with him. Every once in a while she will give him puppy and blankie...... that is a big deal, not many get puppy and blankie!!!
They have restarted her oral chemotherapy which she takes every night, at 50%. They are going to slowly raise it to make sure her counts don't bottom out again. She told me that the RSV really "wiped her butt!!" (She meant whipped her butt HAHA)
We have to go back to the clinic for blood counts on Friday.
Thanks for checking on our family and keeping us in your prayers.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, Emma, and Dylan

Thursday February 7, 2002 7:41 AM CST

HI EVERYONE! THIS IS "JAMA" (EMMAS' GRANDMA AND TAMMYS' MOM) JUST WANTED TO LET EVERYONE KNOW THAT EMMA IS THE BIG SISTER OF THE 3RD MOST WONDERFUL CHILD EVER BORN TO MANKIND ( FIRST AND SECOND BEING EMMA AND JACOB OF COURSE!) MY LITTLE MAN, NAMED DYLAN RILEY HALL WAS BORN YESTERDAY FEB.6TH AT 11:10AM. WEIGHING 7 LBS. AND IS 19 3/4 INCHES LONG! AND A MONTH EARLY! A BIG OL' BOY! MOM HAD SOME BLOOD PRESSURE PROBLEMS AND DYLAN HAS TO LEARN TO BREATH ON HIS OWN, BUT BOTH ARE DOING FINE! AND YES HE HAS RED HAIR !! JUST LIKE BIG SISTER! WE ARE HOPEING THEY COME HOME TOMORROW! THANK YOU FOR CHECKING ON ALL MY BABIES AND PLEASE KEEP THEM IN YOUR PRAYERS!

Friday February 1, 2002 4:06 PM CST

Hello,
Just as expected, Emma's counts have bottomed out. She is off of chemo until next Friday to let her counts recover. They were as follows today:
WBC (infection fighters): 0.65
normal is 5.5-15.5
Hgb (iron level): 10.8
normal is 11.5- 13.5
Platelets(blood clotters): 163
normal is 150-400
Her anc count is down to 450, this is pretty low and she is neutropenic. An ANC of 1000 is what they like to see, it generally provides enough protection against infection.
Emma's cough is better, very infrequent, and she has not had a fever, though we are to watch for one and call immediately since her counts are so low.
This is all expected because of the virus and the fact that she was still receiving chemo. She is off all chemo until next Friday.
Please keep Emma in your prayers... she is very tired, and laying around but her cough is gone which is great. Thank you for checking on her and for your continued prayers. Your support means the world to us....
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Wednesday January 30, 2002 2:02 PM CST

Hello,
Emma is still feeling pretty "wukky". Today she laid in bed most of the day and took a 2+ hour nap which is not like her. She still is not eating and I bet that is why she has no energy. I made a roast beef, and she finally ate some of that, so hopefully that will wake up her appetite and she will eat. Her temp has been down, she only has had one over 101 since last night, but her cough is a bit worse today, more frequent. This is definitely a nasty virus. The nurse at the clinic said it could last a couple of weeks, and that it usually peaks and then gets better. I hope the worst is behind her and she can begin to feel better.
I am anxious to see what her counts are on Friday, I am hoping they are ok, but she seems really tired and that usually means they are low.
Please continue to pray for Emma, we are praying this passes and she feels better soon. She has had such a hard couple of months. Thank you for checking on her.....
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Monday January 28, 2002 4:20 PM CST

Hello,
We are back from a long day at the clinic. Emma still had a fever and cough this morning so we took her in, they did a chest x ray to rule out pneumonia, a nasal swab, and blood work. The xray came back negative for pneumonia, but the nasal swab came back positive for RSV, which is a respiratory virus. This explains the bad cough. She also has a red ear, so she is on antibiotics for that. They do not treat her for the RSV, they will watch her and it will pass. They gave her an albuterol breathing treatment today because she had a very bad coughing attack at the clinic. It really has helped. We are scheduled to go back to the clinic on Friday. Her counts are down a bit also. They were:
WBC (infection fighters): 1.48
normal is 5.5-15.5
Hgb (iron level): 11.3
normal is 11.5-13.5
Platelets (blood clotters): 309
normal is 150-400
ANC is 890 which is a bit low, but we know why now. An ANC of 1000 usually provides enough protection, but of course last week hers was 3000 and it did not help.
Emma did very well at the clinic, she was not very fond of the breathing treatment mask or the nasal swab, but she did good getting her port accessed, and the chest x ray. Although she felt the need to smile for the x ray and kept moving to look at the machine. Why not, we are always telling her to smile when she gets her picture taken!!!!
Please keep Emma in your prayers. She is having such a rough winter. I think we are just staying in the house and that is that!!!!
Thank you for checking in on us and for your prayers............
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Sunday January 27, 2002 10:43 AM CST

Hello,
Emma still has a bit of a fever. It got as high as 101.9 last night (2:00 am). I am aggrivating her to no end checking her temperature all of the time. Last night she slept with me and at one point when I got up she just lifted up her arm so I could check it.... it was cute, even though that is not what I was going to do. Right now her temperature is staying around 100 which is not to bad, she seems fine otherwise although she is not eating at all. Yesterday all she had was a few bites of rice, 4 or 5 grapes and 1/2 piece of toast, she is drinking though, so that is good. Please keep Emma in your prayers..... we are praying that the fever goes away and her appetite picks up. Thank you for checking in on us... I will update again later on.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Sunday January 27, 2002 10:43 AM CST

Hello,
Emma still has a bit of a fever. It got as high as 101.9 last night (2:00 am). I am aggrivating her to no end checking her temperature all of the time. Last night she slept with me and at one point when I got up she just lifted up her arm so I could check it.... it was cute, even though that is not what I was going to do. Right now her temperature is staying around 100 which is not to bad, she seems fine otherwise although she is not eating at all. Yesterday all she had was a few bites of rice, 4 or 5 grapes and 1/2 piece of toast, she is drinking though, so that is good. Please keep Emma in your prayers..... we are praying that the fever goes away and her appetite picks up. Thank you for checking in on us... I will update again later on.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Saturday January 26, 2002 9:50 AM CST

*****8:30 PM Update*****
Emma now has a fever... it was low grade most of the afternoon, but not it has gone up to 102'. We have given her tylenol and are going to watch it..... she seems fine, not eating a whole lot but other than that fine. Her cough is not too bad either. Please pray that her fever breaks and there is no hospital admission. I will update if she changes..... thanks for your prayers and support.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma



Hello,
Emma's doing pretty good, yesterday she came down with a pretty good cough, very dry and croupy sounding. It came out of no where and she has not other problems... no fever, no real runny nose, although she sounds a bit congested, she seems to feel all right. She said her tummy and throat hurt from coughing, and she has coughed so hard she has vomited. This morning she seems a bit better, the cough sounds less dry and barky and it is less frequent. It is her monthly cough she gets I guess.
Please pray that the cough goes away and does not cause anymore problems. She is in a good mood, she trys to play but if she runs around she starts coughing so today may be a movie day.
Thanks for checking in on her and keeping her in your prayers.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Thursday January 17, 2002 2:47 PM CST

Hello,
We are back from Emma's appointment and happy to say that her counts are back to where they belong and she is doing really well. Her cough and runny nose are gone, her joint pain, and back ache are also gone. Praise God. Her counts bounced back really good:
WBC (infection fighters): 5.00
normal is 5.5-15.5
Hgb (iron level of blood): 10.4
normal is 11.5-13.5
Platelets (Blood clotters): 472
normal is 150-400
ANC is 3380 an ANC over 1000 provides enough protection against bacteria.
So, she is doing really well. The fact that she bounced back so high and fast is a sign of healthy bone marrow they say. This is very reassuring to us. Her iron level is still a bit low, but nothing to worry about, it too will bounce back.
She is beginning to get her pep back and also getting cooped from being in the house. We are scheduled to go back to the clinic in 3 weeks for treatment. Thank you all for checking in on us and for your continued prayers for our family..... only about 6 more weeks until our newest member (still not named) comes.... time is flying by. Take care...
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Tuesday, January 15, 2002 7:30pm

Hello,
Emma is doing better today. She still laid around most of the day, and rested but she has not had any joint pain. She is eating very well.... one of the good things from the steroids. This has to be good, it keeps up her strength. She is in a good mood too. She has decided that when she grows up that she is going to work in an animal shelter and help sharks and aligators go back into the wild. And also deers... I am not sure where this sudden interest has come from, but she is very excited about this. She is so funny. Thank you for checking on her and please keep her in your prayers.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie,and Emma

Monday, January 14, 2002 6:30pm

Hello,
Emma is still feeling pretty lousy, she is walking better, but complaining of hip, knee, and jaw pain. This is most likely due to the vincristine she received in her port. Tylenol seems to help a bit. She has been sleeping pretty good, she is really tired. We go Thursday to the clinic to get her counts checked. Please keep her in your prayers... we pray that she begins to feel better, and that her counts are up to where they should be. Tonight is her last dose of steroid. That should help make her feel a bit better, the steroids usually make her feel "wukky" as she says. Thank you for checking in on her and for your prayers.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Saturday, January 12, 2002 at 08:45 AM (CST)

Hello,
Emma's back is doing much better. She laid around most of yesterday and rested. It seemed to help. She asked for the heating pad a couple of times and even took a 2 hour nap which is not like her. This round of chemo is really kicking her butt (or whipping her out as she said). Maybe because her counts are down already. She slept really good last night, and is doing well this morning. She has developed the dark circles under her eyes from the decadron. This usually happens each month.
Thank you for keeping her in your prayers. We are so thankful to have you all out there praying for her.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Thursday, January 10, 2002 at 05:19 PM (CST)

**********UPDATE**********

Emma has been complaining since last night that her back is hurting... she is very sore and would not walk last night. She slept with the heating pad on her back on and off last night and that seemed to help a bit. Please pray that her pain goes away. It is heartbreaking to see her hurting. She was so good yesterday and this is what she gets. The pain is from the spinal tap, this has happened before.... muscle pain from the poke. Please Keep her in your prayers.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma
****************************************


Hello,
We are home from a long day at the clinic.... Emma received her treatment today. Her counts are still low, but they were high enough to go ahead and get treatment. Her counts were:
WBC (infection fighters): 1.41
normal is 5.5-15.5
Hgb (carries oxygen in blood/iron level): 10.7
normal is 11.5-13.5
Platelets (blood clotters): 397
normal is 150-400
ANC is 780 an ANC of 1000 provides enough protection from infection.... since it was over 750 she was able to get treatment. We still have to be a bit careful about illness.
She received a dose of Vincristine in her port today. She used "Papa's Trick" again and did not look when the accessed her port and she did not cry at all!!! We are so proud of her. She was so brave today. She had to not eat today before her appointment because of the spinal and sedation. She went 16 hours without being able to eat and did not complain at all! She was sooooo good. She had her spinal tap which went well, and she will start back on her chemotherapy today. Today also starts the steroids for 5 days. We have to return to the clinic on Thursday for blood work to make sure her counts are back where they should be. The steroids she takes for the next 5 days should help boost them also. She is doing really good now, her and Daddy are making snow cones. She has a snowcone maker and is really having fun.
Thank you all for your prayers for Emma..... once again they have been answered and she is back on the right track. Thank you for checking on her.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

****Please keep Emma's Jama (Tammy's mom Sharon )in your prayers... she has a horrible stomach virus/flu and is really feeling yukky.... Emma is really missing her too. Please pray that she gets well soon.

Monday, January 07, 2002 at 11:59 AM (CST)

Hello,
We are home from the clinic and Emma was not able to get her chemotherapy and spinal tap today because her counts are down and she is neutropenic. They feel it is the "virus" that kicked her butt and made her counts drop. We are scheduled to go back to the clinic this Thursday in hopes that her counts are back up and she can get treatment. Her counts today were:
WBC (infection fighters): 1.05
normal is 5.5-15.5
Hemoglobin (carries oxygen in blood/iron level): 10.5
normal is 11.5-13.5
Platelets(blood clotters): 387
normal is 150-400
ANC is 650 an ANC of 1000 usually provides enough protection against infection, so Emma is neutropenic and we have to be careful with her being exposed to illness.
We are supposed to go back to the clinic on Thursday... I will be surprised if her counts are up by then, but I am praying they are. She is off all chemo until Thursday, this will help her counts build up also. She did really well today as far as getting her port accessed. She said she will do what Papa told her and not look at it. She did not make a peep.... she was such a big girl. She is very proud of herself. She also did well not being able to eat... all that and the spinal was cancelled!!! This morning when we woke up she told Daddy that she had to go get a spinal tap today and get medicine put in her back. She acted like it was nothing, no big deal, just like everyone does. It is kind of sad how she gets used to all of this. I am glad she takes it so well, but it is still a bit sad. She should not have to worry about spinals, and medicines and chemotherapy and being neutropenic!!!!!! Sorry, to vent, I am a bit bummed her counts are down.
Please keep Emma in your prayers. We are praying that her counts bounce back and she is able to get treatment on Thursday. The doctor felt that it is just the virus affecting her counts and not her bone marrow because her platelets are up from when we were there last week which means that the bone marrow is making cells which is a good thing. Emma seems to be fine, maybe a bit tired, but she is her self otherwise..... Thank you for your prayers and for checking in on her......
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Thursday, January 03, 2002 at 08:59 AM (CST)

Hello,
Emma is doing good, she still has a bit of a runny nose, but nothing bad. So far the cultures are negative Praise God, so I think it is just a "virus" that she is getting over. She is eating good, and playing and seems fine, so thankfully she is bouncing back fast. We are still scheduled to go in to the clinic for chemotherapy and a spinal tap on Monday. Please keep her in your prayers. We pray the all goes smoothly for her spinal tap and that this virus hasn't made her counts bottom out to where she can't get treatment.
Thank you for checking in on us......
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie,and Emma

Tuesday, January 01, 2002 at 12:07 PM (CST)

Happy New Year!!!!!
Emma is doing much much better, you would never guess she was sick yesterday. She has not had a fever since yesterday afternoon and no runny nose either!!! PRAISE GOD!!! She has been taking it easy today and watching cartoons. She was totally unimpressed by the whole New Years Eve thing, I told her that it was the night when we stay up until midnight and Yell HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! She asked me if there was a turkey or a cake or something else ..... she figures what is the use if there is no food. Daddy was the only one that actually made it up until midnight. Emma and I fell asleep long before. Oh Well, maybe next year... although I will have to have turkey and cake for Emma to celebrate!!!!
Thank you for your prayers they were certainly answered yet again... God is so Good!!!
Happy New Year to all...
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Monday, December 31, 2001 at 11:46 AM (CST)

Hello,
Just wanted to quickly update and say we are on our way to the clinic because of a 102.6 fever. Emma has been battling a cold that is pretty stubborn so hopefully it is nothing more than that. Please pray that we are able to come home and are not admitted to the hospital. Please pray that her fever passes and it is nothing more than a cold. She is really upset right now about having to go to the clinic, she is crying and really upset about the whole situation. I will update more when we get blood counts. They are going to do blood cultures of her port also.
Thanks for your prayers...
Tammy, Ronnie,and Emma

UPDATE:
We are home from the clinic, she received a dose of antibiotic and her counts were good. She was not neutropenic so she did not have to be admitted. Praise God... Her counts are:
WBC (infection fighters) 6.31
(normal is 5.5-15.5)
Platelets (blood clotters): 238
(normal is 150-400)
Hgb(carries oxygen in blood)11.7
(normal is 11.5-13.5)
Her ANC is 5820 (an ANC of 1000 provides good protection). So if she is coming down with something she should be able to fight it off. They gave her IV antibiotics as a precaution and some motrin for the fever and she is already starting to pepp up. They also drew blood cultures and will let us know if something grows, but it is most likely viral. We go back to the clinic next monday Jan 7th as scheduled unless she gets worse.
Please keep Emma in your prayers, pray that nothing grows in the blood culture and this passes. Thank you so much for checking in on us.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma
HAVE A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Tuesday, December 25, 2001 at 07:40 PM (CST)

Merry Christmas!!!
Emma is doing well, she had a very nice day. She had a very nice time visiting family today and was very excited with the presents she received from Santa. She got an easy bake oven, and mixer,utensils, and a blender (Thanks for the blender Miss Stacy!!) She wants to bake Jesus a birthday cake with her new oven!!! She got a bunch of other presents (to many to list), and is having a lot of fun playing now.
She is feeling good, although she has been fighting off a cold for a few days. Her next clinic visit is January 7th and then she will get chemo and a spinal tap (although there are only 4 more spinal taps left!!!!!!!) We are praying that this cold does not affect her counts at all and she can get her treatment on time. Please keep her in your prayers.
That is about all for now, we want to thank everyone for all of the love and support we have received. You have supported us thru another year and we are so very thankful for you all. Merry Christmas...
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Sunday, December 16, 2001 at 07:28 PM (CST)

Hello,
Emma is doing great, she is feeling pretty good and made it thru the steroids without much grumpiness. This time they made her eat and eat and eat.
She had a fun weekend, Saturday we went to an event called Country Lights at Lakefarm Parks in Chardon. The three of us went with Jama, Papa, Auntie, and Jacob. It was really fun, we took a horse carriage ride thru the park and there were a bunch of Christmas Light Displays. The carriage took us to a barn that had a bunch of horses and animals to look at and pony rides. Emma loved the pony ride. Then the carriage took us back to the main building where there was Santa's workshop and one of Santa's Elves helped Emma build a toy. She built a wooden kitty and got to drill holes in it, pound nails in it, paint it and decorate it with glitter. She loved it!
Tonight was her Christmas Play at church. She had been really looking forward to it, and was sooooo excited. Her class which is the 3 and 4 year olds sang 2 songs. The girls wore angel wings and halos (Emma said the halo itched her head)they were heavenly hosts and the boys were shepards and wore head wraps. Emma did really good, she new both of the songs which were Joy to the World and Away in a Manger. They had hand motions and were so cute. All of the kids did great! She is so proud of herself. I am taking the pictures in tomorrow to get developed and hope to put them on the site soon.
Well, that is about all for now, we are all doing well and Emma is feeling good. She goes back to the clinic on January 7 for chemo and a spinal.
Thanks for checking in on us....
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Monday, December 10, 2001 at 09:58 AM (CST)

Hello,
I am a bit behind on updating the site about Emma's appointment Friday. She is doing wonderful, the doctor said her counts are exactly where they should be. She is doing terrific!!! Her counts were:
WBC (infection fighters): 2.35
Normal (5.5-15.5)
Hemoglobin (carries oxygen in blood): 11.4
Normal (11.5-13.5)
Platelets (blood clotters): 340
Normal (150-400)
ANC (ability to fight of infection): 1480
An ANC above 1000 provides adequate protection.
Not a whole lot else to report, the visit was a good one. She received a dose of Vincristine in her port, and she is now on Steroids until Tuesday. They have made her feel pretty rotten, she has her dark circles under her eyes again, but thankfully no joint pain so far.
That is about all for now, we are all well which is about the best news I can report.
Thanks for checking in on us.....
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Monday, December 03, 2001 at 02:10 PM (CST)

Hello,
It has been a while since my last update, and all is well. Emma is feeling really good. She had a Sunday School Christmas Party on Saturday. They made ornaments, had lunch, played games and practiced their songs for the upcoming Christmas play. Her class, (3 and 4 year olds) are singing Joy to the World and Away in the Manger. She has learned both of them and is so cute when she sings them. The kids are all so cute to watch, really dramatic and very often off key. She is really excited to sing at the program.
We went Friday night and she sat on Santa's lap. She had a long coversation with him about how she is a good girl, she goes on the potty all of the time now, and she does not cry when they access her port and give her chemo. The only thing she asked for was an easy bake oven and could not think of anything else on her list and Santa told her that he would bring her other suprises.
She goes in to the clinic on Friday for her monthly blood work and chemotherapy. Not a lot more going on her, we are really enjoying the nice weather today, it has to be in the 60's!! Weird for December, but I am not complaining.
That is all for now, I will update more on Friday after her appointment.
Thanks for checking on us....
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Thursday, November 22, 2001 at 08:25 PM (CST)

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!!!!!
We are home from a day of visiting with family. We are all stuffed with food, and sleepy. Emma is doing well, she has been fighting a bit of a cold all week, but it seems to be passing. She had a very nice day.
Last Thanksgiving Emma's counts were very low and she had a fever from receiving her ARA-C chemo, so we stayed home. We look back at how yukky she felt and are so thankful that that is past her now. She is feeling really good these days and that is such a blessing. We have so much to be thankful for, God has been so good to our family and it is such a comfort that we have Him to rely on. This ordeal has been hard enough, I can't imagine going thru it without His promises to lean on.
We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and are truly greatful for the love and support everyone has shown our family. We are thankful for you all and love you!
Love,
Tammy, Ron, and Emma

Saturday, November 17, 2001 at 12:22 PM (CST)

Hello,
Emma is doing well. The steroids really kicked her butt this week. She had a lot of joint pain this time also (from the vincristine probably). She actually asked me for tylenol because her hips were hurting. She hates tylenol too. It breaks my heart when she hurts. Today though thankfully she is feeling better. Last night was the last dose of steroids for this month.
We were just outside for a bit cleaning up the yard before snow comes and she was running and playing pretty good, she is a bit slow but she seems to know when to stop and rest. She found a worm outside and wanted to keep it as a pet. She said it wanted her to be his owner. She named him "fluffy". We did convince her to leave him with his family.
Not a whole lot more to report, we look back at last Thanksgiving and how sick she was, and we are so thankful that she is doing well today. Last year she was in the delayed intensifcation phase of her treatment and received ARA-C which really made her feel lousy and gave her a pretty good fever too. We now have 9 more months of treatment and she is doing well. We have so much to be thankful for.
Thanks for checking in on her..... keep her in your prayers.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Monday, November 12, 2001 at 01:49 PM (CST)

Hello,
Emma's appointment went very well today. She is doing great. Her counts are good and she did not make a peep while they accessed her port. We are so proud of her and she is very proud of herself also.
Her counts are right were they should be for a child on chemotherapy:
WBC (infection fighters): 2.31
(normal is 5.5-15.5)
Hgb(carries oxygen in blood): 11.9
(normal is 11.5-13.5)
Platelets (blood clotters): 343
(normal is 150-400)
Her ANC count is 1540. An ANC of 1000 provides adequate protection from bacteria.
So, we are very happy that she is doing well. We do not have to go back until December 7th!
They have upped her medications because she has grown. Her decadron (steroid) has been upped (oh BOY!!) she takes 4 mg per day for 5 days now, and her mercaptopurine has been upped also. She used to take one pill each night Monday thru Friday and half a pill each night Saturday and Sunday and it is now one whole pill every night. She has grown recently, she weighs 35.5 pounds. It is amazing to me that she has gained so much weight since diagnosis. I really figured that she would have lost a lot of weight from not feeling good and not eating but since diagnosis she has gained over 11 pounds!!! She has grown a few inches also, I think about 3 inches!!!
Well, that is all for now. Thank you for checking in on her and please keep her in your prayers, we pray that she can get thru this cold and flu season healthy and that she continues to do well.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Thursday, November 08, 2001 at 07:58 AM (CST)

Hello,
Emma is doing wonderful. She is feeling good, eating well, playing and singing (which is always a good sign if she sings!). Last night she went to her Rainbows Club at church and she earned her 2nd badge. The tiger badge. They had 4 lessons about what things God made that they can see, smell, taste, touch and hear. They worked on this badge for 4 weeks. Their Bible verse that she was to memorize and recite for the teacher was "I am wonderfully made." Psalm 139:14. She recited the verse good and she got her badge. She is very proud, today we are going to sew it on her vest. She really looks forward to this class.
She went yesterday for her flu shot. She did really well but made the nurse feel bad afterward because she told her "You Hurt Me!!" The nurse came back into the room with stickers, a braclet, bubbles, and crayons! She felt bad for having to give her the shot! Emma is pretty good at making you feel guilty!
I had another appointment on Tuesday, everything is doing good as far as my surgery and the baby is doing good, and is 1 pound 9 oz which is the 60th percentile. They moved my due date back to the original March 3rd. They had typed a measurement in wrong last time which made the baby seem bigger, so I am not due in February like the told me last time... well it was good while it lasted. We were able to find out what the baby is (yes, we cheated this time!) Emma is going to have a baby BROTHER!!!! We are having a little boy! We are excited and Emma who only wanted a pony or a little sister is taking the news well also! But she wants to name him KOKOUM after the indian in the movie Pocahontas. So we are working on the name issue.
We are all doing well, which is such a blessing. Emma goes in on Monday for her monthly appointment and will receive Vincristine in her port and will start on the steroids for a week. Please keep her in your prayers, please pray that her counts are still good and that the "virus" she had a few weeks ago did not lower them at all and she can get her chemotherapy and stay on track. I will update again on Monday after her appointment. Thank you for checking in on us.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Friday, October 26, 2001 at 03:51 PM (CDT)

Hello,
Just wanted to write a quick update on Emma. She is doing much better, she has not had a fever since Wednesday night. She is eating again, and playing. The clinic called today and so far the blood cultures are negative. They said that it was probably viral and she is fine. Praise God! Thank you all for keeping her in your prayers, it means so much to us. We are not scheduled to go back to the clinic until November 12th, and hopefully we will make it until then without any sick visits.
She is excited right now, she looked out the window and it is snowing!!!
Thanks for checking in on us and keeping us in your prayers.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Wednesday, October 24, 2001 at 05:20 AM (CDT)

Update: (read the bottom part first):
Well, we are back from the clinic and she was not admitted. They did bloodwork and blood cultures. Her counts are high enough to wait to see what the results from the cultures are before having to be admitted. The cultures grow for 5 days but after a day they may show something. We will know more tomorrow.
Her counts are:
WBC (infection fighters): 10.55
normal (5.5-15.5)
Platelets (blood clotters): 363
normal (150-400)
Hgb (carries oxygen in blood): 11.9
normal is 11.5-13.5
Her ANC count is 8335
They gave her an IV bag of antibiotics as a precaution. So, we will wait to hear from them as to whether the cultures grow anything or not. Emma does not feel good at all. She is very achy and said she was dizzy early this morning. Her temperature is down to 102'.
Please continue to pray for her, pray that her cultures are negative and we do not have to return and be admitted.
Also, please pray that she begins to feel better. She will not eat, but she
is drinking fluids which is good. We do not want her to get dehydrated on top of this. I will update more tomorrow when I know the one day results of her cultures. Thank you for your prayers.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

*********************************************************************************

Hello,
It never ends... Emma has a fever of 104'. I woke up this morning at 4:00 am (for some reason) and went in to check on her and make sure she was covered and felt her head and she felt hot. I took her temperature and it was 103. We spoke to the doctor and we have to come at 8:30 this morning for counts and for then to check her up. The temp has gone up a bit since then, and is now around 104. She seems fine, she is up and watching a Scooby Doo movie.
Please pray for Emma, that her fever breaks and all is ok. I am expecting for her to be admitted, but I think it will all depend on her blood work and physical exam. I will update more after her appointment. Please keep her in your prayers.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie,and Emma

Tuesday, October 16, 2001 at 06:05 PM (CDT)

Hello,
Let me start of by saying that Emma is doing wonderful! She finishes her course of decadron (steroid) tonight. It really kicked her butt this time, we noticed a big difference in her energy level, mood, and amount of time she slept. But thankfully today she is doing much better.
I am home from the hospital. The surgery went good, I am very sore, and will be for a few days and the baby is fine. They took out a cyst that was bigger than they originally thought. It was almost as big as a dinner plate! The bad news is it did show cancer. The doctors had to take out the ovary and that fallopian tube also. They feel that all of the cancer was contained in the cyst and it is of low malignant type meaning that it did not spread and I will not have to have any chemotherapy treatments. Praise God. They also said that this baby saved my life. If I would not have been pregnant and had this ultrasound it would have gotten worse and or spread and would have been farther advanced when found. After the baby is born they will go back in (most likely Laproscopicaly again) and have another look around to make sure that everything is ok. They feel they got a good look at everything but the baby was in the way a bit and they couldn't see as good as they wanted. But, they feel confident that all is and will be fine.
God is so Good! He has watched over us and gotten us through so much and this is another testimony that we have to share how wonderful He is.
Please keep our family in your prayers, please pray that Emma continues to do well, and that I am able to heal fast and be able to be there for her needs. Ronnie is off this week and is such a help, we are very lucky.
Thank you for checking in on us, and for your prayers.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Saturday, October 13, 2001 at 07:22 AM (CDT)

Hello,
Emma is doing great!! Praise God! Her counts were back up yesterday and she was able to resume chemotherapy. She did really well with getting her port acessed, Daddy was there with us, and I think she wanted to impress him by not crying. Her counts are great,
WBC (infection fighters): 5.09
normal (5.5-15.5)
Hgb(carries oxygen in blood): 12.2
Normal (11.5-13.5)
Platelets (blood clotters): 316
normal (150-400)
ANC is 3650!!!! Anything over 1000 provides adequate protection, so she is doing good.
We were so relieved that her counts are back up, and she can resume treatment. She had a spinal tap yesterday and did really well. The only problem was that we had a long wait and she could not eat and was not happy about this. She woke up from the spinal tap smiling and ate right away. You would never have guessed she had a procedure done yesterday, she bounced around the house playing the rest of the day! We do not have to go back to the clinic for a whole month. We are back on track now, it feels weird, we have had an appointment each week for the last 6 weeks.
My surgery is scheduled for Monday, and in my opinion, it can not come fast enough. I am really nervous, and the cyst is starting to cause some pain they think that it could be pressing on a nerve or pulling on a muscle. Please keep us all in prayer this coming week, I will try to update when I get home on Tuesday, or I will have Ronnie update also.
Thank you for checking in on us, and for your prayers.

Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Monday, October 08, 2001 at 09:18 PM (CDT)

Hello,
Emma is doing really good, her stomach is better and she has had no nausea or vomiting since last Tuesday. So hopefully her counts will be back up and she will be able to get her spinal tap and chemo on Friday. She is playing and singing and doing really well.
We went today to have an ultrasound of our new baby. We were not able to find out if it was a boy or a girl, but did find out to Emma's dismay that it is not a pony!!!
They did find something a bit scary though. I have a "grapefruit size cyst" most likely on my ovary and have to have surgery on Monday to have it removed. They feel that it is on the ovary and most likely I will also loose the ovary because of the damage it probably caused due to the size of the cyst (12 cm by 9 cm). They will do laproscopic surgery to remove it and I will be in the hospital overnight. The doctor feels that the baby will be fine, he has performed the surgery many times and feels confident that all will be fine. My due date was also changed. They are now saying that I am 22 weeks pregnant instead of the 19 as we thought. This moves the due date to 2/13/02 instead of 3/3/02. This is actually a "good time" to have surgery in terms of the baby's size and development. The cyst has probably been there for a while, most likely before I got pregnant, and they also feel that it is not cancerous. It is fluid filled and this type is usually benign. They feel that it has to be removed so that it does not rupture, or cause premature labor. If they had not found it due to the pregnancy ultrasound, it would probably have ruptured. So we are fortunate that it was detected.
Please keep us all in your prayers, please pray that Emma's counts get back up and she can resume her treatment, for the baby and I as we undergo this surgery, and for Ronnie, who is also stressed by the whole thing. God has done some amazing things in our life, Emma is proof of that and we are trusting Him to see us through this also.
Thank you for checking on us, and for your prayers. I will update more on Friday after Emma's appointment.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Friday, October 05, 2001 at 01:33 PM (CDT)

Hello,
Well we are back from Emma's appointment. Her spinal tap was cancelled today due to her counts being low again. The doctor feels that she probably did have a stomach virus this past week and it made her counts go down. So, she is off all chemotherapy until we go back next Friday. We are to call if a fever develops, she has not had one yet with the stomach problems, so we pray that it stays that way. If her counts are back up then, they will do the spinal tap and she will receive her vincristine.
Her counts are:
WBC (infection fighters): 1.68
normal (5.5-15.5)
Hgb (carries oxygen in blood): 11.1
normal (11.5-13.5)
Platelets (blood clotters): 317
normal (150-400)
ANC 690 ; An ANC over 1000 generally provides enough protection against infection.
Emma seems fine, her stomach is better , her appetite is slowly coming back, and she has not had any nausea since Wednesday.
She did well with her port being accessed today. (Although we did have to bribe her... and she is not ashamed that she is easily bribed with toys!!!) She did not cry at all while they did her port, but she did freak out when they went to weigh her... I don't know why she has started this, I think she is just sick of being messed with.
Emma has started playing with the computer. She has a disc that she plays called Reader Rabbits Kindergarten. She puts the disc in, hits run program, types in her name, and starts playing.... she amazes me!!! There are a bunch of different games on it she plays, matching games, counting games, memory games, large/small matching games, long/short matching games, and coloring pages that she colors on the computer and then hits print and prints them off!!!!! She is really good at it.
Well that is all for now, please pray that her counts come back up and she is able to get her chemo and spinal tap on Friday.
Thank you for checking on us....
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Tuesday, October 02, 2001 at 07:53 PM (CDT)

Hello,
Emma is doing good, but she has had some nausea and vomiting for the last couple of days. I don't think it is a stomach flu kind of thing because it is not a constant thing, she seems to feel ok, maybe a bit slower than usual though. She has not had a fever at all. I think it may be related to starting on her chemo medicine again. I think she may be a bit sensitive to it after being off all medicine for 3 weeks. She was sick Saturday afternoon, and then fine all day Sunday, but then woke up at 5:00 am on Monday morning sick. She was fine until just a little bit ago when she was sick again. Now she seems fine.
Her appetite is not very good, but that too could be related to the chemotherapy. Both medicines that she has taken recently Methotrexate and Mercaptopurine can cause nause, vomiting, and loss of appetite. I really noticed a drastic improvement in her appetite in the 3 weeks she was not taking any medicine. I am going to call the doctors tomorrow just to let them know this is happening and get their opinion. She is due to go in on Friday for blood work and chemotherapy.
Please pray that the nausea and vomiting passes and she begins to feel better soon. She has had a rough month, and we pray that she can "get back on track" and start feeling better. Thank you for checking in on us, and praying for our family. I will update if she gets worse or on Friday after her treatment.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Friday, September 28, 2001 at 02:07 PM (CDT)

Hello,
We are back from Emma's appointment with Good News!!! Her ANC is back up to 1560!!! Praise God!!! Her counts were:
WBC (infection fighters): 4.33
normal is 5.5-15.5
HBG (carries oxygen in blood: 11.9
normal is 11.5-13.5
Platelets (blood clotters): 358
normal is 150-400
ANC is 1560!!! So she is no longer neutropenic and does not have to be cooped in the house!!! She wants to go to Chuck E. Cheese Pizza Parlour tonight.
We are to start her chemotherapy back tonight. She will receive a total of 6 pills. She will get her "works chemo" next Friday, this includes a spinal tap.
Next Friday is our 5th Wedding Anniversary, we would have never in a million years guessed we would be at the hospital for chemotherapy for our daughter!! But, we are so very thankful that she is doing well.
Thank you to everyone for praying for Emma, please continue to keep her in your prayers, we pray that the chemo does not make her counts bottom out again, and all goes well next Friday for her spinal tap. She is also having a hard time dealing with her port being accessed. What was supposed to be a once a month thing, has turned out to be a 4 week in a row thing, and she had a hard time with it today.
Thank you so much for checking in on us....
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie,and Emma

Friday, September 21, 2001 at 04:47 PM (CDT)

Hello,
Emma's appointment was today,and she is still neutropenic. Her counts are still down for whatever reason (they think probably a virus). Her counts are:
WBC (infection fighters): 2.91
Normal is 5.5-15.5
Hgb (carries oxygen in blood): 11.4
Normal is 11.5-13.5
Platelets (blood clotters): 250
Normal is 150-400
ANC is 550 (an ANC of 1000 provides protection from infection)
So, we are still staying in, and have to return to clinic next Friday for another blood count. She is off chemotherapy for another week.
She seems to be fine, she is playing, eating well, sleeping good, and not sick, but they feel it is probably a virus that is causing her counts to be down. She had a light fever on Wednesday and Thursday evenings of 100.3 (which is not really a fever but higher than normal).
I am now in my hypersensitive, hypochondriac, worrying pregnant mommy mode that I tend to get in occasionally and can not help but worry. She has never had a delay this long before, and it worries me even though I know that it can happen from time to time. Please pray that it is only a "virus" and that her counts go back up to "normal".
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Monday, September 17, 2001 at 02:33 PM (CDT)

Hello,
Sorry I am so late in updating the website about Emma's appointment on Friday. I am still fighting this cold/virus/whatever it is that I came back from Florida with!! Emma is doing good, her counts continue to be down, but they are slowly rising. She is off chemotherapy for another week and we go back this Friday for another blood count. Emma did really well this week when they accessed her port. They let her sit up instead of holding her down on the table and she did very good, she really did not cry and she helped the nurse draw the tubes of blood. As long as she feels she is in control she does good.
Her counts were:
WBC (infection fighters): 2.07
normal is 5.5-15.5
Hgb(carries oxygen in blood): 11.4
normal is 11.5-13.5
Platelets (blood clotters): 559
normal is 150-400
ANC (ability to fight off infection): 700
an ANC of 1000 or higher provides good protection.
She seems to be feeling fine, no fever, cough, or runny nose, she has not gotten my cold. But since her ANC is under 1000 we are pretty much limited in what we do and were we go, we are pretty much staying in to keep her healthy. She did get to go to Jama and Papa's on Saturday, we spent most of the day there and when it was time to come home Emma would not, and wound up staying the night. She finally decided to come home Sunday evening. She had a very good time with Jama and Papa.
We will see Friday if her counts are back up, please pray that they are back up and she can restart her chemotherapy. She has never had this long of a break in treatment. I will update more after our appointment on Friday. Thank you for checking on her and please pray for her counts to recover. Thank you
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Monday, September 17, 2001 at 02:33 PM (CDT)

Saturday, September 08, 2001 at 08:14 AM (CDT)

Hello,
We are back from an amazing Make A Wish Trip to Disney!! Emma had so much fun.
It started on Friday 8/31 when a 10 passenger white stretch limo picked us up to take us to the airport! Emma thought that the limo was very cool because it had a couch in it, and wanted to take the limo to Florida instead of a plane. Our flight was 2 1/2 hours and she loved it! She sat by the window and looked out at the clouds and ground below. She said that everything looked like little bitty ants! When we landed in Orlando there was a greeter from Give Kids The World (GKTW) there to meet us. She took us to where our rental car was waiting. From there we went to The Give Kids the World Village which was the most incredible place. The first thing they did when Emma got there was to give her a big stuffed Mickey Mouse and a T shirt. When we got checked in, they gave us a tour of the village. There was a ice cream parlour that serves ice cream from 7:30 am until 9:00 pm. Emma had a banana split for breakfast one morning. A "Castle of Miracles" which had toys and video games and a Carosel which Emma rode on quite a bit. A Gingerbread house which provided breakfast and dinner everynight (Food was provided by Perkins Restraunts). There was Amberville Train Station which was full of games like skee ball, and such. There was also a train that ran around the building. There were two pools, one which was right by our villa, and when Emma saw it, she said "I can't wait to get my fat little butt in that pool!!" She had so much fun swimming!
There was also a movie theater which had a different movie each day. They served popcorn, candy, icee drinks, and soft drinks. The truly amazing thing about this village was the you could not pay for a thing, it was all free!!! It was incredible, they thought of everything too. Our villa was a 2 bedroom, 2 bath duplex, with a kitchen and washer and dryer. When we arrived, there were snacks on the table and cans of soda, orange juice , milk, bread, peanut butter, english muffins, chips, and donuts, already stocked in the kitchen. There were activities in the village everyday, you could honestly just stay there and have a wonderful time, without going to the parks.
We received a 3 day pass to the Disney Parks, Tickets to Universal, and Sea World and a complimentary lunch at Hard Rock Cafe. Saturday we went to the Magic Kingdom, Sunday to Disney MGM Studios and had lunch at The Hard Rock Cafe where Emma was given a t shirt. Monday to Universal Studios, Tuesday we went to downtown Disney and had lunch at Planet Hollywood, then we went back to the village and went to the fishing contest. Emma fished for a bit, but was mad because a fish ate her bait! Wednesday we had to pack and get ready to come home. Emma was not happy about this, she wants to live there forever.
There is so much to tell about our trip, that I can not possibly do it in one update, so I will have to spread it out over a few updates.
But we did have a wonderful time. Emma was treated like a princess. They gave her a badge to wear that when the staff of the parks saw it, we were escorted to the front of lines. Emma really liked this, and even now that we are home she does not want to wait in lines!! Emma met Mickey, Minnie, Belle (who is now her best friend), Cinderelle, Chip and Dale, Pinnochio, Jesse and a bunch of other characters.
But now we are back in reality and Emma had to have chemo yesterday. Her counts are down and she is neutropenic (has a low immune system). Her counts are:
WBC (infection fighters): 1.48
normal is 5.5-15.5
Hgb (carries oxygen in blood): 12.5
normal is 11.5-13.5
Platelets (blood clotters): 387
normal is 150-400
ANC is 540. An ANC of 1000 or higher is good. So we have to be careful in crowds and such and call if she gets a fever.
Ronnie and I both returned with colds so it is going to be a challenge to keep her from getting sick. The doctor thinks that her counts may be down because of the croup she had a few weeks ago, or the fact that she may already be catching our cold also. They gave her her dose of Vincristine yesterday since that chemo does not affect counts, and she is taking the steroid (which will help boost her counts also) and all other chemo is held until next Friday when we go back in for blood work. We were very suprised to see her counts are low. She seems to feel fine. Please keep her in your prayers that her counts come up and she can resume her chemo next week. I am adding some new pictures from our trip (we took 13 rolls of pictures!) I will update about the different parks and such soon. Thank you for checking in on us and for keeping her in your prayers.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Saturday, August 25, 2001 at 08:38 PM (CDT)

*** A year of treatment to go***

Hello,
Emma is doing well. She is scheduled to end treatment a year from today!
She still has a bit of a cough, that seems to be more frequent today. She has been outside running a bit more today, I am wondering if it is allergies. She seems to be feeling good otherwise.
Emma is officially a Rainbow in the Missionettes Program at church. We had the Awards Ceremony on Friday night and she received her vest that her badges will be sewn on when she earns them, and she also received her official membership card. She is learning her club distinctives which consists of a club motto : "Rainbows are helpers:, a pledge: "As a Rainbow, I will be a good helper, pleasing Jesus every day." a Scripture: "We... are helpers" (2 Corinthians 1:24), and her club colors which are Green and White, which stand for growth and purity. She can recite them very good.
Ronnie is out of town this weekend for work, he left Thursday for Carlisle Pennsylvania, for a car show there they are selling product there. Please keep him in your prayers, we are praying for a safe trip he is to come home late Sunday night. We are really missing him.
Emma had a playmate this week for a few days. Her cousin Jacob stayed with us for the day on Wednesday thru Friday. She liked having him to play with. He is so funny, he will not call me Aunt or Auntie. He calls me "The Mama of Emma". He says it really cute too, it sounds like he has a french accent! He is a silly goose, as Emma says.
Not a lot more going on here, which is a good thing. We are getting ready for Emma's Wish trip, we are leaving on Friday. The volunteers from Make a Wish are bring our tickets ect over on Monday or Tuesday. Emma is really getting excited too.
Thank you for keeping her in your prayers. Please pray that her cough finally goes away, for good, and that she is healthy for her trip.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Thursday, August 16, 2001 at 09:02 AM (CDT)

***55 weeks of treatment to go***

Hello,
Emma had an unscheduled trip to the doctors office yesterday. She is still fighting this cough, and it seemed a bit worse. Of course when we got there, she hardly coughed at all, and was playing and laughing, and I looked crazy!!!! I think she does this on purpose HAHAHA!! They listened to her lungs and they sounded clear, the resident said it is probably viral croup which usually gets worse around the 3rd or 4th day. Which was yesterday. So hopefully she will start to get better. They did not do counts yesterday, she had them done on Friday and since she has her port now, the doctor really did not want to poke her again. If she is not better by Monday, they will repeat the counts, a virus would show in her counts. The counts would be down. They told us we could elevate the head of her bed, and use a cool mist vaporizer. She is all over the bed at night, so that actually did not work, she never sleeps straight in the bed. The vaporizer did help though. She woke up at 3:30 am for about an hour with a pretty frequent cough, but she was able to fall back asleep until about 5:45 am when she coughed for about a 1/2 hour. Then slept until morning. So, last night was much better.
Jama and Papa are back from South Dakota and Emma was sooooo excited to see them. They were just as happy to see her also! They brought her and Jacob each a pair of Cowboy boots. They are so cute. Emma loves them, Jacob was scared of them at first(which is weird because he really has a thing for shoes!) but he is starting to like his boots too. He is so funny!!! Saturday is his birthday party and Emma is very excited about it.
Well that is all for now, please keep Emma in your prayers, we are praying that her cough gets better, and we won't have anymore unscheduled appointments.
Thank you for your support, prayers and friendship. We appreciate you all so much....
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Tuesday, August 14, 2001 at 12:39 PM (CDT)

Hello,
Emma is doing good. She has developed a pretty good cough again. She woke up early Monday morning coughing. It is a really dry, barky cough, and cough medicine doesn't do a hole lot for it. I spoke with the doctor, and he thinks that it may be viral croup, and it is something that will just have to run its course. She does not have a fever and is not congested, just a horrible cough. It is a bit better than yesterday but she still is coughing pretty frequently. She seems to feel ok otherwise, today is our last day of the steroids!! Yahooooo! as Emma would say!
Not a lot more to update. We are still trying to get walkers for Emma's team for the Light The Night Walk, if anyone is interested in participating with us, let me know. It is a 2-3 mile walk in Downtown Cleveland, and each walker gets sponsors and raises money for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. It was really good last year and we are looking forward to walking again this year. If you would like to walk with us, or sponsor us it would be great. So far we have 17 walkers on Emma's team.
Well that is all for now, please keep Emma in your prayers, thank you for checking in on us.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Friday, August 10, 2001 at 12:44 PM (CDT)

Hello,
Emma's appointment went very well today. She did not like her port being accessed, they had to hold her down and she cried the whole time, but she said it did not hurt, she just did not like to be held down. She says that next time, she will sit up and let them poke her. The emla cream worked and numbed the site so the actual poke did not hurt. Her counts are excellent:
WBC(infection fighters): 4.11
normal is 5.5-15.5
Hgb (iron in blood): 12.4
normal is 11.5-13.5
Platelets (blood clotters): 333
normal is 150-400
Her ANC (ability to fight of infection) is
3148. (anything over 1000 is good).
They were very happy with her counts and how well she is doing. She received her dose of vincristine in her port, and she will also start decadron (steroids) today. She will be on them for 5 days. Tonight she will also take Methotrexate (5 pills) and her Mercaptopurine (1 pill).
We go back to the clinic in a month, the Friday after we return home from Emma's Make a Wish Trip.
Jama and Papa are on vacation in South Dakota. Emma is really missing them, they will be home in a few days. Please pray for them to return home safely.
Thank you for checking in on Emma and for continuing to pray for her.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Tuesday, August 07, 2001 at 05:34 PM (CDT)

***56 weeks of treatment left***

Hello,
Emma is doing great! She is feeling really good. She goes this Friday for chemotherapy, she will receive Vincristine in her port and begin steroids for 5 days.
The chicken pox at church turned out to be mosquito bites, so she was able to go on Sunday and will be able to go to Rainbows this week.
She has started to think of names for "her new baby". So far she wants a baby sister (she is coming around on the baby brother idea) named Lulu or Trixie!!
That is all for now, not a whole lot to update, but that is a good thing! I will update on Friday with her counts and how her port access went. Thank you all for your prayers and for checking in on her.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie,and Emma

Monday, July 30, 2001 at 08:30 AM (CDT)

***57 weeks of treatment left ***

Hello,
Emma is doing great, she has been playing and having fun. Thursday we met a bunch of friends at a nearby park and her and 6 of her friends played on the jungle gym, collected flowers, and threw rocks in the water, and had a picnic lunch, she had so much fun. She wants to go there everyday.
Saturday we went to Wildwood Waterpark with our Church Youth Group. She really enjoyed that too, she went down water slides and walked in the water. She can do this now with her port. She had fun. Yesterday she spent the day with Jama and Papa. They had so much fun, they went to breakfast, played at a park, had a picnic dinner, and then she went back to their house and soaked in Jama's olympic size bath tub for an hour! She is a little mermaid these days spending a lot of time in the water.
The Chicken Pox have hit our church, so we are not able to go for about another month. I talked to the doctor today, because she did go on Wednesday night, and on Thursday 2 kids came down with the Chicken Pox. The doctor said that Emma should be ok, if the children were not right in her face or coughing around her, and they were not, so she should be ok. The doctor said that a child is contagious 2 days before they break out. She is very upset about this because she has just joined Missionettes, and is in the Rainbow class. It is a bible study group were the kids learn bible lessons and earn badges to put on a vest that they wear. (Kind of like Girl Scouts). She loves it, and is upset she has to miss. She started a bit early, she should not have officially started until September so hopefully she will be able to keep up with her badges. I just talked to her about not being able to go to church for a while, and she said" But Mommy, I am a Rainbow, and I have to go to class!" Maybe we can get her work to bring home. But she really loves playing with the other kids. She did not get to for so long, and I feel so bad about taking that away again. We will just have to plan some more days at the park. The chicken pox would are not something we should mess with. We leave for Disney a month from tomorrow, and want her to be healthy for her wish trip. She is so excited.
That is about all for now, we go back to the clinic on August 10th for vincristine and it will be the first day the access her new port. The last time they gave her chemotherapy in it, she was under anesthesia. I am a bit anxious about how it will be for her, but I am sure she will be ok. We will put the Emla cream on her, that should help.
Today she wants to go to the library. She loves the library. She wants to get a book about different kinds of trees and horses. She loves the encyclopedia type of books that show the different kinds of things like trees.
Thanks for checking in on her and for keeping her in your prayers. Please pray that she does not catch the chicken pox and stays healthy for her trip.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Tuesday, July 24, 2001 at 02:31 PM (CDT)

***58 weeks of treatment to go!!***


Hello,
Emma is doing wonderful! She has been playing, singing like her usual happy self, and eating well. She also has some very exciting news to share ...... She is going to be a big sister!!!!! We are all very excited, and happy about this news. I am 8 weeks along and had my first appointment today. The due date for the baby is March 3rd. Emma is very excited and would like either a baby sister or a pony. She is not real keen on the idea of a brother for some reason, she says they cry and take your toys!!
Emma's site where her port was placed is healing very nicely, and it has been so nice (for us all) to not have to worry about her tubbies. We were at a playground on Saturday and she was going to slide down the slide and remembered she did not have her tubbies anymore and asked.."Mommy, since I don't have tubbies anymore, can I slide down on my belly?" (Such little things that she could not do with the tubbies, since they could have been pulled out.) She must have slid down on her belly a zillion times!!!
Daddy is setting up her swimming pool right now and she is soooo excited to swim in it. It has been so hot the last 2 weeks.
Sunday we had a nice day, we went to the US Coast Guard Station in Cleveland and had a tour of the facility and there was a ride on one of the Coast Guard Cutters (which Emma did not ride on because she would not wear a life jacket). We had lunch in the Officers Club and Emma is an "Official Junior Petty Officer". The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society along with the Coast Guard have this every year. It was a very nice time.
Well, that is all for now, Emma goes back to the clinic on August 10th for chemotherapy and blood work. We leave for our Make A Wish trip to Disney on Friday August 31st, she is very excited about this also.
Thank you for checking in on us and for your prayers.
Love,
Tammy, Ron, and Emma

Tuesday, July 17, 2001 at 05:05 PM (CDT)

Hello,
Emma is doing well, her shoulder/port are is feeling better and is healing very well. She is a bit bruised but it is healing good. She has been on steroids for the last 5 days, tonight is the last dose for the month! She is pretty crabby, tonight I was pouring her milk to drink with dinner and she said "And remember, there had better be some chocolate in there!!!", I turned around and said, "what did you just say to me?" and she said" I am really hoping there is chocolate in the milk please!", I had to try not laugh, she can not talk mean like that, but that is just how the steroids make her, mouthy, and mean.
At least tonight is the last dose, she will be herself in a few days.
All is well with us otherwise, she is really feeling good, she is still pruned from her long baths.
Right now she is trying to scare the cat with a dinosaur that makes this loud, abnoxious ROAR. She just told me that "Clyde is not IMPRESSED by her dinosaur". She is so funny, some of the things she comes up with.
Thank you for checking in on her.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Friday, July 13, 2001 at 06:34 PM (CDT)

Hello,
Emma did great today, she had her new medport put in, had a spinal tap, and received a dose of vincristine. She did really well not being able to eat, and woke up from anesthesia just fine. She is a bit sore right now where the port was placed. They put it on her right collar bone area. They gave her a prescription for tylenol with codeine, and I gave her a dose a while ago because she has been favoring the arm/shoulder and she told me " Uh, Mommy, I think they put too much tape on my port because my arm is too heavy to lift". Very good description I think. She is a bit tired from the anesthesia and medication, but other wise she is feeling good. She has had a rough couple of weeks, so hopefully we can get back to "normal". We go back to the clinic in a month. Thank you for checking in on us, and for continuing to pray for our family.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Friday, July 13, 2001 at 05:40 PM (CDT)

Hello,
Emma did wonderful today, she had her new medport put in, had a spinal tap, and received a dose of Vincristine. She is a bit sore now, she is laying around and kind of quiet, but the procedure went well. She was really good about not being able to eat, and woke up from anesthesia good today. They have prescribed tylenol with codeine for pain, and I just gave her a dose, she seems to be holding her arm/shoulder different, I think it may be sore. I wanted to prevent the pain before it started to hurt bad. Other than the soreness, she is doing well. I am sure she will be her happy singing self by the end of the weekend although she does start steroids today for 5 days so we will see.
We do not have to go back to the clinic for a month! This did not mess up her schedule at all. She has had a rough couple of weeks and we will be glad to get back what has become our normal routine :0). Thank you for checking in on her and for praying for her.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Wednesday, July 11, 2001 at 08:20 AM (CDT)

Hello,
Emma's appointment went well yesterday. They had to draw blood from her arm since she has no tubbies. They got enough from her arm for the blood culture, but they had to poke her finger to get blood for blood counts. She did ok, cried a lot, but did not cry for the actual poke because she had Emla cream on her arm. Her Counts were very good:
WBC(infection fighters): 3.95
normal is 5.5-15.5
Hgb (carries oxygen in blood): 12.8
normal is 11.5-13.5
Platelets (blood clotters): 649
normal is 150-400
ANC:2298 (An ANC over 1000 provides protection from infection)
So, her counts are good, she is feeling good, she is pruned from spending so much time in the bathtub!! Before bathtime was just functional, get her clean and get her out so her tubbies did not get wet, now she can relax and play in the water, she is loving it!!!
Friday we go back to the clinic for blood counts, a spinal tap, her new port placement, vincristine, and she will start on steroids for 5 days too. Please keep her in your prayers, she will be going under anesthesia for the 2 procedures, and she had a hard time last time when she woke up, screaming and crying, I think it was because she had not eaten for 14 hours, since the surgery to take her tubbies out was at 2:00pm, and she could not eat after midnight.
Thank you for checking in on her. The guestbook is back up so if you would like to leave a message, she loves when we read her "e mails" as she calls them.
I will update on Friday.
Love,
Tammy,Ronnie, and Emma

Sunday, July 08, 2001 at 06:42 PM (CDT)

Hello,
Well, Emma is home from the hospital, we spent the week there. Last Saturday night she went to bed around 10:00pm (fine), and woke up at 11:30pm vomiting and had a fever of 102'. We called the doctor and she told us we were to be admitted. By then, Emma's fever was 103'. We cleaned her up and went right to the clinic. On the way there, I took her temperature and it was 104'. She was sick in the car again. We got to the hospital room around 12:30 am Sunday morning, and blood cultures, urine cultures and blood counts were done her temperature was down to 101.7' by then (with out tylenol) and she was fine by the morning and had no other fever the rest of the week. It was really weird. Her blood counts were fine, in fact ,a bit higher than I expected. But the oncologist said it was probably from the fever, and vomiting. Her counts were:
WBC (infection fighters): 4.29
normal is 5.5-15.5
Platelets (blood clotters): 230
normal is 150-400
Hgb (carries oxygen in blood): 10.9
normal is 11.5-13.5
They drew blood cultures and unfortunately they came back positive. So, she had to have her tubbies (broviac catheter) removed on Tuesday. They started her on antibiotics right away and on Tuesday she had the surgery to take out her tubbies. The rest of the week she was on antibiotics, and we came home Friday afternoon.
So she now is tubbieless, and she says she misses them. This coming Friday they are going to put a port in. A port will be totally underneath the skin. It functions basically the same, but everything is internal. She will not have to have the nightly tubbie drinks(flushes) or dressing changes, she can lay down in the bath tub,(before she could only have clean, fresh running water on her), she can go swimming, and will not have tubbie tape( dressing on the site). She is very excited about this, infact she is in the bath tub right now!! The only thing different is that since the port is under the skin, she will have to be "poked" to access it, for chemo and blood work. This is only once a month though, and we will put Emla cream (to numb it) on before hand. I think the first few times may be a bit scary to her, but in the long run she will like it better.
She is feeling really good, playing hard, and eating well. We were really "cooped" up in the hospital this week, and she was very excited to get home. Papa drove us home, and when we pulled in, she yelled "I'm home Yahoooooo!!!!!!!"
We go to the clinic on Tuesday to repeat blood cultures, just to be safe, they do not want to put in a port and her still have an infection. Then on Friday we go back in for her scheduled chemotherapy. She was scheduled for a spinal tap under anesthesia anyway, so they will put her port in then.
I will update on Tuesday after her appointment.
Sorry we could not update her website this past week to let everyone know how she was, but last Friday the guestbook disapeared (there was an internal problem with the caringbridge people) and we did not want to disrupt it anymore. They are working on getting our guestbook back, so in the meantime, if you want to leave a message you can e mail us at : hallrontammy@msn.com
Thank you all for praying for Emma, and for checking in on us.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Friday, June 29, 2001 at 10:15 AM (CDT)

Hello,
Emma is doing wonderful! She is feeling really good. She has been sleeping good, eating well, and playing hard, it is so "normal".
T Ball last Saturday did not go well at all, but we are going to try again tomorrow. She has a 9:00 game which is one thing that is going to tick her off right off the bat, she usually gets up between 9:00 or 9:30! But, we will try again this week.
Wednesday we went to an African Safari (in Port Clinton, Ohio) and had so much fun!! Jama and Papa, mommy, Jacob, and Emma. Daddy and Auntie were working. Emma loved it, Jacob tolerated it, and we all had a very good time. Emma rode on a camel and a pony, and fed deers carrots from the car. The giraffe stuck his head in the truck and tried to get Jacobs sippy cup, which almost put him over the edge. It was really neat, and the animals were very friendly. I will post pictures when I get them developed.
Not a lot more to update on, it has been really hot the last couple of days, so we haven't gone outside a lot during the day. Hopefully it will be cooler tomorrow for her T Ball game. Tomorrow is her one year Anniversary of being in remission!!! This is very good..... 4 more of these and they will call her officially cured.
Thank you for checking in on her and for your prayers.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Sunday, June 24, 2001 at 05:03 PM (CDT)

Hello,
Emma is doing very well. Today she played in her sprinkler and had so much fun!!! She was running, and jumping in the line of water, giggling, and laughing!! I took some pictures of her in her "kini" as she calls her bikini with her white belly hanging out. She had a lot of fun.
Vacation Bible School ended on Friday, she really had a fun week. The theme was western/cowboy and it was called Soncreek Junction. They put on a musical on Friday night, and she did ok until she decided she had enough and climbed down off the stage and ran to us. But then she wanted to go back up and sing some more so she went back on stage but got sidetracked at the rocking horse. The kids did a wonderful job, even the 3 year olds did good too. They had 3 songs with hand motions, it was very cute. Emma won a prize at Vacation Bible School also. There were 2 classes of 3 and 4 year olds and to keep them all together while going between classes, they made horses on sticks (hobby horses) out of a leg of jeans and tied a rope to them and all of the kids held on to the rope and the teen in charge led the "horse and the children " to their next class. Well, the first class had a horse and its name was Nugget. Emma's class had a "horse with no name" and one of the contests for the week was to name the horse. Emma was very hesitant on going to class by herself until one of the adults told her that her horsey had no name and she had to go and give it a name. She was so excited, she jumped up grabbed the horse and said we can name it Macaroni!!!! Well, Emma won the naming contest and was so excited because she actually won Macaroni!! She kept telling us "Look, I won Macaroni and I get to take him home!!!" It was so cute!!! She loves her horsey Macaroni!!
Miss Nancy completed her marathon in Alaska yesterday!! We talked to her afterwards on Saturday and she had a wonderful time the race was 26.3 miles! We are so excited for her, she worked very hard to do this marathon and raised a lot of money! She will be back tomorrow and we are going to the airport to pick her up. She was telling us, that they put a computer chip in her shoe and when she crossed the finish line, they announced her name... Nancy Branch from Medina,Ohio running for Emma Hall, she said it was very neat. She also told us that this Team in Training marathon has raised 7 million dollars for research!!!
Well, that is all for now. Emma is feeling good, and we are very happy for that. A year ago yesterday she officially was diagnosed and began chemotherapy. We are very happy to be celebrating her one year anniversary of remission also.
Thank you for checking in on her, and keeping her in your prayers.
Love to you all....
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma
xoxoxo

Thursday, June 21, 2001 at 02:37 PM (CDT)

Hello,
Emma is doing great!! She has been having so much fun at Vacation Bible School. Much better than the first day, I think it was a bit overwhelming, plus the steroids, plus me being one of her "teachers". She has been fine now that I am staying out of her face, she told me she wants her regular teachers!!
Well, Miss Nancy is on her way to Anchorage, Alaska. Emma thinks she is quote" going to the North pole to run me a race!!!" We took her to the airport today and saw her plane leave. Emma liked the airport but was a bit ticked off when her puppy and blanket went thru the x ray machine!! Please keep Miss Nancy in your prayers, for a safe trip, and a great marathon. She has raised over $9000.00 and the marathon is 26.3 miles.... I get tired thinking about it. We are going back to the airport on Monday to be there when she gets back. I will post pictures also.
We are in the process of forming a team to walk in the Light The Night Walk for Leukemia this September. We had a team last year, called Emma's Crusaders, and raised about $2600.00!!! We had a great time, and are looking forward to participating again this year. It is at the Galleria in Downtown Cleveland on September 22, 2001. If anyone would like to be part of Emma's team, let me know and I will get the information to you!! We would love to get a large team in her honor. The participants carry illuminated red balloons, and the cancer survivors/patients carry illuminated white ballons. It is an amazing sight to see all of the ballons walking the course.
That's about all for now, Emma is feeling great, her hair is coming in good, and she is having fun. It is hard to believe that a year ago, we were just beginning this journey. June 30, will be the one year anniversary of remission. After 5 years of remission she will be considered "Cured".
She will be 7 years old, it seems like so long. Thank you all for checking in on us, and for all of your prayers.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma
xoxoxo

Tuesday, June 19, 2001 at 12:03 PM (CDT)

Hello,
Emma is doing well. She has the "grumpies" now from the steroid, but other than that she is good.Tonight is the last dose for this month... YIPPEEEEE!! Her big T Ball debut was cancelled due to rain on Saturday. She will play this Saturday instead. We went to a birthday party on Saturday and she had so much fun. There a pony, waterballoons, and a fort with a slide, and her friends... she loved it!!
Saturday night she was having bad bladder spasms (from the vincristine she received on Friday), but she is doing better now.
Last night she went to Vacation Bible School at church. She had fun for a while, but the steroid rage appeared and we had to leave. I feel so bad for her, she can't help feeling crabby, and doesn't understand why she does... one minute she is laughing, the next she is screaming. We are going to try to go back tonight, and stay for as long as she can. I think the whole thing may have been new and overwhelming, maybe tonight will be better.
I had to laugh at her earlier, I am doing laundry, and decided to hang the clothes outside on the clothesline instead of heating up the house with the dryer. She was looking out the back window, and said "Uh, Mommy, I think that when Daddy gets home he is going to notice all his clothes are outside!!!" She is so funny, she doesn't understand why I would put the clothes outside when there is a perfectly good dryer in the house???
A year ago today is when this nightmare began. We took her to the Emergency Room on Monday June 19,2000. From then we were transfered to the Cleveland Clinic and she was officially dx on June 23,2000 and chemotherapy began. Sometimes it seems like we have been doing this for ever, eternity, but other times it seems like it was just yesterday they gave us the news. It still makes my stomach sick to think of that first week. But I am so thankful that she has done so well this last year. We are so fortunate. Although there are times when I think they are going to tell me that it was all a big mistake and she is really ok, and I can quit worrying. But that is not going to happen, and we are just going to continue to "pray our way thru this", and continue to lean on the Lord for support.
Well that is all for now, thanks for checking in on her, and for the continued prayers I can't imagine getting thru the last year without the support and encouragement that you all have given us. We love you all, and will never be able to thank you enough. I will update soon about her vacation bible school fun.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Friday, June 15, 2001 at 03:43 PM (CDT)

Hello,
Emma's appointment went well today. She had bloodwork done, and received a dose of vincristine in her tubbies. She is also on a 5 day pulse of decadron (steroids). Her counts are good:
WBC (infection fighters): 2.67
normal is 5.5-15.5
Hgb (carries oxygen in blood): 11.2
normal is 11.5-13.5
Platelets (blood clotters): 663
normal is 150-400
ANC= 1001 : an ANC over 1000 provides enough protection from normal bacteria.
So, she is doing very well. Her platelets are WAY up. The doctor assured me it is ok. He said it is probably her bone marrow bouncing back from her cold/virus/whatever it was last week. He also said that it was a sign that her bone marrow is healthy, and said that it is reassuring.
We do not go back to the clinic until next month!!! July 13 she goes back and will receive a dose of vincristine, and she will also have a spinal tap. It still feels weird to not have to go back for a month. I love the thought of it, but part of me liked the weekly reassurance that she is ok.
She is feeling really well, she has a lot of hair coming in, it is about 1/4 inch now, enough to make her head look orange. It is coming back a beautiful red color again. I am glad, I have heard that it can come back another color, I am glad it is still red (kind of her trademark).
T Ball begins tomorrow, she is looking forward to it. I am glad she is feeling good and can play. She also has a birthday party to go to tomorrow and there is going to be a pony there to ride, she is excited.
Emma is now in a back to sleeping in her own room, she is in her "Big girl bed", and doing really good. She has her little routine, a story, and nightlight and binky, puppy, and blanky, and does really well. She had been sleeping with me since the fall when she was going thru the intense chemo and daddy was in the spare room!! She is doing good without her binky, but still a little ticked off about not having it. Right now she only has it at bedtime, and that will be stopping shortly. She told me that the whole "no binky thing is silly!"
Well that is all for now, I will update about her T Ball game tomorrow, thank you for checking in on her and for your prayers.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie,and Emma

Sunday, June 10, 2001 at 07:50 PM (CDT)

Hello,
Emma is doing pretty good, she still is coughing a bit, but not nearly as much as before. Today she had a temp of 100, I don't know what that is all about. The doctor told us to call on Monday if we were unsure about starting her chemo back up. I would have started it with out calling if her temp didn't go up today. It was not high at all, but came out of nowhere, she has not had a fever in a few days. She was a bit ticked off this morning because she could not go to Sunday School. She wanted to go and wear her fancy purple dress. She decided to wear it next week. She played outside today and seemed to have a lot of energy, she had a lot of fun on her swing set. It is just about finished, and Ronnie never, ever, ever wants to have to put another one together again!!! He did a very good job though!!!
That is all for now, we are scheduled to go back to the clinic on Friday. I am going to call tomorrow and see if we should start chemo tomorrow night.
Please keep Emma in your prayers, we are praying that she will be able to resume her treatment tomorrow, and her cough goes completely away.
Thank you for checking up on us, and for your messages on the guestbook. Emma always asks if she has gotten any "E Mails on her web site!!!!"
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma (who's new saying is okie dokie artichokie!!!!)

Thursday, June 07, 2001 at 09:10 PM (CDT)

Hello,
Well, Emma had another unscheduled appointment today. (I thought we were only supposed to go to the clinic once a month during maintenance?????) We noticed last night that she had a bright red spot on the white part of her eye. This of course sent me into my Paranoid/Psychotic/Hypochondriac Mommy mode!! Turns out it is a subconjunctival hemorrage, a broken blood vessel on the white of the eye that she probably got from coughing, this I new from my ophthalmology days, but it still really worried me. I know that they are pretty normal, but I did not know if they were normal for a person on chemo. I thought maybe her platelets were down, but thankfully they were normal. She still has a pretty good cough, but her lungs are clear, so they think it is just from congestion. The did a pulse oxymetry test on her today to make sure her oxygen level and pulse were ok, and both were normal. Her nose is still pretty runny, and she gets her coughing episodes. She is off chemotherapy until Monday, to allow her immune system to fight this bug. They did do counts today and they were pretty good:
WBC (infection fighters): 3.19
normal is 5.5-15.5
Hgb (carries oxygen in blood): 10.3
normal is 11.5-13.5
Platelets (blood clotters): 293
normal is 150-400
Her ANC was still pending when we left, I am going to call tomorrow for that.
She is doing pretty good without her binky, but is still holding a grudge against her doctor who told her she should give it up.
We go back to clinic next Friday as scheduled for her vincristine.
We got some more news today about Emma's Make A Wish trip. We are most likely going to go August 31st (Friday) until September 5th (Wednesday). She is excited.
Well that is all for now, Please keep Emma in your prayers, as well as our friend Sarah Anne (from Alabama), she is having some more problems with fever, low counts, they have ruled out the possibility of menengitis, but are now thinking mono.
Thank you for checking in on Emma.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma
xoxoxo

Tuesday, June 05, 2001 at 01:56 PM (CDT)

Hello,
Emma still has that bad cough, and still congested. Today her Pediatrician put her on Amoxicillan for 10 days incase there is an infection of some sort. She will take this and Bactrim, so hopefully she will be better soon. I spoke to her oncologist today also, and he felt that we should hold off on her chemotherapy pill (mercaptopurine) that she takes at night for a few days so that her immune system can fight off what ever this is. No use in compromising her immune system while it is trying to fight. So, I am to call on Friday and let them know how she is doing, and they will decide if we should start her chemo back up again. Friday is her big chemo day, she gets Methotrexate too, so we will see...We are not due to go back to the clinic until June 16. That will be for blood work and vincristine/steroids.
Well that is all for now, thank you for checking in on us, I will update again tomorrow on how she is doing. Thank you for keeping her in your prayers.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie,and Emma

Monday, June 04, 2001 at 12:47 PM (CDT)

Hello,
Emma went back to the Pediatrician this morning, and her lungs still sound clear. Her cough is still pretty frequent, but the doctor feels it is mostly congestion in her sinuses and throat. No fever since last night which is good, but she is having some yellow discharge from her left eye which the doctor feels is back up from her sinuses. We are to watch her the rest of today and tomorrow, and if she is not better by Wednesday, I am to call and Dr will put her on additional antibiotics. So far it is still believed to be viral.
She slept so-so last night, I had to hold her propped up for a little while. Thank you for checking in on her, and for keeping her in your prayers.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie,and Emma

Sunday, June 03, 2001 at 12:49 PM (CDT)

****************************************
PM UPDATE:
Well, Emma's fever is back. At 8:30 it was 101.8 which warranted a call to her oncologist. She feels that it is probably just her cold/virus, and told us to give her tylenol and watch her. If she gets worse overnight, we are to call her back, and if she is not better tomorrow, we can take her to her Pediatrician since she is closer than they are. She did not feel that Emma needed to be admitted for antibiotics, so that is reassuring, probably just a cold, that she will fight off. Please Pray that Emma's fever subsides and her cough gets better. I will update more in the morning. Thank you all for your prayers.
****************************************


Hello,
Emma is doing well. Her cough had gotten more frequent, and her nose is still congested and running. Friday night she had a temperature of 100.2 which really set me off on my worrying road,(imagine that!!) but it broke by 1 AM or so. She was up most of the night coughing, if she was sitting up, she did not cough and could sleep. So for most of the night, I propped myself up in bed and she layed on my lap so she was upright. She was able to sleep, and I was able to feel if her temp went back up too(yes, I am chasing her around with the thermometer). Last night she slept much better, and today she is feeling better a good nights sleep really helped her. Today the cough is breaking up a bit. I will call her doctors tomorrow if she is still coughing.
She had to miss Sunday school today, and is a bit mad about that, but there is a Bugs Bunny Marathon on the cartoon network, so that helped some.
The binky withdrawl is going ok, we have told her she could only have it in bed. So yesterday she went upstairs and layed in bed for a while to get a "binky fix", she said she was tired and wanted to nap. Then later on she went back up and actually slept for over 2 hours. She hasn't really had as hard time as we anticipated. But, like I said before, the real test will be the steroid week!!! But at least we have 2 weeks before that happens and she will be used to not having it.
T Ball starts in 2 weeks also, she is very excited. If it every stops raining long enough for the back yard to dry up, we can practice with her. Right now she hits the ball, and then runs to get it, and when she is just about to the ball, she slides into it!!!!! I can see her now, sitting down in the outfield, or picking dandelions. It will be very cute to see!!!
Right now she is trying to get Jamal the cat to roll over and speak! Jamal is just giving her the "go away Kid Look"!! It is pretty cute how determined she is to have the cat do tricks!!
Well that is all for now, I will update again soon, Please pray that her cough and cold get better soon. Thanks for checking in on us.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma
xoxoxo

Friday, June 01, 2001 at 08:15 AM (CDT)

Hello,
Emma is doing really good. She has a bit of a cough and runny nose, but so far no fever. Yesterday she had her 3 year check up at the Pediatrician. It went very well. Dr listened to her chest and it is clear, so the cough is probably just a "cold". She has grown very well over the last year. Yesterday she weighed in at 33.5 pounds(which is the 75 percentile) and is 37.5 inches tall!!!(which is the 50 percentile) Last year at her 2 year old check up she was 26 pounds and 33 inches!!! She has really sprouted up, even being on the chemotherapy. That is wonderful.
The Dr gave Emma some news yesterday that really "ticked" her off. She has to get rid of her beloved BINKY!!!(pacifier). She was appalled to say the least. Dr does not want it to start to change the shape of the roof of her mouth, or affect her speech. Emma did not like this at all!!! Last night Ronnie asked her how her check up went and Emma said "Well.....Dr Cutter thinks I should give my binky up!!!", she was like, how could she??? So far today we have told her she could only have it in bed. I took it away and put it up, but somewhere she has a binky stash because she found another and had it in her mouth. I have to look for her secret hiding place!!! It might be ok for now, but the real test will be when she is on steroids!!!! That won't be pretty!!!!

Wednesday we had a very nice day at the zoo. Jama, Auntie, Jacob, Emma and I went. We had a wonderful time. The weather was beautiful. I hope to post pictures on her site soon.
Not a lot else going on. We do not go back to the clinic for 2 more weeks, it just does not feel right yet, to not have to go all of the time. I am not complaining though, it is great to only go 1 time a month!!!!
Well, that is all for now, I will update again soon. Thank you for checking in on us and for your continued support and prayers.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Saturday, May 26, 2001 at 11:37 AM (CDT)

Hello,
Emma is doing very well. She is feeling really good, and has a lot of energy. Her hair is really growing back too, and it is coming in red again!!! Her Make A Wish meeting went well. We are going to be going to Disney World. We will be going sometime in the fall, September most likely. We will be staying at Give Kids the World. It is a village geared for children on wish trips. It is an amazing place!! The web site for it is : www.gktw.com. We are all very excited. Emma tells everyone she is going to go to Mickey Mouses House!!!
They should be calling us in a few weeks to let us know more details. We will go to Disney World, MGM, Nickalodeon, Epcot, and Universal. She is going to have so much fun.
She is doing very well like I said before. We surived the steroid pulse, it did not make her too mean this time, only hungry constantly. For weird things like butter sandwiches, and the usual pasta and BAVLIODIS as she calls ravioli.
She has tied the knot tighter on the string that she has Jama wrapped around her finger with. We were talking the other day (my mom, Emma, and I) about Blues Clues. The Actor that plays Steve is leaving, and I asked my Mom why, she said that she read that he is "going on to better things". I asked , what could be better than Blues Clues, and Emma said" Being with my Jama"!!!!! Well Jama just melted to say the least!!! It was very sweet.
Well, that is all for now, if it ever stops raining we will be able to play on her swing set, but it is due to rain for a few more days I believe. Thank you for checking in on us, and for praying for Emma.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma
xoxoxo

Sunday, May 20, 2001 at 07:53 PM (CDT)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hello,
Emma is doing well, she got to go to church again this week. It is so nice to be able to go to church as a family again. She is now in Sunday School and has really adjusted well. At first she was a bit shy, but this week she walked right in and did fine the whole time. She even told the teacher she had to go potty. We are so proud of her. Today was Ronnie's birthday. We had a nice day at home. He worked on the swing set some more. Almost finished!!
Tuesday evening there is a volunteer coming from Make A Wish Foundation and Emma is going to get to request a wish. She wants to go to "Mickey Mouses House". She would absolutely love it!!!!!
She is doing well with the steroids, she has slowed down a bit, she said the "wukky medicine" makes her sleepy. Tonight she was complaining that she had a tummy ache. A sunburn in her tummy (heartburn) she told me that we should pray to Jesus and He could make it all better. That was so sweet, and it was just what we did. She loves the AMEN part.
She is doing really well, it is such a weight lifted off our shoulders to be on maintenance. I know that there could still be low counts, fevers, and such, but we almost have our "normal" lives back. And for the most part she is feeling good again, that is what is most important.
Well that is all for now, I will update again this week about how her Make a Wish went. I have added some new pictures from her birthday party (thanks Miss Nancy). I get more back on Wednesday. It may take a few minutes to download onto the photo page, since I tried to add 3 pictures in one photo spot on the page. Hope it works.
Thank you for checking in on us, and for keeping Emma in your prayers.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma
x0x0x0x0

Friday, May 18, 2001 at 02:52 PM (CDT)

Hello,
Emma's appointment went very well today. Her counts are good, and she received her vincristine as scheduled. Her counts are:
WBC (infection fighters): 2.36
normal is 5.5-15.5
Hgb (hemoglobin/iron in blood): 11.1
normal is 11.5-13.5
Platelets (blood clotters): 297
normal is 150-400
ANC= 1036
An ANC count of 1000 provides enough protection from bacteria. So, she is not neutropenic.
She is feeling very good. She had a very nice birthday. We took her to Chi-Chi's, which is her very favorite restraunt. She loves the salsa!!! Jama and Papa and Auntie and Jacob came with us. Emma wanted the waiters to sing the Ole' song to her. They sing a Happy Birthday song there and she likes it. They put a big sombrero on her head, and sang to her and gave her an ice cream sundae. She loved it. I will post pictures as soon as I get them developed.
Emma has decided that the sombrero will be her gardening hat.
Daddy is still working on the "swing set from you know where" hopefully this weekend will be nice and he can finish it. He has been very glad it has been raining, he has an excuse now!!
We do not have to go back to the clinic for a whole month!!!! I don't know what we will do to occupy our time! HAHAHAH I can think of a million things to do instead!!!
Tonight is her big medicine day. She gets a total of 13 pills and 2 tsps of Bactrim today. She will get 5 pills of decadron (steroid), 2 pills of pepsid (the steroid gives her heartburn (or a "sunburn in her tummy" as she calls it) 5 pills of methotrexate, and 1 pill of mercaptopurine. She is so good about taking her medicine. She is used to it now, it is so nice to not have to upset her and fight her to take it.
Well that is all for now, Ronnie's birthday is on Sunday, other than that we have no big plans this weekend. She started the steroid today, so we probably will not be doing a whole lot, she will be a bit crabby!!!
Thank you for checking in on her, and for keeping her in your prayers.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma
xoxoxo

Monday, May 14, 2001 at 08:34 AM (CDT)

HAPPY 3RD BIRTHDAY EMMA!!!!!
Hello,
I can't believe my baby is going to be 3 tomorrow!!! She had a wonderful weekend. It was so nice to watch her playing and feeling good. We had her 3rd Birthday party on Saturday. It was very cold and rainy, but it turned out very nice. There was a visit from a pony which was the hit of the party!!! Emma loved it, so did all of the other kids. Last year we had a pony named Trixie for her party. This year Trixie had other plans, so we had a substitute and Emma named him Macaroni!!! She had so much fun! She also liked beating the "Unbreakable " Pinata!!! What a site that was, it was a very sturdy Pinata, that did not want to break. She played hard at the party and was "whipped out" as she said by bedtime. (She meant wipped out!!HAHA).
Yesterday she went to Sunday School, she likes it, but has a hard time going in the class with out Daddy or I, it will take a little time, but she will get used to it, she has not had the opportunity to be in a group of kids in so long, she is still a bit nervous. Yesterday she made me a Mothers Day card in class and was sooooo proud of it. "Happy Mudders Day" she yelled, when she gave it to me.
Not a whole lot going on this week, Ronnie is busy putting together a swing set that Jama, Papa, Grandpa Face, and Terri got her for her birthday. Yesterday he decided that it was "of the devil" & "inspired by the pit", (he is having a bit of trouble putting the thing together!!!!!)
Emma goes back to the clinic on Friday, she will have bloodwork, and receive her monthly dose of Vincristine and start the 5 day pulse of steroids.
We also go to her Pediatrician on Wednesday for her 3 year check up. We were at the Pediatrrician on Friday, because had a reddish/purple dot on the corner of her eye, (it scared me... I thought it was the Petechia that she had on her legs when she was diagnosed)... but it turned out to be a BUG BITE!!! Yes, I took her to the doctor for a bug bite... just a little psychotic, but I was a nervous wreck about the dot.
Well thats all for now, thank you for checking up on us, and for your continued prayers for our family. For all those that have been praying for our friend Rosie (from California), she is fine, she had another bone marrow biopsy that came back inconclusive, but her counts are back up and the doctors believe she is fine and not relapsing. Thank you for your prayers.
Tomorrow is Emma's official birthday May 15th. I will update again soon.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie,and Emma

Wednesday, May 09, 2001 at 08:59 PM (CDT)

Hello,
Just a quick update to let everyone know that Emma is doing great! We have had a busy weekend, and this week we are getting ready for her 3rd Birthday Party!!! She is getting excited, she picked Unicorns for the theme, and we are getting a pony again this year for the kids to ride. She loved it last year, and is excited again. She also wanted a Pinata, (or piana, as she calls it, so we found a unicorn pinata, that should be fun, a bunch of 3 year olds beating on a pinata... I will take pictures!!)

We go to the clinic next Friday for bloodwork, vincristine, and she will start on her 5 day pulse of steroids. Well, that is about all for now, this is a short update, but that is good, it means that all is well. Thank you for checking on us, I will update more after her party.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma
xoxoxo

Friday, May 04, 2001 at 03:35 PM (CDT)

Hello,
We are back from our clinic appointment, and happy to say that all is well and her counts are good. Her counts are:
WBC (infection fighters): 2.89
normal is 5.5-15.5
Hgb (carries oxygen in blood): 10.7
normal is 11.5-13.5
Platelets (blood clotters): 357
normal is 150-400
ANC is 1390 (1000 or above provides enough protection)
Emma is feeling really good today, we went to Jama's office at the clinic after her appointment and went to lunch. Then on the way home we went to the library. This is one of Emma's favorite places. She picked out some books about dinosaurs, snakes, butterflies. She wants to go outside and find dinosaurs, snakes, and butterflies in the back yard!!!
Emma's next appointment is May 18. She will receive vincristine, and start on the week pulse of steroids (Oh FUN!!). If her counts are good then, we will only go once a month from here on out. We have 68 weeks to go!!! Still to early to start the count down??
We want to thank everyone who has kept Emma in their prayers, it means so very much to us. Also, an update on our friends Sarah Anne, and Rosie. Sarah Anne's counts were much better, and the risk of relapse has been ruled out Praise God. Rosie is doing better too,it seems that she is also still in remission, but has to have some more testing on May 9th. Please keep them in your prayers. Being on this side of things, I can't even imagine having to worry until May 9th for results.
We have a busy weekend planned, I will update again soon. Thank you for checking on Emma.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Tuesday, May 01, 2001 at 10:21 AM (CDT)

***** NEW PHOTOS ADDED 5/1/01*****
Hello,
Emma is doing very well. She is feeling really good, playing and eating well.
We have been practicing T Ball, and she can really hit the ball well, but then she runs and gets it, or she will run and try to slide into the ball!! She is really cute to watch. She is excited to play.
Potty training is going very well. She stays dry all day and usually at night too. Ocassionally she will forget (because she is too busy playing), but she is doing great!!! I never thought this would happen!!!
We had a very good weekend. Sunday we went to church with Miss Nancy who is running a marathon in Emma's honor for The Leukemia Society. They had a Lasagna luncheon and all of the proceeds went to Miss Nancy's race fund. About $1800.00 was raised. We had a wonderful time. I am going to put some pictures on her web site from the luncheon.
We have a busy weekend coming up, Friday we have to go to the clinic for blood counts.
Saturday is Taylor's (Emma's cousin) 2nd Birthday Party. Then on Sunday, we are going to cheer on the Team in Training Members Donna, and Ron who are running in the Cleveland Marathon.
Well that is about all for now, I will update again on Friday with her blood count results.
Please keep Emma in your prayers. We also ask for prayers for 2 of our friends that we have met through an online support group for children with leukemia. (ALL-KIDS). Rosie(from California) and Sarah Anne (from Alabama) are going to be undergoing Bone Marrow Aspirations today and tomorrow respectively because there is a relapse scare for both of them. Please pray that they are still in remission and that their blood counts increase soon.
Thank you for checking in on us.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Thursday, April 26, 2001 at 03:32 PM (CDT)

Hello,
Just wanted to update and let everyone know that Emma is doing wonderful. She is feeling good, playing, and SINGING!!!! She had a pretty good cough and runny nose in the beginning of the week, but it is going away now. Today we signed her up for Tee Ball!!! 3 and 4 year old Tee Ball!! She is so excited, she said she is "going to hit the baseball with the baseball stick and then run really fast!!!!" It should be cute, it begins June 16 and lasts for 6 weeks.
Today we went to the park and fed the ducks. She had fun, but was mad at all of the "Sea Eagles" that were taking the ducks bread (seagulls). She was yelling at them and telling them to share! She was so cute. Every once in a while she would eat some bread too, at least it was fresh!!
She is really feeling good, she has been going on the potty really well. Although yeaterday she told me, "Mommy, I have changed my mind about something... I don't want to be potty trained!!". But so far so good. We made it through the 5 days of steroids pretty good, and her "decadron growl" is just about gone. We go back to the clinic next Friday for blood counts.
We are preparing for Emma's birthday. I can't believe my baby is going to be 3 years old!!! She is growing so fast!!! She tells everyone she is going to be 7!!
Well that is all for now, just wanted to update on how well she is doing. Thank you for continuing to keep her in your prayers.
Love,
Tammy, Ron, and Emma

Friday, April 20, 2001 at 01:22 PM (CDT)

Hello,
We are back from the clinic, and Emma is officially on Long Term Maintenance!!!!!!!
We have been given an end of treatment day of August 25,2002. We can see the light at the end of the tunnel!
Today she had a spinal tap, received a dose of vincristine in her tubbies, she started on Mercaptopurine, and the dreaded steroids!!! But only for 5 days..... not to bad. Next Friday she will begin taking a weekly dose of methotrexate also.
Her counts are very good too:
WBC(infection fighters): 6.24
normal is 5.5-15.5
Hgb(carries oxygen in blood): 11.0
normal is 11.5-13.5
Platelets (blood clotters): 495
normal is 150-400
We did not get an ANC, but it is definetly over 1000 (anything over 1000 is considered enough protection to fight off bacteria )
So, she is doing very well. We go back to the clinic for blood work in 2 weeks, and then for treatment again 2 weeks after that. If she is doing well, and her counts are good, we will only have to go monthly!!! She will not have to get another spinal tap until mid July !!! We still have to be careful about infections, fevers, exposure to colds etc, but she will start felling better.
We learned a lot about what will happen when she is off treatment also. When she is done with treatment she will get a final bone marrow aspiration, and spinal tap, and echocardiogram. We will have to go back to the clinic for blood work every month for the first year off treatment, every 2 months for the 2nd year off treatment, every 3 months for the 3rd year, every 4 months for the 4th year and annually at 5 years and after. She will keep her tubbies in for 3 months after finishing the chemotherapy in case her counts get low and she has to be hospitalized for a fever or infection. The chemotherapy is in the body at least 3 months after ending, so we will still have to watch for fevers and such. So, we had a good clinic visit today.
Yesterday we had a visit from Aunt Vanessa and Taylor. Emma had fun playing. Jacob also got to play with them for a little bit. Emma was happy to have playmates again. We are also back on the potty!! She is doing very good, in fact she stayed dry all morning today, even with an IV!!!! I guess she will do things on her terms, when she is ready and not a second sooner!!!!
Well that is all for now, thank you for checking in on us.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Sunday, April 15, 2001 at 08:26 PM (CDT)

Happy Easter!!
Emma is doing very well. She is feeling good, eating well, and is singing!!!!! We got to take her to church this weekend. It was the first time in months that she has gotten to go. Her counts have been too low during delayed intensification. We went Saturday night and watched Daddy in the Easter Drama. It was wonderful. Daddy played a Roman soldier. Emma yelled at him for being mean to Jesus. She really enjoyed the play. She really watched it and knew what was happening. She liked the part of the play where Jesus healed the sick. She clapped at this part. When they crucified Jesus on the cross, she looked at me and asked "Did He die Mama?" She was sad. She was happy to see that he rose and is ALIVE!!! She is so sweet. We went to Easter service this morning also. They had another showing of the play so we got to see Daddy perform again. She really likes going to church, I am very glad that she will be able to go regularly again. We have an appointment this Friday, it will be another long day, she is scheduled to have a spinal tap (which means no eating... that is the hardest part for her). Then we will not have to go back for a whole month. It will seem really odd. I kind of like the weekly reassurance that things are going well.
Well that is all for now. Happy Easter to everyone. Thank you for checking in on her.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Tuesday, April 10, 2001 at 11:46 AM (CDT)

Hello,
We are back from Emma's appointment with very good news!!! Her counts are back up and she did not need another blood transfusion! Praise God!!!
Her counts are:
WBC(infection fighters): 2.02
normal is 5.5-15.5
Hgb( carries oxygen in blood):9.4
normal is 11.5-13.5 (8=transfusion)
Platelets (blood clotters): 225
normal is 150-400
ANC (ability to fight infection)=1339
above 1000 is good.
So, she bounced back very well, and so quick!! The nurse said that that is a sign of healthy bone marrow. We are so happy that her counts are up again. She is scheduled to start long term maintenance on April 20. She will have a spinal tap, a dose of vincristine, a week of decadron (steroid) and will start on Mercaptopurine, and methotrexate.
We were also given an approximate date that treatment will be finished,August/September 2002!!! Which is a few months earlier than we originally thought, it seems that some of the interim maintenance counts as the maintenance period.
Thank you all for keeping Emma in your prayers. We are so happy to be able to post such good counts today.
Thank you for checking on her.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie,and Emma

Friday, April 06, 2001 at 08:58 PM (CDT)

Hello,
We are finally home after a very long clinic appointment. Emma's counts are VERY, VERY, low. They have never gotten this low before:
WBC (infection fighters): 0.74
normal is 5.5-15.5
RBC (red blood cells): 2.50
normal is 3.9-5.3
Hgb (carries oxygen in blood): 6.9
normal is 11.5-13.5 (8=transfussion)
Platelets (blood clotters): 186
normal is 150-400
We do not know her ANC count (ability to fight off infection, it was still pending, but we do know that she is very neutropenic, and we are to watch for a fever.) Her hemoglobin is very low and she needed a blood transfussion today. Aunt Melanie had donated a unit of blood for her but unfortunately the bag broke during processing and we did not get it. We were also not notified that this happened, so we could have another bag donated for her. So, she got a bag out of the normal supply. We are a bit aggrivated about not being told about the bag breaking. Our appointment was not until 2:00 this afternoon, so by the time we got her counts back, and they typed her blood, it was 4:30. The office closes at 5:00. So, they wound up admitting Emma to the hospital for a few hours to get her blood. There were no rooms on the normal hospital floor, so they wound up putting her in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. They thankfully were able to give her the blood. It took about 3 hours and then we came home. She is already feeling better, her lips have color in them, and she is Purky again. While she was receiving the blood, they brought her a dinner tray. It had all of her favorites on it: spaghetti, green beans, broccoli, and chicken noodle soup. She thought it was great to be in the hospital. She had a bed that moved, a tv and was in charge of the remote, and kept changing the channel until she found a cartoon that she liked. She also had playdough which she loves. She had it made tonight ( and she even had Jama there with us!!) She did not really want to leave!
We go back to the clinic on Tuesday, and they will do blood work again. We have an early morning appointment this time, incase she needs more blood.
Please keep Emma in your prayers. We are praying that her counts increase and that she does not need another blood transfusion. Also, please pray that she does not develop a fever, we do not want to have to "really" be admitted to the hospital. She is not on any medication right now, she finished the last of the 6TG on Thursday and the next few weeks are given to let her counts increase. Thank you for checking in on us, and for your prayers. We can't ever explain how much they mean to us.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Sunday, April 01, 2001 at 08:42 PM (CDT)

Hello,
Emma is doing really well. She has not had a fever with this round of ARA-C. She is feeling really good. One more dose of this tomorrow and 4 more pills of 6TG and that is all of the medication for Delayed Intensification #2!!! Yippppeeee!!! Then she has almost 2 weeks for her counts to recover. Then on to long term maintenance just in time for nice weather!!! This is a big deal for us, because it is much easier on Emma and it means that the intense part of the chemotherapy treatment is finished!! She has felt really good and her counts have been pretty good when she has been on the interim maintenance phases, which are the same as long term maintenance will be. We will only have to go to the clinic once a month. She will receive a monthly dose of vincristine, at which time she will be on the steroids for a week. She will take a daily dose of mercaptopurine and a weekly dose of methotrexate. She will also only have to have a spinal tap every three months. This phase will last until December 2002. We still have to be careful with illness and not being around sick people, but we can go out more!!! She is really getting cooped up in the house.
Well that is about all for now, thank you all for your prayers, and for checking in on us.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Friday, March 30, 2001 at 04:16 PM (CST)

Hello,
Emma's appointment went well today. Her counts are on the decline, but this is expected. Her counts are:
WBC (infection fighters): 0.99
Normal: 5.5-15.5
Hgb(carries oxygen in blood): 9.3
Normal: 11.5-13.5 (below 8=transfussion)
Platelets (blood clotters): 232
Normal: 150-400
ANC= 740 (Above 1000 provides enough protection against bacteria)
So, her counts are getting lower. Her hemoglobin is decreasing, we figured this was happening because her lips are a tad bit pale. She received a dose of ARA-C in her tubbies today and will recieve a dose for the next 3 days. She will probably get a slight fever sometime tomorrow. She has also had a bit of nausea today also. But, zofran (the anti nausea medicine) helped.
We go back next Friday 4/6 for bloodwork.
Today Emma told me that "two of her feet hurt", when I asked her where, she told me they hurt in the kitchen!!! She is so funny. I meant where on her feet did it hurt, but she wouldn't show me, they just hurt she said!
She was a bit crabby today at the appointment. She had to get up early, and could not sleep until 10:00 like she has been lately. A Medical Student Examined her first this morning, and she really did not cooperate. He went to look at her ears, and she would cover them with her hands. Then he went to look in her eyes, and she closed them and covered them with her hands. She shut her mouth and covered it with her hands when he wanted to look in there. Finally, we got everything looked at but it was not too easy.
Grandpa Hottois (Tammy's dad aka Grandpa Face) came over today to visit Emma. They played for a while and had fun. Well that is all for now, I will keep the site updated on the fever status. Please continue to keep Emma in your prayers. We pray there is no high fever which requires her to be admitted. Thank you all so much.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Friday, March 30, 2001 at 04:16 PM (CST)

Hello,
Emma's appointment went well today. Her counts are on the decline, but this is expected. Her counts are:
WBC (infection fighters): 0.99
Normal: 5.5-15.5
Hgb(carries oxygen in blood): 9.3
Normal: 11.5-13.5 (below 8=transfussion)
Platelets (blood clotters): 232
Normal: 150-400
ANC= 740 (Above 1000 provides enough protection against bacteria)
So, her counts are getting lower. Her hemoglobin is decreasing, we figured this was happening because her lips are a tad bit pale. She received a dose of ARA-C in her tubbies today and will recieve a dose for the next 3 days. She will probably get a slight fever sometime tomorrow. She has also had a bit of nausea today also. But, zofran (the anti nausea medicine) helped.
We go back next Friday 4/6 for bloodwork.
She was a bit crabby today at the appointment. She had to get up early, and could not sleep until 10:00 like she has been lately. A Medical Student Examined her first this morning, and she really did not cooperate. He went to look at her ears, and she would cover them with her hands. Then he went to look in her eyes, and she closed them and covered them with her hands. She shut her mouth and covered it with her hands when he wanted to look in there. Finally, we got everything looked at but it was not too easy.
Grandpa Hottois (Tammy's dad) came over today to visit Emma. They played for a while and had fun. Well that is all for now, I will keep the site updated on the fever status. Please continue to keep Emma in your prayers. We pray there is no high fever which requires her to be admitted. Thank you all so much.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Wednesday, March 28, 2001 at 06:11 PM (CST)

Hello,
Emma is doing well. She has not had a fever since Tuesday morning, and then it was only a low grade. She seems to be feeling good. Her appetite had decreased somewhat, but she had still been eating like she was on decadron (which is constantly!). She is playing good, and singing (that is always a good sign!!).
Today was Jama's day off and she came over. Emma always has fun with Jama!!!
We go back to the clinic on Friday for blood work. Right now she is only taking a pill of 6TG each night. Saturday thru Tuesday she will get a dose of ARA-C in her tubbies each day. So, we will probably have another fever alert then too.
Emma was so excited today, because she had found a book she has been looking for. "Red, Red, Hiding Hood" she calls it!!
She described the story for me: "Red, Red, Hiding Hood was going over to her Grandma's brand new house, and a big wolf came out of the woods and they all became Pals and buddies!!" I thought that was so cute. She likes happy endings I guess.
Well that is all for now, I will update on Friday after her blood work.
Thank you for checking in on us.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

I read this quote in a book recently and I thought I would share it. It is by William Barclay.
"Endurance is not just the ability to bear a hard thing, but to turn it into glory."
Our Prayer is that we are able to endure this trial in our lives and that all of the Glory be given to God.

Sunday, March 25, 2001 at 12:00 PM (CST)

Hello,
Emma is good, she has a low fever of 100.4' this is expected with the ARA-C that she is getting. She seems fine, she is playing, and in a good mood. Her appetite has not been all that great today, but that too was expected. She is beginning to get very aggrivated at me chasing her around with the thermometer!! I am "fothering her" (bothering her), she says. Her and Daddy were watching a show on the Discovery Channel not long ago about King Cobra Snakes. When the snake gets aggrivated or bothered, it spits at whatever is aggrivating it. Emma has picked this up and when ever something is "fothering" her she tries to spit at it!! She doesn't really spit, it is more like "blowing rasberries"!! It is funny that she understood this from watching the show, but it is also a habit we are trying to stop! She has been "spitting" at me every time I come near her with the thermometer!
You can tell that she is feeling ok because she sings. She is always singing or humming, and we can tell when she is not feeling well because she stops singing. For the last couple of days she has been singing "Polly put the kettle on". Except instead of singing Polly put the kettle on we'll all have tea, she sings Polly put the kettle on we'll all have CHEESE!!!! She is so funny, I tried to tell her the right words and she said she does not want to have tea, she wants Cheese!!
Well that is all for now, thank you for checking in on us.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Friday, March 23, 2001 at 05:11 PM (CST)

Hello,
Emma did good today. She had a bit of a bad morning, she was very hungry and could not eat because of the spinal tap anesthesia. She was really screaming by the time we got into the OR prep area. They gave her versed to calm her down, and relax her. They call it "Happy Juice". She says it makes her dizzy. She went from yelling that she was hungry to giggling uncontrollably. Not long after that she was taken back to the OR. She was fine after the versed, and woke up about 45 minutes later and has not stopped eating yet! The nurse told us that the spinal tap was a "Tramatic Tap" meaning that the needle hit a capillary going in and there was a lot of blood in the spinal fluid. Otherwise, everthing was normal. She received Methotrexate in her spine. We are anticipating her not being able to walk tomorrow. This has happened a few times after a spinal tap. Tylenol and the heating pad usually help. So far, she is feeling fine today, she had her cytoxan and ARA-C chemotherapy. She will also start on a pill called 6TG today for 14 days. Her counts were very good today. They expect her counts to start going down by early next week though. Her counts were :
WBC (infection fighters): 4.85
normal 5.5-15.5
Hgb (carries oxygen in blood): 11.1
normal 11.5-13.5 (below 8 = transfusion)
Platelets (blood clotters): 337
normal is 150-400
ANC= 7275!! an ANC of 1000 or higher is good.
Right now she is singing the Scooby Doo song, and dancing. She is feeling really good. You would never guess that she went thru all of that today.
We go back next Friday for blood counts.
Please keep Emma in your prayers. The ARA-C can cause flu like symptoms and a fever. Last time she had ARA-C, she had a fever of 101 and felt pretty "wukky" as she calls it. Thank you for checking in on her.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie,and Emma

Wednesday, March 21, 2001 at 08:30 PM (CST)

Hello,
Emma is doing really well. She is not on any medication right now, and is feeling pretty good. She is still eating like a horse, but it is wonderful to see her have an appetite. Her hair has started to fall out again. She has lost quite a bit in the last 2 days. She looks like Anne Lenox from the group The Eurythmics from the 80's!! It is not very long because it had just started to grow back, and it kind of sticks up. She looks so cute!!
Right now she is sitting on Daddy's lap and he is reading Tarzan to her. She loves books and to be read to.
We go back to the clinic on Friday. It will be a long day and she will receive a lot of heavy chemotherapy. Please keep her in your prayers. She will be going under anesthesia for a spinal tap, and will receive Cytoxan which she has to be hydrated for a few hours prior to receiving it. So we will probably be there most of the day. Our appointment is for 8:45 and her spinal tap is scheduled for 10:00am. We will update when we get home Friday.
Thank you for checking up on her, and for your continued prayers.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie,and Emma

Friday, March 16, 2001 at 08:22 PM (CST)

Hello,
Emma's appointment went very well today. Her counts are back up and she is not neutropenic! Praise God. Her counts were:
WBC(infection fighters): 2.55
normal: 5.5-15.5
Hbg(carries oxygen in blood): 11.4
normal is 11.5-13.5 (below 8= transfussion)
Platelets(blood clotters): 348
normal: 150-400
ANC=3265 ( an ANC of 1000 provides enough protection from bacteria)
The doctor said her counts are wonderful and she has enough platelets for 2 kids!!!
It was so nice to get a good report today, we have been so worried about her. She is feeling pretty good, last night was the last dose of steroid. Her mood has been really affected by the steroid this time. She is really crabby, and is constantly eating. She eats, and eats, but seems to not be able to find something that satisfies her tastes. Her food of choice this phase has been spaghetti. She has eaten bowl and bowls full. She will want it for breakfast. The past 2 nights she has gotten up and 4am and 5am for either a ham or bologna sandwich and milk. Then she will fall back to sleep. She is just hungry all of the time. But, eating can't hurt, it has to help keep her strength up. I have also noticed the past few weeks that she is very shaky in the morning when she wakes up. I talked to the doctor today about it and she said it was from the steroid. Once she eats she is fine, decadron can mess up blood sugar.
Emma was so funny today, friends of ours just had a baby and I told Emma that her friend Ethan now has a baby sister. She told me some day she wants a baby sister, because it would be a girl, and "guys just don't understand"!!!
We go back to the clinic next Friday. She will receive a spinal tap, and a dose of cytoxan, and start a 14 day course of a pill called 6TG. She will also start on the 4 day doses of ARA-C. We are half way thru this delayed intensification phase and she is doing so well!! Her counts are very good. She has to have an ANC count of 1000 by next Thursday to continue with the phase. She already is above that, so thankfully she will be able to continue as scheduled.
Well that is about all for now I am hopefully going to post some new pictures soon. Thank you for checking in on her. Please keep Emma in your prayers.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Friday, March 09, 2001 at 08:45 PM (CST)

Hello,
Emma's appointment went very well today. Her counts are still very low, but since she does not have a fever, she received her treatment. She started on the steroid today, and she received a dose of Vincristine in her tubbies, an IV of Doxorubicin, and the last of the L-Aspariginase shots in her thigh!!! Yippee!!! She did not even cry!!! Donna, the nurse gave her a neat PEZ candy dispenser right before she got her shot, and she was busy playing with that, and hardly complained at all about the shot. If I would have know that would work, we would have bought PEZ dispensers weeks ago!!
Her counts are still low:
WBC (infection fighters): 0.87
normal is 5.5-15.5
Hgb(iron in blood, carries oxygen): 11.9
normal is 11.5-13.5
Platelets (blood clotters): 317
normal is 150-400
ANC= 200 (ANC of 1000 provides enough protection from bacteria) So, she is very neutropenic, and susceptible to infection. We are to watch for a fever and call them ASAP if she developes one. Her counts are really good except the WBC, which is what we want,it means the treatment is working. She has had a bit of nausea this evening, but nothing severe Praise God! She has 2 weeks off of chemotherapy now, to allow her counts to recover. (This is planned in the treatment protocol). We go back to the clinic next Friday for blood work, and then the following week if her ANC is back up to at least 1000, they will proceed with the 2nd half of delayed intensification, which I think was harder that the first half. She will receive Cytoxan, which is very hard on the bladder and can cause it to bleed. They will give her medication before hand to "coat and protect" the bladder. She will also receive 8 total doses of ARA-C over 12 days, which gave her flu like symptoms and a fever last time. She will have a spinal tap, and take a nightly oral dose of a pill called 6TG. So, that is what is around the corner for Emma.
We are very thankful that she is feeling pretty good so far. We are continuing to pray that she does not develop a fever or an infection. Please keep her in your prayers. The steroid should help boost her counts, which will make her not as susceptible to infection.
Thank you so much for checking in on us, and for your continued prayers for our family. I was told by a mom who's son went throught treatment and is doing well that "You just have to pray your way throught this ordeal", and that is what is giving us the strength to get through this, prayers. Thank you all so much.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Wednesday, March 07, 2001 at 05:49 PM (CST)

Hello,
We are on fever alert again. Emma's counts have dropped even farther and we are to keep an eye on her temperature and call if she gets a fever. So far, she is fine, no fever, she is eating good, and playing pretty good too.
Her counts are:
WBC (infection fighters): 0.86
normal is 5.5-15.5
Hgb (carries oxygen in blood): 12.1
normal is 11.5-13.5
Platelets (blood clotters): 283
normal is 150-400
They were still trying to determine her ANC count (ability to fight off infection) as we left the clinic. I expect it to be close to zero (1000 is good).
We are to keep her home, unless we go to the clinic for her appointments.
She got her 5th shot of L-Aspariginase today, only one more to go, that will be on Friday.
Please keep Emma in your prayers, although the low counts are an expected part of the treatment, it is worrisome because she is so sucseptible to infection, and has nothing to fight it off. She goes back for Vincristine, Doxorubicin, and the last injection of L-Aspariginase on Friday. They will not postpone this treatment for low counts. The only thing that will stop her treatment is a fever. So please pray that she does not develop a fever or infection.
The more treatment to fight off this monster, the better.
I will update again on Friday, thank you for checking in on us.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

PS Our friend Sarah Anne is home from the hospital, although her fever is gone, her counts are also still low.

Monday, March 05, 2001 at 03:21 PM (CST)

Hello,
We are back from Emma's appointment, and she did real well with the shot. She cried, but unfortunately I think she is getting used to it, and it wasn't so bad. Only 2 more to go, and then no more the rest of her treatment!!!
Emma's counts have also bottomed out. This was expected.
Her counts today were:
WBC(infection fighters): 1.04
normal: 5.5-15.5
Hbg(carries oxygen in blood): 12.3
normal: 11.5-13.5
Platelets(blood clotters): 241
normal: 150-400
ANC: 270 ( An ANC of 1000 provides enough protection to fight off infection)
Emma's ANC is very low right now, (again, this is expected) she is very susceptible to infections right now. We are to keep her in and away from crowds and people who are sick. Her counts are most likely going to get lower too. Her Hemoglobin and platelets are hanging in there, but her platelets have dropped some. Please pray that those counts stay up there, so she will not have to have a blood transfussion or platelet transfussion.
She seems to feel ok. She is eating good, she is still having some nausea, but Zofran seems to help that. Praise God for Zofran, it really helps with the nausea.
Please keep Emma in your prayers, pray that she does not get a fever, and continues to feel good. If she develops a fever, it will mean being admitted to the hospital.
Also, please pray for our little friend Sarah Anne, she is 3 years old and has the same thing Emma has, ALL. She lives in Alabama, and was diagnosed right before Emma.
Right now Sarah is in the hospital for low blood counts and a fever, please pray that her fever passes, and that she can go home soon. Also, please pray for her family, I know they are worried. Sarah Anne also has a web site:
www.caringbridge.com/al/sarahanne
Thank you all so much for your thoughts and prayers, they mean so much to us.

We go back to the doctor on Wednesday for another injection. I will update again then.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Friday, March 02, 2001 at 08:52 PM (CST)

Hello,
Emma's appointment went pretty good. She did good with the Emla cream (Mommy had it on her hand again, that really seems to help, she told me to go first, and the nurse pulled my tape and cream of first.)
She was mad when she got her shot, but she was alright afterwards. She received a dose of vincristine in her tubbies, and the doxorubicin. She had some nausea this evening, but zofran (the anti nausea med) helped. She has also had some diarrhea tonight too. I hope this passes, it is most likely from the medicine. This morning she had a bit of a runny nose but it seemed to pass as the day progressed. They told me to give her Dimatapp if it continues, I am not to give her anything with a fever reducer in it. We do not want to mask a fever with her counts dropping like they will be doing.
They did not do blood work today, she will have that done on Monday when we go in. Her counts are most likely going to drop really soon. I was looking back in my records from Delayed Intensification #1 and saw that what would be equivalent to next Friday in the phase Emma had a ANC of 50. (ANC of 1000 is good) so her counts really bottomed out last time, we are waiting for this to happen again this time.
She is still doing really well with the potty. Last night we went and got her some new Big Girl Panties. She got Scooby Doo and Dalmation Panties, she is excited.
Well that is all for now, please keep Emma in your prayers and pray that no fevers or infections develop. Thank you for checking in on us.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Wednesday, February 28, 2001 at 06:43 PM (CST)

Hello,
Emma did much better with the EMLA cream today. She did not care if she had it on or not. I also had a patch of it on, that seemed to make her feel better. I put some on the back of my hand and had a bandage on it just like her leg. The nurse pulled my "sticker" off right before Emma's.(and it did hurt to have it pulled off too, but it was nice and numb, so the cream does work) Emma did ok with the shot, but she screamed as soon as the nurse brought in the injection. As soon as it was over she was ok. Jama came with us, and had just had a TB test (yearly requirement for working in a hospital/clinic) so Emma kind of liked the fact that Jama also had to have a "shot". Although, Jama would have probably got poked too, just to make her feel better!! ;0)
Tonight is the last dose of steroid until next week YIPPEE!!! We all are glad to hear that.
Prisoners should have to be surrounded by 2 year olds on steroids. There would never be a repeat offender!!!
Emma is still doing really well on the potty, we had made her a Potty Poster and we put stickers on it when she goes on the potty and it is almost filled up. She is so proud of the poster!! She doesn't even ask for candy anymore, she just likes the sticker poster.
We go back to the clinic on Friday, she will get the works then, she will get vincristine, doxorubicin, and a shot of L-Aspariginase. They will do blood work then. Blood counts were not done today, because they just did them on Monday.
Thanks for checking in on her, and for your continued prayers for us.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Monday, February 26, 2001 at 07:29 PM (CST)

Hello,
Emma had a clinic visit today. She had a pretty rough time. She had to receive a shot of L-Aspariginase in her thigh, so we had to put an anesthetic cream called EMLA cream on her leg one hour before her appointment. Emma hates EMLA cream!! She hates the way it makes her leg numb, and she hates the sticker that we have to put on over the cream. She cried for about 20 minutes after I put it on her leg, finally I pulled off into a parking lot, and took the cream off. She hates it!!! When we got to the doctor, she knew the shot was coming, and was crabby until they gave it to her (which thankfully they did right away, and did not prolong her aggrivation)
I think the EMLA cream had been on her leg long enough to help ease the pain of the injection. She will have 5 more of these injections over the next 2 weeks, so I am not sure what we are going to do about the anesthetic cream. I guess I will try to put it on her, and if she freaks out again, I will take it off, I hate to make her upset. Maybe once she is off the steroid she will be better about it.
The steroid is really affecting her moods this time. She is screaming and crying one minute and the next she is laughing. She can't help it, and it confuses her to feel this way, she just says that she doesn't feel good. She says that nothing hurts, she just doesn't feel good. She is not sleeping well either. She has dark circles around her eyes. I mentioned it to the doctor today, she said that we can give her benedryl before bed and see if that helps her sleep. Last night she tossed and turned a lot and was awake from about 3:30 am to 6:45 am. I held her and rocked her for a while but she could not sleep. She was very restless. Hopefully the benedryl will help her sleep tonight. The potty issue is still going pretty good, she was not too keen on the idea this morning, but did sit on it a few times today. I know she does not feel well, so I am not pushing her. If she wants to try I take her and I ask her if she wants to try and if she does fine, if not fine too. She has enough going on right now. But I am very proud of her!!
Her counts were still good today.
WBC (infection fighters): 5.95
normal : 5.5-15.5
Hgb(iron level): 13.2
normal: 11.5-13.5
Platelets (blood clotters): 386
normal: 150-400
Her ANC count is 5410 (a count of 1000 is considered to be enough to fight off bacteria)
Her counts should start going down this weekend, or next week. The doxorubicin takes 7 to 10 days to work.
We go back to the clinic on Wednesday for another injection. I will update then. Please keep her in your prayers.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Sunday, February 25, 2001 at 07:09 PM (CST)

Hello,
Emma is doing well, but we have noticed a big slow down in her activity level. She is laying around a lot more, and not playing as much. The decadron has really hit her hard this time, she if very moody, and just wants to be held most of the time. She won't let me leave her side, and she is not real keen on Ronnie leaving either. I went out on Friday to go to the bank, and she wasn't real happy that I was gone. She is happiest if she is on my lap.
Today for some strange reason, she has decided to use the potty. I don't know why exactly, as you know this has been an ongoing battle with us. Last week, Auntie Melanie bought her some paper starts for potty training that dissolve when urine hits them. She was not impressed with them that much last week, but today, she is. She has gone on the potty 5 times today,tried to once, and has not had any accidents!!! We have made her a "Potty Poster" that we hung on the wall in the bathroom, and each time she goes or tries to go, she gets a sticker. So far she has 6 stickers!! Also, after she goes, she can have a piece of Twizzler candy (which she loves)(yes, bribery). Although, the last few times she has said she had to go potty, and actually went, and did not want candy!!!
I don't know what has come over her all of a sudden, but this is wonderful. We were not going to push her until after this phase of chemo, because she would not feel well. We were going to really push her in the spring, but she has decided this on her own. Who knows, tomorrow she may not want anything to do with the potty, but we will let her decide right now. We know she can do it, it is just her wanting to now, as you all know she can be a tad bit stubborn!!
Well that is about all for now, I will update again tomorrow after her appointment. Auntie is going to go with us tomorrow, she is going to donate blood for Emma in case she needs another blood transfusion during this phase. We made it without one the last intense phase, so hopefully she won't need it this time either.
Thank you for checking in on us, and for your prayers for Emma.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Thursday, February 22, 2001 at 07:12 PM (CST)

Hello,
Well, Emma did wonderfully today. She received her chemotherapy and had her spinal tap without any problems or complications. She woke up from her spinal tap and ate tomatoes, carrots, and dip. She has not had any nausea from the chemotherapy also. She was such a big girl today, she did not complain at all.
Her blood counts were wonderful also!!
WBC (infection fighters): 7.52
normal: 5.5-15.5 (they were normal!!)
Platelets(blood clotters): 357
normal: 150-400 (they were normal!!)
Hgb (carries oxygen in blood): 12.2
normal: 11.5-13.5 ( normal!!!)
ANC: 5865!!!! WOW!!! (an ANC of 1000 is good enough to protect her so this is wonderful!!)
So far she is feeling good, and is not having any back pain or nausea, which is wonderful!! She received Zofran (the anti nausea medication) this morning before she received the Doxorubicin, but has not had to take anymore all day!!!
Emma goes back to the clinic next week on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. She will receive a shot in her thigh each day, and on Friday she will also receive Doxorubicin, and Vincristine.
Today she begins the steroids!! So prayers are going to be needed for Ronnie and I, because they make her MEAN!! She is on 6 mg of Decadron each day for the next 7 days. This is not going to be pretty. This is probably the medication that affects her the worst out of everything.
Well, that is all for today, thank you so much for all of your prayers for her today and everyday. I will update soon.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Sunday, February 18, 2001 at 05:17 PM (CST)

Hello,
Emma is doing well. She is eating well, and has her energy back. We are so thankful.
Last night Emma spent the night with Jama and Papa. She was so excited! She loves to stay with them. Mommy and Daddy went on a "date". We went to dinner, but missed her the whole entire time.
Emma had so much fun with Jama and Papa. They played, and watched movies, and all kinds of things. She went to bed at a pretty normal time, but woke up at 4:30 am!!! For Good. She was mad because there were no cartoons on (because it was 4:30am!!) and decided she wanted to come home. That only lasted for a few minutes until Jama put in a movie. Then she didn't ever want to go home!!! Of course not, only Jama and Papa would let her watch cartoons, and movies at 4:30 in the morning!!!
We finally convinced her to come home, but she is still reminding me that she wanted to stay with them!!! She loves her Papa & Jama!!
Percy (Emma's pet battery operated Hamster) is doing well. She did have a situation though were Percy was "climbing" on her head and his motorized wheels got stuck in her hair. Remember now, that she really does not have a whole lot of hair to get stuck in, but her bangs are/were kind of long and his wheels got tangled up and he was just sitting on her head. She thought it was neat!! Well, she has a little less bangs on her head now, but we did manage to get Percy out of her hair. She has not put him near her hair again either.
Emma goes to the clinic on Thursday of this week. I will update after her appointment. Please keep her in your prayers this week. We are praying that she continues to feel good, and stays healthy and can begin her next phase. Also please pray for her on Thursday morning when she has her spinal tap. She is put under anesthesia for this and pray that everything goes smoothly.
Thank you so much for your continued support for our family, we will never be able to express our gratitude.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie,and Emma

Tuesday, February 13, 2001 at 06:37 PM (CST)

Hello,
HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!
Emma is doing really well. She is eating very well, and playing again. Boy, this stomach virus really kicked her butt!! We are so glad she is finally eating. She was able to start back on her chemotherapy last night too. She took a pill of mercaptopurine. Tonight and tomorrow night she gets 1/2 a pill each night and Thursday she will get a whole pill plus 4 1/2 pills of Methotrexate. Thursday is the last day of medication for this phase, then she will have a week of rest which allows her counts to recover. It will be a nice break for her not to have to take any medicine for a few days.
Today Papa took her and I to lunch. We went to the Cracker Barrel. Emma likes that resteraunt. Afterwards, we were looking in the gift shop, and Emma found what she has been wanting for a long time. A Hamster!!! Not real of course (but she can't have a real one anyway). It is battery operated, and comes with an exercise ball. Papa bought it for her (all she had to say is "Papa, can I have this?" and he would have bought her the building!!) So now she has a Hamster. She has named him Percy (her idea, it is the dogs name on Pocahontas) and she said "she is going to take good care of him" She said she is going to take him to church, to school, to the doctor, and where ever she goes. She also wanted to buy a "cave" (cage) for him. She is so excited to finally have her Hamster. It is very cute.
That is about all for now, thank you for checking in on her. Please keep her in your prayers, that she stays healthy and we can start Delayed Intensification on time. The sooner we can begin, the sooner we can get it over with and she can feel better. (I guess that is a good way to look at it... because there is nothing else good about it!!)

Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Sunday, February 11, 2001 at 09:53 PM (CST)

Hello,
Emma is doing so much better!! She has finally began to eat again. It was starting to really worry us, but today, she has eaten more than all last week put together. I will talk to the doctor tomorrow, and hopefully we can get her back on her treatment too. Today we went to Jama and Papa's house. Emma had not really been out that much for the last week except to go to the clinic, so she was glad to get out and have a change of scenery. Not much else to update on, we are just very glad that she is feeling better. We do not have a clinic visit scheduled this week, but next Thursday, Feb 22 she is scheduled to begin Delayed Intensification #2. It will last for 8 weeks and is pretty intense chemotherapy. On this day she will have a spinal tap, she will receive a dose of vincristine in her tubbies, and will receive an IV on doxorubicin, which really makes her counts go down and is pretty strong. She will also begin steroids for 7 days.
Thank you for all of your prayers for Emma. We can't imagine having to go through this ordeal with out having the Lord in our lives to trust.We know that He hears our prayers and faithfully answers them. Thank you for checking on us.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie,and Emma

Friday, February 09, 2001 at 04:27 PM (CST)

Hello,
Emma is a bit better. She is still not eating, but has not had a fever since Wednesday. She is kind of tired and weak, but that is probably because she is not eating. I spoke to the doctor today, and the blood culture is still negative (Praise God). He also said that since she is still having diarrhea, we are to hold her chemotherapy until I speak to him on Monday. He also said that we will not make up this week of chemo that she missed. Please keep Emma in your prayers, we pray that she will be able to start back on her chemo on Monday. Thank you for checking in on her. I will update again soon.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie,and Emma

Wednesday, February 07, 2001 at 07:32 PM (CST)

Hello,
Emma is doing better. She has not had a fever over 99 since early this morning. She did develop diarrhea this afternoon. She has not eaten anything yesterday or today, but she is drinking, which is good, she won't dehydrate. I spoke with her doctor today and he said that the blood cultures so far are negative, which is good news. He said that she most likely has a virus which will just run its course. We are to not give her the chemotherapy until probably Friday or Saturday. They don't want her counts and immune system to be lowered while she is fighting the virus. Please keep her in your prayers, that she begins to feel better and eat, and that her fever does not return. Thank you so much for checking in on us. I will update again tomorrow.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie,and Emma

Tuesday, February 06, 2001 at 07:25 PM (CST)

Hello,
Emma had an unscheduled trip to the doctor today due to fever. She has been kind of tired for the last 2 days, and today she had a fever of 100.4, so I called the clinic and they had me bring her in. By the time we got to the clinic, her fever was down to 99.3, (with out any tylenol). The clinic took blood and will culture it to see if any bacteria grows. They were thinking about admitting us, but since her fever was down, they let us go home. We are to watch her temperature, and call if it goes over 101. So far it has only gotten as high as 100.9.
We are also to stop her chemotherapy. She was to get 1/2 a pill of mercaptopurine tonight, but we are to hold it along with her bactrim until we talk to the doctor again tomorrow. Her counts are very good:
WBC(infection fighters): 3.26
normal is 5.5-15.5
Hgb(carries oxygen in blood): 10.9
normal is 11.5-13.5
Platelets(blood clotters): 323
normal is 150-450
ANC count is :2849
ANC count of 1000 provides enough protection against bacteria

Her ANC count is pretty good, so she should be able to fight off what ever it is. Jacob (Emma's cousin) had a stomach virus on Monday, and Emma was around him on Sunday so they are thinking that it is probably what she has also. She has complained about a tummy ache, a few times, so hopefully that is all it is, and she will be better soon. They took blood from both tubes of her catheter and will culture it. If something grows, indicating an infection, she will have to be admitted for a few days of antibiotics.
Please keep Emma in your prayers, we are praying that this passes, and her fever does not get any worse. Thank you for checking in on us, and praying for her. We appreciate so much. I will update tomorrow on how she is doing.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie,and Emma

Sunday, February 04, 2001 at 05:47 PM (CST)

Hello,
Emma is doing good. Her cold is still lingering, but she seems to feel good. She had a busy weekend. Saturday we went to see Franklin's Big Adventure at the Cleveland Playhouse. She loved it!!! It was a musical starring one of her favorites, Franklin the Turtle!!! Then on Saturday night we had a Suprise Birthday Party for Aunt Melanie. She thought we were all meeting at my Moms house (Jama's) and then were going to dinner to celebrate her birthday. But instead we had a bunch of friends there to celebrate her birthday. Melanie was very suprised and we all had a nice time.
Today Emma got to attend church. She has not for a while and today was "Buddy Barrel" day where the kids give their change to help with missons. Emma had a very full Buddy Barrel because she has missed missions Sunday for the last few months. She kept complaining that it was too heavy!
We go back to the clinic on Thursday of this week for blood work. Then on 2/22 we start the delayed intensification #2. We can't wait until it is over and the long term maintenance begins. Emma feels so good right now. Her hair is coming back in so fast too. And it is coming back Red again!! We are so glad, it is kind of her "trade mark", the bright red hair!
Well that is about all for now, Emma and her cousin Jacob had their pictures taken together today, so I am posting it on the photo album. Not a lot to update now, I will update later in the week when we go to the clinic and get her blood counts. Thank you for checking in on us.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Saturday, January 27, 2001 at 05:33 PM (CST)

Hello,
Emma's back is much better, you would never know it was hurting yesterday. She laid around most of Friday with the heating pad on her back. She is jumping , running and playing like normal now. But, she has a runny nose. I think she is coming down with a cold. So far no fever. We have been giving her some decongestant, which is helping so far. She is acting totally normal, full of energy, and she is in a pretty good mood. Today, our friend Nancy came over for lunch. Nancy is running a marathon for the Leukemia Society in Alaska on June 23rd. (Which happens to be the date of Emma's diagnosis last summer) Nancy has to raise $4500.00 in order to go, but she has made a personal goal to raise $10,000.00!! She is a wonderful lady and we are so happy to have met her. Emma loves her, she was all over her today, and they played and sang songs and Emma had a good time.
Emma is a patient Honoree for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Team in Training Program. There are a group of people (5 that have been assigned to her) who have taken on the challenge of raising money and running a marathon. Each has to raise between $900.00 and $4500.00 )depending on which marathon they are running) in order to run the marathon. There are marathons in Nashville, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Lake Tahoe, Sand Diego, and Anchorage. If anyone is interested in donating to this program and helping Emma's team members raise their requirements, let us know. The money raised goes to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, and will help find a cure for this horrible disease.
Well, that is about all for now, please keep Emma in your prayers. We are praying that her cold passes, and she doesn't develop a fever. Thank you for checking in on us.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Thursday, January 25, 2001 at 06:53 PM (CST)

Hello,
Emma's appointment today went very well. She was such a good girl!!! She did not complain about anything, she cooperated with the doctors for the physical, and did not complain about not being able to eat. We are so proud of her. She did not eat from 9:30 last night until about 12:00 this afternoon. She was so good about it, I felt so bad for her, that is a long time for a little kid to not eat. She is amazing!! Her lab work looked pretty good today too. The results are as follows:
WBC(infection fighters): 2.32
normal is 5.5-15.5
Hbg (carries oxygen in blood): 11.7
normal is 11.5-13.5
Platelets (blood clotters): 305
normal is 150-400
ANC: 1238 (a count of 1000 is good and provides enough protection from normal bacteria)
She is doing very well. She received a dose of vincristine in her tubbies, she had a spinal tap with methotrexate injected into her spine, and she starts on the steroid decadron for 5 days. She will also take a pill of mercaptopurine and 4 1/2 pills of methotrexate tonight.
She is having trouble walking tonight, she complained that her back hurts where they put the medicine in it, and she is a bit hunched over, and won't walk a lot. It breaks our heart to see her like this. I have given her tylenol, so hopefully the back pain will go away. She is starting walk a bit better already. This happened before, back in August, she would walk for a whole day.
We got some exciting news today... The doctors office faxed a form to Make A Wish Foundation. They grant wishes for children with life threatening illnesses. They are recommending that Emma gets a wish. So we may get to go to Disney World. She wants to see Mickey Mouses House!!! That is so exciting.... she would have so much fun. We should hear from the Make A Wish Office in a month or so.
Well that is about all to update for today. Please keep Emma in your prayers. We are praying that the back pain will pass and she can walk easier. Also, the vincristine that she received today often makes her joints, bones, muscles, and jaws ache, and also has given her bladder spasms. Please pray that she has no pain. I will update soon. Thank you for checking in on us.....
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma
***** By the end of the evening tonight, Emma was feeling much, much better, she was walking better, and was not as stiff... Praise God*********

Saturday, January 20, 2001 at 08:52 PM (CST)

Hello,
Today we had an "Emma's Feeling Good Party!!" She had so much fun. We invited a few of her friends over, and her 2 cousins, and they played and played and played. She had sooo much fun.
Emma picked the menu, we had Cake (because you always have to have a cake at a party she said!), and ice cream (because you have to have ice cream with cake she said!), grapes, strawberries, cracker fish, juice, pizza and her favorite GREEN BEANS!!
Auntie and Jacob, Aunt Vanessa, Uncle Paul and Taylor, Juanita and Nathan, Donna, Greg and Garrett, Emma, Mommy and Daddy were there. Jama and Papa came for a bit too, and so did our new friend Nancy who is running the marathon for the Leukemia Society, she brought each of the kids an art pack and coloring book. Thank you so much Nancy, they loved them!! and Thank you to everyone for coming!!
Emma is asleep on the couch already, she was tired, she had a very good time. It was so nice to see her playing and having fun.
Not much else to update on. She goes back to the doctor this coming Thursday. She will have a spinal tap, a dose of Vincristine, and will start on the decadron for a week. We will probably have an echocardiogram scheduled soon, to check out her heart before the next round of intense chemo starts. It is supposed to start on February 22. Thank you for checking in on us.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Thursday, January 11, 2001 at 01:48 PM (CST)

Hello,
Emma's appointment went very well today. She is doing very well. Her counts are very good too. They are as follows:
WBC (infection fighters): 2.87
normal : 5.5-15.5
Hgb (carries oxygen in blood): 11.3
normal : 11.5-13.5
Platelets (blood clotters): 488
normal : 150-400
ANC count: 1621
a count of 1000 provides enough protection to fight of normal bacteria

So, her counts are good, and she is feeling good, that is all we want!! Today at the clinic Emma received a Spinoza Bear. It is so cute, she loves it. It is a fuzzy bear that has a tape player in it, and it came with about 10 tapes that tell stories and play music. Emma really likes it. Some one donated a few to the hospital and they gave Emma one.
Emma is eating very well again too. We usually go to get Tacos or happy meals after her appointments, and today she ate a whole chicken taco, and some nachos and dippy(cheese). Now, she is eating goldfish crackers!!
We are scheduled to go back to the clinic on Jan 25. She will receive a dose of Vincristine, a spinal tap, and she will start on decadron for 5 days. But, we have at least another 2 weeks of feeling good!!! We are going to plan a "Emma's Feeling Good Party" and have some of her friends over to play!!! She will have fun!!
Jacob (my nephew)is doing much better too, he is feeling good, and back to himself, that pneumonia and RSV are pretty nasty!!. Thank you for all your prayers for both Jacob and Emma. We appreciate them!!
Thank you for checking up on us!!
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Monday, January 08, 2001 at 08:52 PM (CST)

Hello,
Emma is feeling better, she had a couple of days where she was kind of crabby, and tired, but today she was much better.Today we tried to wear big girl panties and go on the potty. She thought she was really cool at first with the panties on, but after she had about 4 accidents (even after I took her to the potty every half hour) she finally told me " Will you please just give me my diaper back!!!" Well, we tried, maybe tomorrow will be better. She tried, and tried, to go on the potty, but then she would get "busy" playing and forget.
Prayers are needed again for my nephew Jacob. He recently had the upper respiratory virus called RSV and was very sick, and was on breathing treatments. Well now he has Bilateral Pneumonia. He had a temperature of 104' on Sunday and had to go to the ER. They sent him home on antibiotics because his fever went down. He is just not his happy self, and does not feel good at all. Please pray that he gets better and can be healthy for the rest of the winter.
Emma is good, thank you for your continued prayers for her. We will have blood work done this Thursday, I will update then with the results. Thanks for checking in on us.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Saturday, January 06, 2001 at 06:19 PM (CST)

Hello,
Emma is doing good. She is a bit tired today, and kind of crabby. I think the chemotherapy that she received last week is making her feel yukky.
Today we went to The Team in Training Kick Off for The Leukemia Society. Emma is a Patient Honoree. There are teams of people who have taken on the challenge of raising large amounts of money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and either running, walking, or cycling in a marathon. There are several people who are doing this in honor of Emma. We got to meet some of them today. It was really nice. We met Nancy Branch, who is going to run a 26.3 mile marathon in Anchorage, Alaska, and we also met Charlie Fry who is going to run a 26.3 mile marathon in Cincinnati. They are both from Medina also. They are using Emma as their "inspiration" to complete this challenge. They will be raising a certain amount of money and then are able to participate in a marathon in various cities. It is an incredible challenge, and I give them a tremendous amount of credit. We are so excited to be part of this.
Yesterday we got a very exciting e mail from a web site called Love Quilts to make a child smile. I believe it is sort of affiliated with Make A Child Smile, the web site that featured Emma this past October. Emma has been chosen to receive a handmade quilt. There are many volunteer cross stitchers who stitch quilt blocks and then they are made into quilts for ill children. We are so excited! We are trying to think of a theme for Emma's quilt. We thought of lady bugs (since Emma loves them), but they are not sure they will be able to get enough lady bug designs for a whole quilt. So we are thinking of another theme. This will be a wonderful keepsake for Emma, she will be featured on the web site in November 2001. I will post the web address on the links section.
Emma goes to the clinic this Thursday 1/11/01 for blood work.
Thank you for checking in on us.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Monday, January 01, 2001 at 07:29 PM (CST)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
Emma is doing pretty good. Yesterday she had started to feel kind of "wukky" from the decadron(steroid). She was really tired, she hasn't been sleeping very well, she is very restless all night,she has big dark circles under her eyes, and is very whinny. Yesterday she just started crying, and wanted to be held. I asked her what was wrong and she just cried and said "I don't know". I held her for a long time and she stopped. It breaks my heart when she is like this. I try to tell her the medicine is so she will get better and then it makes her feel so bad, it doesn't make any sense to her. She slept better last night, so that may be why she seems better today. Tonight is the last night of decadron so hopefully she will start to feel better. We had been spoiled, she has not been on any medication for the last 3 weeks, and was feeling really good. The chemotherapy started again and we have noticed a big difference. It is going to be a long 105(give or take) weeks!!
There is not a whole lot else to update, we wish everyone a Very Happy and Healthy New Year. Please pray that she starts to feel better. Thank you for checking in on us.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Saturday, December 30, 2000 at 08:15 PM (CST)

Hello,
Emma is doing good, she has been tolerating the "wukky medicine" (decadron /steroid) very well. It has caused her to have a bit of dark circles under her eyes, but she is not mean yet!!! YET!!! She has only had one episode of joint pain (caused from the Vincristine she received on Thursday). Thursday night she was very restless while she was sleeping,I think she was achy I gave her tylenol and it seemed it seemed to help, she slept good the rest of the night. That medication has some nasty side effects, but we are very fortunate that tylenol works, a lot of times they have to give the children tylenol with codeine or even morphine. It just breaks our hearts to see her hurting. But, Praise God, she feels good again, and has not had a lot of bone and joint pain.
We had a bit of a scare at home today. This morning at 5:00 am I woke up to a thumping noise, and a strong smell of something burning. Not smoke, a plastic smell. We could not figure where it was coming from, but then realized the furnace was not kicking on. The smell was coming from the furnace. It turned out that on the inside of the furnace, there was a loose wire or something and it shorted out and melted everything, and pretty much fried the wires. The furnace/central air unit is only about 8 months old. The repair man said it was probably not connected properly and shorted out. It was very scary, but fortunately we had heat again by noon. It was just starting to get a tad bit cold when the repair man arrived and was able to fix it.
The day started out pretty "wukky" as Emma would say, but it ended nice, we spent the day with Aunt Vanessa, Uncle Paul, and Taylor. We had our "Christmas Dinner and Gift exchange" with them. Emma had fun playing with Taylor. We had a very nice time. Right now Emma is passed out on the couch, she was up with us at 5:00 and would not take a nap (to much going on, she might miss something).
We get a week off from the doctor this coming week, so hopefully it will warm up and we can go out. Thats about all for now, thank you for checking in on us,and for your continued prayers.
Also, Jacob is doing much better, he is having an easier time breathing. He is still on the breathing treatments, and medication but not as frequent. Thank you for your prayers for him.
We wish everyone a very Happy New Year!!
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Thursday, December 28, 2000 at 03:08 PM (CST)

Hello,
We are back from Emma's appointment and she is doing very well. It was a long day, we had to be there at 9:15 and did not get home until 3:00. Thankfully, Papa (Gary) was on vacation and came with us. Her counts were up enough and she was able to begin the next phase Interim Maintenance #2. She had a spinal tap that went very well, and a dose of Vincristine in her tubbies. She also starts on Decadron today for 5 days. This is the steroid that they are using instead of prednisone. It still tastes "weally, wukky!" if you ask her, but she doesn't throw it up like she does the prednisone.
Her counts were very good, they were:
WBC (infection fighters): 4.34
normal 5.5-15.5
Hgb(carries oxygen in blood): 11.7
normal:11.5-13.5
Platelets(blood clotters): 293
normal: 150-400
ANC(ability to fight off infection): 2417
an ANC of 1000 provides enough protection to fight off bacteri and fungi.

Her counts are very good, and her ANC count is great. But, she also has not had any chemotherapy for a few weeks, so since it is beginning again this count should go down, but probably not much since she is in maintenance. This next phase lasts for 8 weeks. It consists of :
Vincristine(chemo in tubbies): days 0,28
Dexamethasone/decadron (Pill):
days 0-4 & 28-32
Mercaptopurine (Pill): days 0-49
Methotrexate(4 1/2 pills): days 0,7,14,28,35,42,49
IT Methotrexate(spinal tap): days 0,28

Emma's next appointment is in 2 weeks on Jan 11. She will only have bloodwork done then. After that she will go back on Jan 25 to have another spinal tap, and vincristine. So, we get a bit of a break from the weekly appointments. She gets a lot more medication in this phase but it is given at home which is good. She is feeling good, kind of tired from the anesthesia, but otherwise she is happy, and playing.

We ask for prayers for my sisters little boy Jacob. He is 16 months old and has RSV which is a bad respiratory virus. He is having a hard time breathing, and is wheezing. He is taking prednisone, and is getting breathing treatments every 4 hours around the clock. He has not been admitted to the hospital and hopefully it will not come to that. He is not feeling very well at all, he also has an ear infection(even though he has tubes in his ears) and is getting over pink eye. Please pray that he gets well soon. Emma was around him on Christmas, we don't know how long he has had carried the RSV virus before he got sick, so please pray that Emma does not develop it either. The doctors think she is ok since she has not showed any symptoms as of yet. Thank you so much for your continued prayers for us. Thanks for checking in on Emma.
We wish everyone a very Happy & Healthy New Year!!!
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie,and Emma

Tuesday, December 26, 2000 at 11:50 AM (CST)

Merry Christmas!!
Emma is doing very well. We had a wonderful Christmas. She doesn't know what new toy to play with first!!! Right now, she is watching Pinnochio. It is the first time she has seen it, and is really in to it. She seems to be feeling really well. She is full of energy, and eating very well. We had a very nice day visiting everyone yesterday. Today, I think we will just stay in and let her play with her new toys. We go to the clinic on Thursday, she will have blood work done first and then if her ANC count is high enough, (it has to be 1000), she will have a spinal tap, start on mercaptopurine(pill nightly), decadron(for 5 days), and vincristine(monthly). I am anxious to get back on the treatment plan, right now she is not taking any medication, it makes me a bit nervous. This next phase is called Interim Maintenance #2, and lasts for 8 weeks. Then she will start a phase called Delayed Intensification #2 which is exactly like the phase she was just on. Delayed Intensification #2 will last for 8 weeks, and then we will finally start Long Term Maintenance which will last until December 2002 I believe.
Please pray for Emma's counts to be high enough to proceed with the next phase of treatment. Also please pray that everything goes well with the spinal tap if she is able to start. Thank you for checking in on her, and for your prayers.
We love you all,
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Sunday, December 24, 2000 at 05:13 PM (CST)

Merry Christmas!!!
Emma is doing well. She got to go to church today, and her beloved Ethan was there. He is about 5 months younger than her, and she loves playing with him. Before she got sick I babysat him during the day. She really misses playing with him. Today she asked him to marry her, but he said NO! She was mad, but we told her it was because she still wears diapers and doesn't use the potty like a big girl!! We told her nobody wants to marry a girl in diapers!!! Hopefully this will help the potty situation but we doubt it. (He is also still in diapers, but she doesn't know this)
When we got home today, Emma had a visit from Santa Clause!!! (Actually Grandpa Face in a suit that I made for him). She was very excited, and really liked Santa Clause. He gave her a candy cane, and they ate some cookies.She also gave Santa her list. She was cute. She really thought he was Santa Clause!!
The following was printed in our church bulletin today, and I really liked it so I thought I would share it by putting it on the website. (It is By Peggy McKee from Aurora, MO.)
Corrie ten Boom said it best: " Picture a piece of embroidery placed between you and God, with the right side up toward God. Man sees the loose, frayed ends; but God sees the pattern." Mary too might have looked upon her future as though it were a mess of tangled embroidery floss. After all, here she was a virgin, pregnant and soon to be married. And she was to understand she was carrying the Messiah. She didn't even have the luxury of a room to give birth in , nor did she have a drawer full of baby clothes neatly folded awaithing the day. By worldly standards, this would be a complicated mess, but Mary chose to trust God and all His promises. Her life was blessed, despite what it might seem to others. God's vision was all that mattered. With every stitch in place, His masterpiece was soon to be born, thus the immaculate conception that allows us to see our own life as a bright and colorful pattern of hope.
We want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year. We pray for all of you and that everyone has a safe trip traveling to visit loved ones. We also want to thank everyone for all of the support you have given us this past year. We would never have gotten through it without all your love, support, and encouragement. Thank you very much!!
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Saturday, December 23, 2000 at 08:51 PM (CST)

Hello,
Emma is doing good. She is full of energy, eating well, and playing. The only medication she is on right now, is Bactrim 3 days a week to prevent pneumonia so she is happy to not have a lot medicine to take.
Today Emma, Daddy, and Mommy went to the movies. We saw The Emperors New Groove. It was very good. She loved it. She sat through the whole movie and was very good. It is the second movie we have taken her to see. The other was The Flinstones back in May. The only problem she has is that she is not heavy enough to keep the seat down. She is ok if she holds still, but it she starts moving, the seat folds in half and "quishes" her as she calls it.
Not a lot going on otherwise, I got a computer scanner for Christmas, and I am "trying" to scan some pictures to put them on this web site, and in her zing photo album, but it is not working too well. So if I don't throw the scanner in the fireplace, I should have some new pictures to post!!!
Well, that is all right now, Thank you for checking in on us. Please continue to pray that her counts go up so she can resume her chemotherapy next week.
Merry Christmas,
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Wednesday, December 20, 2000 at 04:05 PM (CST)

Hello,
Well Emma finally decided to come home from Jama and Papa's house. She told me she had soooo much fun there last night.
My doctors appointment went well today. The lab work showed a slight infection "somewhere" which is causing my lymph node to be enlarged. She prescribed an antibiotic. I am so relieved.
Emma and I went "shopping" today. We went to the dollar store and I let her pick out presents for everyone. She could pick out whatever she wanted for each person. She picked out some very different items, and I am sure our family will be "happy" to get them. She was so cute, there was some really "jazzy" music on the speaker at the store, so every so often she would have to stop and dance. She had so much fun. Next we are going to wrap the presents. That should be fun too, Emma and tape oh boy!!!!!!
Please pray for the family of 14 year old Jamie Bowman. He passed away yesterday. He also had Leukemia. He had t cell ALL, and relapsed last spring. He was not able to get into remission again and no further treatment was available. Please keep the family in your prayers, pray that they are comforted during the next few days as they prepare for the funeral, and through the coming holidays. I met his Grandma Bonnie on the A.L.L. parents support group e mail list. They are from the Columbus area.
Thank you for checking in on us, and for your continued prayers.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Tuesday, December 19, 2000 at 05:44 PM (CST)

Hello,
Well, Emma's spinal tap was cancelled for today. Her ANC count is too low to proceed with the next phase. The ANC(absolute neutrophil count)indicates the bodies ability to fight off infection and must be 1000 to proceed and Emma's is only 880. This is absolutely normal, and often happens between each phase. This is the first time we have had a delay. Her counts look good otherwise:
WBC(infection fighters): 2.33
normal is 5.5-15.5
Hgb(carries oxygen in blood): 10.7
normal is 11.5-13.5 (8.0 or under indicates the need for a blood transfussion)
Platelets: 519
normal : 150-400
ANC= 880

So, we have to wait until next week and have her counts done again, and possibly start then. The good thing about this is that she will not have to take prednisone until after Christmas. The doctor said her counts are good, and this is completely normal. The platelets are high, they said that sometimes in younger children, the platelet counts bounce way up. This happened when she was began interim maintenance #1 also.
Another good thing that was done today is that Emma will not have to take prednisone during the next phase, she will be taking decadron instead. They are basically the same, except that the decadron tastes a bit better than the prednisone. She has an easier time taking it. It is still "really wukky" as Emma says, but a little better.
The reason for this is that they have found that taking decadron during maintenance has given patients a 3 times less likely chance of relapse in the central nervous system(spine). That is good to hear, they are making some progress in research to prevent children from relapsing. I think over all there is a 25% chance of relapse, so this is good to hear. I also have read that the faster a child responds to treatment and is in remission, the better it is and the less likely the chance of relapse. This is very comforting to know, since Emma was in remission at day 7.
Well Emma is spending the night with Papa and Jama. She refused to come home!!! She loves it with them, and has not spent the night there in a long while. I have a doctors appointment in the morning anyway, so now I will not have to take her out in the cold. I have found a lump in my neck, by my collar bone, and went to the doctor on Monday and she said it was a lymph node. This of course really freaked me out!!! They drew blood, did a chest x ray, and a TB test. She believes it is due to my body fighting off and infection and is nothing serious. I go back tomorrow to have the TB test read, and get the results of the labs. The doctor called today, and left a message on our voice mail saying that she had good news, and wanted me to know before the appointment tomorrow.( I think she realized that I am a bit psychotic and did not want me to loose any more sleep over this) I can not help it , since Emma has been sick, I get nervous over the slightest sneeze, or ache and pain!! I have also come to realize how precious good health is and how much we took it for granted. 6 months ago today, our nightmare began. 6/19/00 is the day we were directed to take Emma to the Emergency Room, because of a rash she had on her feet and legs. Something we thought they would call just a rash due to her virus and fever and send us home. Our lives were changed so much that day, sometimes it seems like it was just yesterday, and sometimes it seems like it has been 6 years instead of 6 months. It is something how fast your life can change.
Please pray for Emma's counts to build back up, and that we can restart treatment next week. Also, please pray for me as I get the test results tomorrow. The doctor said it was good news, but I am still nervous. Thank you for checking in on us. We love you all.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Saturday, December 16, 2000 at 08:57 PM (CST)

Hello,
Emma is doing well. Today we went to the mall and she visited Santa Claus. She actually sat on his lap and they had a pretty good conversation. Puppy (her stuffed dog that goes absolutely everywhere with her also sat on his lap). She was quiet at first, and he asked her if she wanted him to bring her some toys. She opened up a bit then, and told him that she wanted a purple butterfly. Thankfully she did not mention the hamster!! She also said she would leave him some cookies. Then when she got down off of his lap, she said" Well, were are my presents!!" She thought she got the presents right then and there. She forgot the whole chimney thing. After Santa, she rode on the train the mall had set up. She loved it, she walked right over, and gave the lady her token and climbed in. She was so cute. She made me cry watching her. I am so very thankful that she is feeling good, and able to be doing these things, it was like we had our "normal" lives back, watching her have fun, and do things that she should be doing. I could not help but cry. We had a such a good day. We also went to see Grandpa Hall today. She has not seen him in a while, and was talking his ear off!!! We also finally put up our Christmas tree today. Finally. Emma said that it was the "most beautifulest tree" that she has ever seen!! She was so excited. But now she will not leave the train under the tree alone!!! Well that is it for now, I just wanted to share our good day with everyone. Take Care, and thank you for checking in on us.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Friday, December 15, 2000 at 09:51 PM (CST)

Hello,
Well Emma is doing very well. She is feeling good, playing, eating like a horse, and is back to her sweet happy self. Tonight we went to Daddy's basketball game. He is playing on our churches team. Uncle Joe is playing also. They Won tonight 47-44. Emma got to play with Jacob tonight. It has been a long time since they have played together because Jacob has been sick, so they were very excited to see each other. They gave each other a great big hug!! It was so sweet. Not a lot more going on, Emma is thinking about sitting on Santa's lap, but she did "dictate" a wish list for him. She wants a puppy, and a hamster, a purple butterfly, some wind for the butterfly, a doggy that says ruf, ruf, and a dancing doll. she is not allowed to have the dog or the hamster because of her treatment. (no new pets while she is going through treatment). So we explained that she can maybe have a puppy when she is all done with treatment, and that Santa can not bring her a hamster because it will freeze flying in his sleigh. (not because mommy doesn't like them, and the cats will not get along with it!!) We did get her the doggy that says ruf ruf, the butterfly is a new wish, we will have to look for one and the dancing doll too??? I can imagine what this is. She is so silly. She has a new phrase:"What difference does it make anyway!" I have no idea where she got it from, but she does use it correctly in a sentence. No new jokes yet, but she thinks she is the funniest thing ever when she tells her squirrel joke. She laughs, and laughs!!
Emma does not go back to the clinic until Tuesday, where she will have a spinal tap(I checked and she does need one), Vincristine (the drug that has caused her to have bladder spasms) and our favorite, PREDNISONE!!! Just in time for Christmas. She will only have to take it for 5 days, so the last dose will be 12/23.
Emma will get to go to church on Sunday. We are so excited to take her, she has not been there in a few months because her counts have been too low. But she will get to go Sunday. She is excited.
Well, that is all for now. As I am writing this she took her sock off and flung it at me, so I guess she wants to play. We are so happy and thankful that she is doing well. Thank you for checking in on her.
Love,
Tammy, Ron, and Emma

Tuesday, December 12, 2000 at 07:13 PM (CST)

Hello,
Emma's clinic appointment went very well today. Her blood counts are recovering very well. Her counts are as follows:
WBC(infection fighters): 2.41
normal : 5.5-15.5
Hgb(hemoglobin;carries oxygen in blood): 8.4
normal : 11.5-13.5
Platelets (blood clotters): 410
normal: 150-400
ANC= 990 (an ANC of 1000 provides enough protection from bacteria and fungi)
She is doing very well. She goes back in next Tuesday and will begin Interim Maintenance #2. This phase will last 8 weeks. She will receive Vincristine, Prednisone, and methotrexate. She is also scheduled for a spinal tap next Tuesday, although it is not listed on the "road map of treatment" that we received so I have to call tomorrow and make sure that is correct.
Today was the Christmas Party for the Children and the clinic. Emma had so much fun!!! Blues Clues was there, and she was all over him, hugging him, and shaking his hand, and dancing. Winnie the Pooh was also there, but she wasn't real impressed with him. And of course Santa was there, and had presents for each child. Emma received a Harley Davidson Power Wheels motorized pink motorcycle!!! She loves it!!! She was so excited. They were so generous!!! She was zooming up and down the hospital floor on this motorcycle which goes pretty fast, Ronnie, Jama and I had to run to keep up with her!! It was a very nice party, and there were a lot of children there, some got CD players, and game boy video games, and one little girl got a motorized Jeep. They had pizza and sandwiches, cookies, punch and each child got a stocking with candy in it.
Emma also received an Ice skate Stocking which was donated by the ice skater Scott Hamilton. He went through cancer treatment at The Cleveland Clinic last year.
It was so nice to see her having fun, she met a friend named Karly, she is 3 years old and they were running and playing and having a ball!!! There were cameras there from Channel 8 news also, so Emma may be on the news. We were not home to see the evening news, so we are not sure if they showed the party.
We think that Santa scored big points with Emma today, up until now, she was totally not interested or impressed with him at all. I explained to her that Santa will come down the chimney on Christmas Eve and leave her presents under the tree. She said that she thought that was a very "unsafe thing for him to do"!!! But she kind of liked him today.
Well that is about all for now, I will update more soon, I took a lot of pictures of the party and Emma and the staff today, so when I get them developed I will post them on her site and put them on her Zing photo album. Thank you for checking in on her.
Love, Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Tuesday, December 05, 2000 at 02:41 PM (CST)

Hello,
Emma's clinic appointment went very well today. Her counts are recovering really well. They are as follows:
WBC(infection fighters):1.58
normal : 5.5-15.5
Hgb (hemoglobin:carries oxygen in blood):8.3
normal : 11.5-13.5
Platelets(blood clotters): 284
normal : 150-400
ANC=1040
(an ANC above 1000 provides enough protection to fight of bacteria)
So, her counts are pretty good, she is not neutropenic, but she may need a blood transfusion next week. We are supposed to watch for her to get pale, or have a higher heart rate. Jama donated blood for her last week, so she will receive that if needed. A few updates ago I mentioned that Emma's blood type is A+, that is not right (and I know that, I must have been half asleep when I wrote it!!) her blood type is O+. That is what type Jama is too, so she can donate. For children under the age 12 they like to give the exact type of blood.
Emma's fever has passed. She has not had one since Sunday morning. The doctor said it was from the ARA-C, it usually spikes and then goes up and down but never really high. She does have a pretty good cough, but her lungs are clear and she is not wheezing. The doctor said that every child that came in today had a cough like that.
She is doing really well, she is starting to eat again. That alone may help her feel better, and boost her counts a bit.
Last night she got to spend some time at Papa and Jama's while Mommy and Daddy went to dinner and shopping. Although after we finished dinner, we were missing her and went back to get her instead of going Christmas shopping!!! We can do it another day!!!
She had so much fun with them last night!! Emma and Jama were hiding and Papa was looking for them. He crawled up behind them and scared Emma really good, and she got mad and hit him on his head!!! She yelled,"Papa, you scared me!!, That is not funny Papa", and she hit him again on his shoulder. He was laughing really hard at her and it made her mad!!
They also decorated their Christmas tree. Emma was eating carrots, and decided to put them in the tree as ornaments too!!!!
She has so much fun with them.
The delayed intensification phase is just about over, the next few weeks they just allow her counts to recover before beginning interim maintenance. This will start December 19. It lasts for 8 weeks, and then Delayed intensification #2 begins.
She is not on any medication right now except the Bactrim to prevent pneumonia. So for about the next 10 weeks or so she should be feeling pretty good!! Praise God, we made it thru this phase without any hospitalizations, or major complications!
We have to go back to the clinic next Tuesday for blood work. They are also having a Christmas Party for the kids that day.
Thank you for checking in on her, and for your continued prayers.
Love, Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Sunday, December 03, 2000 at 08:13 PM (CST)

Hello,
Emma has not had a fever over 99.4 all day!! Praise God!! Friday we were almost convinced we were going to have to be admitted, but thankfully our prayers were answered(yet again!!)
She is doing very good, she is active, and playing good, she is not really eating, but she did eat more today than the last couple of days.
Tonight we went to Downtown Cleveland and drove around looking at the Christmas lights. We couldn't get out and walk but she loved looking at the lights. There were horse drawn carriages that take you around the square. In a few weeks, when her counts are back up, we are going to take her back down and ride in the carriage. There is also a sleigh pulled by horses, and tonight Santa Claus was on it. We drove by just as the ride was ending and Santa was walking around just as we were stopped at a traffic light and came up to the car and gave Emma a candy cane. She was so excited. Although, she did remind us that she doesn't like Santa, and is not going to sit on his lap!!
Not a whole lot more to update. Please continue to pray for Emma, she has just a few more days of this Delayed Intensification Phase, and then we will be back on the interim maintenance phase which is a lot easier on her (that will last until Febuary when the Delayed Intensification #2 begins again.)
Also, Jacob is still sick, his temperature is 103!!!He is not feeling well, and not eating either. We have had to stay away from him and Aunt Melanie for about the last week because of it. Please pray for him, the doctor says it is a bad virus going around that can last 5-6 days. Please pray that his fever passes and he begins to feel better.
Thank you all for checking in on us, and for your continued thoughts and prayers. It has definitely made our lives easier knowing there are so many people praying for Emma. We love you all!!!
Love, Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Saturday, December 02, 2000 at 05:50 PM (CST)

Hello,
Well, we are still at home, Emma's fever has been up and down, but never higher than 100.4, so we have not had to call the doctor back. If it goes over 101' we will call. She seems fine, she is really active, and pulled every toy she owns out today!! But, we will gladly pick up the toys, because a mess means that she is feeling well enough to play!!!
She will not eat anything, she doesn't have an appetite. She is drinking a lot though, so that is good, she will not dehydrate.
Emma's new thing is to tell jokes!!! She thinks she is hilarious! Her joke is:
Why doesn't a squirrel have friends??
Because he is nuts!!!
She laughs and laughs, and laughs. She thinks she is so funny!!! I think she heard the joke on a show she loves called Zaboomafoom on PBS. I don't know if that is exactly how it goes, but it is cute to hear her!!
Tonight is her last dose of the ARA-C medication. So, hopefully her fever will pass. She is also taking the thioguanine(6TG) until Tuesday.
Well, that is about all to update tonight. Please continue to pray that her fever does not spike. Thank you
Love, Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma
*** I received this poem from an online e mail discussion list about Faith and coping with cancer that I belong to. I wanted to share it with everyone, I really liked it.

Though the sun may be hidden, by dark clouds today.
Believe the sun is shining, though hidden from view,
Believe there's no cloud, that it can't pierce through.
Though your hope may be waning, and the day may be drear,
Believe that God loves you, that to Him you are dear.
Rejoice in life's trials for God's love will pierce through,
In a rainbow of happiness for you and me too.
Author Unknown

Friday, December 01, 2000 at 06:35 PM (CST)

Hello,
Well, we are on fever alert again!! Emma has a fever of 101'. We called the doctor and she said to give her tylenol and watch her if it goes up any higher or spikes again, she will be admitted. She has been taking the ARA-C so, hopefully, it is related to that and not an infection. We gave her tylenol at about 6:00 pm and at 7:00 pm it was back down to normal. She has seemed fine all along, she is very active, playing, and in a good mood, so hopefully it will pass.Please pray that it is gone for good, and does not spike again.
Well my sister Melanie donated blood for Emma, but then her son Jacob came down with a virus, and Melanie could have it also, or could get it, so Emma can not have her blood. We were so happy that Melanie was able to donate for Emma. So, instead Jama (Sharon-Tammy's mom) went and donated , she also has the same blood type as Emma A+. So now if Emma needs blood, she will get Jama's blood. Thank you Mom!!!
Ronnie, and I can not donate, because they "save" us incase Emma would ever relapse, and need a bone marrow transfusion. Since she has no brothers or sisters, Ronnie and I would be the best match, and if we would give her blood, she could build up a resistance to our antibodies. But Jama can give and Aunt Melanie. We are thankful for that.
Well, I will keep the site updated regarding her fever. Thank you for checking in on her, and for your continued thougts and prayers.
Love, Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Wednesday, November 29, 2000 at 12:58 PM (CST)

Hello,
Emma's clinic visit went well yesterday. We arrived at 8:45 am to have her blood work done. We got home at 4:00 so it was a very, very long day. Her counts are pretty good(considering), but she is neutropenic.Her counts are as follows:
WBC (infection fighters): 1.27
normal is 5.5-15.5
HgB(carries oxygen in blood):9.3
normal is 11.5-13.5 (they will give her a blood transfusion if it goes below 8.0)
Platelets(blood clotters): 289
normal:150-400
ANC(ability to fight off infection): 860
(1000 provides enough protection)
Her counts are ok, but the doctor said that they will continue to drop over the next 7 days. She begins another round of ARA-C tonight. This will continue until Saturday. This is the medicine that causes flu like symptoms, and fever. We are supposed to call if or when her fever gets to 100'. Last week when she took this medicine it only got to 99.7'. Her Hemoglobin (HgB) is getting low too. This can cause fatigue. We are supposed to call if we notice her lips getting more pale. They will give her a blood transfussion to give her a "boost". She has only had to have a blood transfussion two times so far, both were when she was first diagnosed. Hopefully her counts will raise and a transfussion will not be needed. But if she does need one, my sister (Melanie) is going tomorrow to donate blood to be used for Emma. She has the same type of blood as Emma and can donate and designate who gets the blood. It makes us feel much better knowing where the blood is coming from. Thank you so much Melanie!!! Emma had a spinal tap yesterday that went well with the exception of having to wait forever! We were scheduled for 10:45 but they did not take her into the OR until 1:00. She can not eat from midnight the night before on, and that is the hardest part for her. She fell asleep while waiting to go to the OR and slept for about 1 1/2 hours, so that helped. She is doing very well, playing and watching TV right now. We go back to the clinic for blood counts next Tuesday. She continues to take her 6TG pill until then also.
Please keep her in your prayers. Pray that she does not develop a fever due to this medication or infection (due to low counts), and that her HgB count goes up and she does not need a blood transfusion. Thank you for checking in on her.
Love, Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Monday, November 27, 2000 at 11:15 AM (CST)

Hello,
We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We had a good day. My Mom (Jama) cooked dinner and her and Gary(Papa) brought it over to us. (Thank you again Mom!! It was delicious as usual!!) Emma did not feel all that great on Thanksgiving. The clinic said that the ARA-C can cause "flu like symptoms". I think she was achy. She also had a fever for a few days although it did not get above 99.7 thank God. She is fine now, she had a bad runny nose, and a bad cough. Both are pretty much gone now, and she is more active also.
Emma got her very first haircut on Saturday. We were not planning on ever cutting her hair, and letting it grow long, but unfortuantly, it needed to be cut. There isn't a lot left in the back, and on top it has really gotten thin from the chemotherapy. But she does have a lot of bangs. We cut her bangs so they are out of her eyes, and Cut the back so it doesn't stick out everywhere. She looks adorable!!! It is not bothering her by being in her face now.
Emma has to go back to the clinic tomorrow for blood work and a spinal tap. Then on Wednesday she starts the ARA-C again for 4 days. Right now she is only taking a pill called 6TG (or Thioguanine). She doesn't seem to mind it, it does not taste bad. She is also still taking Bactrim the antibiotic to prevent Pneumonia. She will take this for about 6 months after her treatment ends. Treatment ends 108 weeks from now .... but who's counting!!
Well, that is all for now, I will update more tomorrow when we get back from her appointment.Please pray that all goes smoothly tomorrow during her spinal tap. She will be going under anesthesia again. Thank you for checking in on her.
Love, Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Wednesday, November 22, 2000 at 09:36 PM (CST)

Hello,
HAPPY THANKSGIVING. We have so much to be thankful for this year. We are so blessed that Emma is doing so well. She could have had so many different side effects, yet, our prayers have been answered over and over and she is doing great. God has continued to provide for us, comfort us, and guide us. We look forward to seeing how He is going to use this trial in her life. We do not question why she had to get Leukemia, but we do wonder what good is going to come out of this. We want God to be glorified in all of it. We thank God everyday for all of the support, prayers ,and help we have received and continue to receive. There is not a day that goes by that we do not Praise Him for all that he has done for our family. We trust that He is going to see us through this ordeal, and when all is done, we want all of the glory to go to Him. With out Him, we would not be able to get through this. In these past few months we have learned to cherish the small things in life, be thankful for our good health, and deal with what comes our way. We are truly thankful. May you all have a very Happy Thanksgiving.

Emma is doing pretty good. She seems to be coming down with a cold. She has a runny nose, and had a fever of 99.7 early this evening. The fever broke and is normal now. But her nose is still congested. She is sleeping now, and snoring.
Today we "attempted" to get her Christmas pictures taken. The word "attempted " should say it all. Emma was all dressed up in her pretty red velvet Christmas dress, white tights, and black patten leather shoes, she looked adorable. We practiced smiling this morning, and talked about how she was going to sit still, and smile, and get her picture taken. Well, that did not happen!! She did not want to sit in a chair in front of a Christmas tree scene, she did not want to sit on a carousel horse in front of a Christmas tree scene, she did not want to sit on a sled in a winter scene, She did however want to sit with the number 6 in front of a snow scene (I agreed with this because I just wanted her picture taken and by this time I did not care if she was standing on her head!!) Well she did not want to sit very long by the number 6. So still no picture. We did get one picture by this time, but it was just her puppy in the picture because Emma had climbed down off of the table!!! Finally, we got her to sit back up on the table with the snow scene and got a picture taken!!
She is in her Pretty Red Velvet dress in the snow scene with a yellow baseball bat, and a base ball coming towards her in the picture!! Very festive, and lady like HUH??
I finally gave up and ordered that picture for our package!! So when you all receive the Christmas cards with her picture in it and wonder about the baseball bat you now will know HAHA!! All this and she is not even on steroids!!
Well that is all to update for now, thank you for checking in on her, please pray that her cold and fever do not get any worse. Have a Happy Thanksgiving.
Love, Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Tuesday, November 21, 2000 at 08:11 PM (CST)

Hello,
Emma had another long day at the clinic today. We arrived at 9:45 , and made it home around 4:00! Luckily Jama came with us today. On the way to the clinic Emma was nauseated, and tried to throw up but her stomach was empty because she could not eat because she was having a spinal tap. Then once we go to the clinic the nausea continued. I could not give her anything for her nausea because she could not eat!! The doctor ordered some Zofran to be put in her tubbies. This helped the nausea very quickly and she has not had any more problems the rest of the day. Her spinal tap was supposed to be scheduled at 7:15 but it got moved back to 11:30, keep in mind she has been without food since the night before. It was not a pretty scene. I hate that. It is so hard to have her ask for snacks, or milk, and not be able to give her anything. About 12:30 we still were waiting and Emma had had enough, and she let everyone know!! A hungry red headed two year old who has recently been on steroids is not a nice thing. They finally gave her some Versed (which they call happy juice ) to calm her down. Boy was she calm!! We could watch the medicine take effect. She got really still and just looked around out of the corner of her eyes! Then she started to giggle!! She tried to talk but her tongue would not work. She was very Happy!! We wanted them to give us some of the Happy Juice "to go" so we can give it to her at home!!! (Just Kidding!) They finally took her back to the OR at 1:00!!! The procedure only takes a few minutes and everything went smoothly. She is fine now, her and Daddy are reading books. Our next appointment is next Tuesday. She will have blood work and then have another spinal tap. Tonight she started her medication called 6TG, she will take this for the next 2 weeks. She received the medication called ARA-C today and will continue to take it until Friday. This is the medication that can cause "Flu like symptoms", achiness, and fever. Please pray that Emma continues to feel good, and that she does not develop a fever. Thank you for checking in on us, we love you all. Happy Thanksgiving to all, we are very thankful for all of your thoughts, prayers, and support. We are so Thankful and are truly blessed that she is doing so well.
Love, Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Monday, November 20, 2000 at 06:00 PM (CST)

Hello,
Emma's clinic day went very well today. It was a long visit today. We arrived at 9:00 this morning (which means we left the house at 8:00) and left the clinic at 1:30. Emma slept all the way home!! Her counts were pretty good today. They were as follows:
WBC(white blood cells;infection fighters): 3.31
Normal: 5.5-15.5
Hemoglobin(carries oxygen in blood): 10.8
Normal: 11.5-13.5
Platelets(blood clotters): 453
Normal: 150-400
ANC(ability to fight off infection): 1059
An ANC of 1000 provides enough protection to fight off bacteria and fungi

Today she received a drug called Cytoxan. Before they gave this to her they hooked her up to an IV of fluids. This drug has to be given with a lot of fluids to flush the medicine thru her body. This helps prevent side effects such as bleeding of the bladder. Then after about an hour and a half of fluids they gave her the bag of Zofran to prevent nausea( a side effect of the cytoxan) Then after that she received the Cytoxan mixed with a drug called Mesna. Mesna helps prevent the bladder bleeding also. Then after that she received a bag of just Mesna. She did really well and did not have any side effects. Another side effect of the cytoxan is hairloss. Her hair is very thin now, so this may make the rest of it fall out. Right now she looks like she has a sun visor on. Everywhere the hat would be she has hair but on the top back of her head she just has fuzz. It is very thin, like "cotton candy". She has a lot of bangs and a lot in the nape of her neck. We have talked to her about it falling out, and showed her pictures of other kids with out hair, and told her that her hair may do that and she said that would be fine. She doesn't particularly like her hair combed or washed anyway, so we don't think she will care. Tomorrow she goes back to the clinic. She will have a spinal tap in which she receives the drug called Methotrexate in her spine ( a preventative measure so the Leukemia does not relapse in the nervous system). She will also start the medicine called ARA-C. They will teach me how to inject it into her tubbies. It is similar to how we inject the heparin into her tubbies to prevent clots from forming in them. She will receive this medicine for 4 days, then off for 4 days, the back on for 4 days.
The doctor said that her counts will be back down by this weekend. He said that we should limit visiting on Thanksgiving because if she is exposed to something, she will most likely come down with it when her counts are low and get very sick. So, we are just going to stay home. We have so much to be thankful for this year, it doesn't matter.
Emma had a good weekend, Medina Town Square had their annual lighting of the square on Sunday , and our church choir sang at the Gazebo. We went for about 45 minutes, Emma had fun looking at the lights. We had her bundled up in her stroller, she looked like an Eskimo. All you could see were her eyes, nose, mouth and her chubby cheeks. She was very warm.
Emma has a pet lady bug( a real one) and at the moment he has escaped from her and she can't find him. She has named him BRUCE and keeps him in the top of a puzzle box. She carries him around. She is so funny. She hid him in her coat when we went to the lighting of the square, and he actually made it home too!!! Alive!!! No wonder he escaped!!
Well that is all for now, Please pray for Emma tomorrow, she will be put under anesthesia for her spinal tap. Please pray that all goes well. Thank you so much for checking in on her. We love you all!! Also, Emma picked out the colors of the web site today. She wanted green and pink. Sorry if it is hard to read, but this is what she picked and she was really proud of it!!
Love, Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Friday, November 17, 2000 at 03:29 PM (CST)

Hello,
Emma is still doing very well. She is more active, and seems to be getting back to "normal". She is still eating very well and keeping her strength up. She had an episode of what we think are bladder spasms last night. She was crying and holding her bottom. We gave her some tylenol and that seemed to really help and she has not had any more symptoms. It is snowing today (not enough to cover the ground) and she is sooo excited. She wants to go outside and stick her tongue out and catch snow flakes.
We took a count of all of the cards that she received from being a featured kid on the Make A Child Smile web site. She received a total of 170 cards so far and a TON of stickers, a "Little Bear" talking stuffed animal, money to buy lady bug stuff (THANK YOU AGAIN AUNT ANNABELLE!!!) some books, a Blues Clues bath set, a hugging teddy bear, coloring books, a bracelet from Mexico, a couple of teddy bears, a stuffed rabbit, a handmade bunny blanket, a handmade shawl, hat, and purse, casette tapes, puzzles, and a bunch of lady bug stuffed toys!!! It was incredible how many people sent her things. She received cards from all over the country, from Mexico, and a post card from Australia. It was incredible!! The Make A Child Smile(MACS) founder Alexandra Davila is going to be on the Maury Povich show along with one of the children who is featured on the site. Her name is Ashleigh, she was featured with Emma last month. I can't wait to see the show, it should be on next month. I will post it on her site when I find out the day. It will be neat to have national exposure for the web site. Alexandra has an amazing thing going with the MACS site.
Well that is about all for now. We are going to the clinic on Monday for bloodwork and a 3 hour chemotherapy.. Tuesday she will have her spinal tap and she will start on the medication called ARA-C and 6 TG. I will update when we get her counts on Monday. Please pray for her, Monday she will be getting some pretty rough chemotherapy again. It is called cytoxan. The side effects from this medication can be low blood cell counts (neutropenia), nausea and vomiting, loss of appetite, mouth sores, diarrhea, hairloss, hemorrhagic cystitis causing blood in the urine(this one is an infrequent side effect). Thank you for checking in on us, we appreciate your continued thoughts and prayers.
Love, Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Tuesday, November 14, 2000 at 07:39 PM (CST)

Hello,
Emma is doing very well. She is back to her happy, sweet self. She is still eating very well also. We had a good day today. Her and I baked cookies. We made sugar cookies with mini m&m's in them (or wittle bitty em's as she calls them), we also made cookies with icing and "frinkles" (cake and cookie sprinkles)on them. She is in her "Frinkles" phase again. She wants to eat "frinkles" on everything. On her toast, and macaroni and cheese, green beans, etc... At least she is eating. Frinkles , we have red, green, yellow and multi colored ones. She decides what color she wants. She has gained about 1 1/2 pounds in about 2 weeks, her face is nice and pudgy. Her hair has also thinned out a lot. You can see her scalp everywhere. But, as we have said from the beginning, that is a side effect that does not hurt. It will grow back, she could be having more painful side effects, and we praise God that she is not. She is doing well, and we are very thankful for that. That is all to update for now. Thanks for checking in on her.
Love, Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Sunday, November 12, 2000 at 02:29 PM (CST)

Hello,
Emma is feeling much better, she is much more active and not as stiff when she walks. She does seem a bit warm and her temperature has been about 99.5`. Her temperature usually runs about 97`.I am a bit concerned about this, I hope she is not getting a fever. She seems fine, just warm. We are supposed to call the doctor if her fever is 101`. I think I will call if it gets over 100` though.
We have had a quiet weekend. She stayed in and played and ate, and ate, and ate!! Her appetite has decreased a bit, but now it is a normal one. It is good to see her eat. We have a week off from the clinic appointments this week, hopefully her temperature does not increase and we can stay home. Well that is about all to update now, please pray for her and pray that she does not get a fever. Thank you and Thank you for checking in on us.
Love, Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Friday, November 10, 2000 at 01:50 PM (CST)

Hello,
Well, Good News, Emma's counts are back up!!! Her ANC is 939!!! They really went up in just a few days. Thank you for all of your prayers. Her other counts look good too:
WBC(infection fighters): 2.27
normal is 5.5-15.5
HgB(carries oxygen in blood): 11.7
normal is 11.5-13.5
Platelet(blood clotters): 379
normal is 150-400
ANC= 939 (1000 provides enough protection from bacteria )
We were very happy to see that her counts are recovering. The next appointment is not until 11/20(Monday) where we will have blood drawn. If her ANC is 1000 and her platelets are at least 100 she will have a Spinal Tap on Tuesday 11/21. She will also receive 3 hours of chemotherapy (the cytoxan) and another dose of chemotherapy called ARA-C. She does not take any medications for the next week except for the Bactrim (antibiotic to prevent pneumonia), so her counts will probably continue to recover.
She took her last dose of dexamethasone(the steroid) last night. We are all very happy about this. This medication really affected her this time. She has been weak, crabby, and eating us out of house and home!!! All she wants to do is eat!!!(I think this is not a bad side effect considering 2 weeks ago we could not get her to eat anything!!) For the past three nights she has woken up at 3:30 am to eat!! Peanut butter sandwiches and milk Wednesday and Thursday morning and Ham and milk this morning!! She can not get enough chicken noodle soup either!! It is good to see her eating this well.
She is doing well, she is still weak,tired, and not very active, her hair has really thinned out again also. She still has not lost it completely, it is just thin. She told me today that she just "feels terrible". Her joints are really bothering her. The Vincristine causes joint and muscle pain. You can tell by the way that she walks and moves about that she is stiff and sore. This phase of chemotherapy has really slowed her down.
Well, that is about all to update, We have a week of no appointments next week!! But the next week(the week of Thanksgiving ) we will have to go Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Oh well, what ever makes her better!!!
Thank you for checking in on us!
Love, Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Tuesday, November 07, 2000 at 03:05 PM (CST)

Hello,
Well Emma's ANC count is slowly increasing, it was 50 on Friday, and today it is a whopping 210!!! (1000 provides her enough protection from bacteria, so she is still neutropenic).
Her other counts are pretty good too:
WBC(infection fighters): 0.96
normal: 5.5-15.5
HgB (carries oxygen in blood): 11.9
normal:11.5-13.5
Platelets (blood clotters): 429
normal: 150-400
Her white blood count is still, but her other counts have actually gone up. They were very suprised that we were not admitted over the weekend with a fever, but we are still on "fever alert". We go back to the doctor on Friday for another blood count check. The next round of chemotherapy will not start until her ANC is 1000. It is tentatively scheduled for 11/17. She will have another spinal tap, a drug called Cyclophosphamide (she has never had this before), a drug called ARA-C (this is known to cause fever by itself, so we could very well wind up in the hospital for Thanksgiving due to a fever. Either way, wherever we are, we have so much to be thankful for, she is doing well).She will also take a pill at home each night called 6TG. Hopefully we will be able to start on time, please continue to pray for increased counts and no fever. Also please pray that there is no delay in the chemotherapy and that we start on time.
Emma is doing ok, we have noticed a decrease in her activity, she keeps telling us that she is tired and seems to be a bit more weak. She lays around a lot also. Thank you for checking in on us and your continued prayers.
Love, Tammy, Ronnie, and Tammy

Sunday, November 05, 2000 at 08:13 PM (CST)

Hello,
Well, no fever so far!!! YIPPEE!!! Emma seems fine, except I am still chasing her around with the thermometer and making her mad. She also has a new excape plan that she uses when she sees me mixing up her medicine. She runs in her play room and hides her head and shoulders underneath a dress I have hanging on the door. She is so funny. She stands really still with her body showing and her face covered with the dress. I always act like I can't find her and go around the house looking for her. If I get close she yells "GO AWAY"!! She is so funny, she really thinks if she hides, I will give up looking for her and she will not have to take the medicine. She has also tried to convince me that the doctor said she does not have to take medicine anymore!!
We had a quiet day today, she is getting bored though. She told me that she has no friends to play with. I feel so bad for her, when her counts get better I will have some of her friends over to play. That's all for now. Thanks for checking in on us. Please keep praying for no fever and increased counts.
Love, Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Friday, November 03, 2000 at 02:06 PM (CST)

Hello,
We are back from Emma's appointment. Her counts are VERY LOW!! Her ANC is 50! This is the lowest it has ever been. We have pretty much been told to get our bag packed and wait for a fever and be admitted. Her counts are as follows:
WBC (infection fighters): 2.01
normal is 5.5-15.5
HgB(carries oxygen in blood): 11.1
normal is 11.1 (a count of 8.0 = blood transfussion)
Platelets(blood clotters):340
normal is 150-400
ANC = 50 (a count of 1000 provides enough protection from bacteria and fungi)

The main problem with her counts is the fact that she has very little neutrophils. Neutrophils are the infection fighter White Blood Cells(WBC). They are very low. This is common and expected but she is very neutropenic right now. Today she received the last L-Aspariginase shot in her thigh(until February) YIPEE!! She is very happy about that. She also received the vincristine and the doxorubicin. This means that her counts will go down even more due to this round of chemo. The chemo she received today takes 7-10 days to affect her counts so hopefully the counts will increase before getting wiped out again by this dose. We go back on Tuesday (if not sooner for a fever) for blood work. We were not supposed to go back until next Friday but due to the low counts they just want to check them in case she would need a blood transfusion or platelets. She seems fine, it does not seem to have affected her yet. She is starting to get a bit aggrivated with me and my thermometer chasing her around the house all of the time. We have also started the "WUKKY Medicine" today. The dexamethasone steroid that makes her mean and crabby!! Our appointment was a bit longer than usual today because the lab lost the blood sample they took, and had to draw more blood. Luckily, they take the blood from her tubbies, and she does not have to be poked twice!!!
The good news of all of this(we have to find something positive in this) is that the chemotherapy drugs are working and doing what they are supposed to do.
Please keep Emma in your prayers, please pray that she does not develop a fever and that her counts start to increase. I will keep the site updated . Thank you for checking in on us and for your prayers.
Love, Tammy, Ronnie,and Emma

Wednesday, November 01, 2000 at 02:51 PM (CST)

Hello,
Emma had an appointment today. She received a shot of L-Aspariginase in her thigh. (She also received one on Monday). Her counts have also dropped quite a lot. She is now neutropenic, and we have been told to watch her for a fever. Her counts are as follows:
WBC(infection fighters) 1.89
Normal: 5.5 - 15.5
HgB(carries oxygen in blood): 11.4
Normal: 11.5-13.5 (count of 8.0 = blood transfusion)
Platelets(blood clotters):263
Normal: 150-400 (count in the 20's or 30's would result in a platelet transfusion)
ANC= 245 (a count of 1000 provides enough protection against bacteria and fungi)
Emma's ANC is pretty low, she is now at risk of developing an infection. We have been told to keep her home, and away from large groups of people. She seems fine, she is a bit tired, her nausea has resolved. She had an episode of bladder spasms(at least that is what we think was wrong) on Monday night that cleared up with tylenol.
We go back to the clinic on Friday. She will receive Vincristine(a syring of medicine in her tubbies), Doxorubicin( a bag of IV medication), and the last of the L-Aspariginase shots Yippee!!!!!
The Children's Hospital of the Cleveland Clinic had a Halloween Trick or Treat parade yesterday. Emma had a lot of fun!! They dressed up in costumes and went thru the different offices of the hospital and got TONS of candy, pencils, stickers, pumpkin buckets, and "stuff"!!! She was a green dinosaur!! That is also what she wants to be when she grows up, A BIG green dinosaur!!! Actually she was a green dinosaur pretending to be a bear. I made her her costume and when I finished it, she changed her mind and said she wanted to be a bear!!! So we settled on her being a dinosaur who was pretending to be a bear!!!
Either way, she had fun, Last night we went to Jama, and Papa's house and helped hand out candy there. We went out to a couple of houses but it was kind of chilly.
Our next appointment is Friday. Next week we will only have to go once!!! It is really tough to go 3 days a week, I am glad this part of the phase is over!!! Ronnie and I were talking about the length of her treatment, it is a total of 130 weeks. So far we have completed 16 weeks!!! It seems more like 16 years!! Well, 16 weeks down, and only 114 weeks to go!!! I guess it is too early to officially start the countdown!
Well, I will update more after her next appointment. Please pray that she does not develop a fever, a fever of 101 pretty much puts us in the hospital for a week!! Thank you again for checking in on us and for your continued prayers.
Love, Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Sunday, October 29, 2000 at 05:39 PM (CST)

Hello,
Emma had a much better day today. She only had one spell of vomiting. She is eating much better also. This afternoon we went to Mapleside Farms with Grandma, Aunt Melanie, and Jacob. We picked out her pumpkin and went on a hay ride thru the apple orchard. Emma really liked the horses that pulled the wagon.
Tomorrow she goes to the clinic and will receive a shot in her thigh of L-Aspariginase. Thank you for checking on her, and for your continued prayers for our family.
Love, Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Saturday, October 28, 2000 at 08:36 PM (CDT)

Hello,
Emma had a pretty rough day today. She was nauseated pretty much all day, and had to take the Zofran (nausea medicine). She has also taken Pepsid. I do not know if the nausea is just that, or if it is actually heartburn. The steroid gives her heartburn ,so I am hoping not having to take the steroid tomorrow will help. She is eating really well (also caused from the steroid)despite the nausea, it seems as if she is ok as long as she has food in her stomach.
We go back to the doctor Monday, so I am going to discuss the nausea with them then. I think they will just continue the Zofran.
She seems to be feeling well otherwise, she doesn't seem to be very fatigued or weak. I will update again tomorrow on the nausea situation. Thanks for checking in on us!!
Please pray that her nausea passes. Thank you.
Love, Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Friday, October 27, 2000 at 10:35 PM (CDT)

Hello,
Emma is doing pretty good. She had an appointment today. She received a injection of the L-Aspariginase in her thigh, the syringe of Vincristine, and the IV bag of Doxorubicin. She has had on and off vomiting and nausea all day, but is sleeping well now(of couse she should be, it is midnight!!). Her counts are still very good. They are as follows:
WBC(infection fighters) 3.38
normal 5.5-15.5
HgB(carries oxygen in blood): 12.1
normal 11.5-13.5
Platelets(blood clotters): 332
normal 150-400
ANC: 2550; and ANC over 1000 provides her good protection from bacteria and fungi.
She is doing really well, tomorrow is her last dose of the steroid. I think part of her nausea and vomiting is from heartburn caused by the steroid. We go back to the clinic Monday, Wednesday, and Friday of next week at 8:45 am. Thank you for checking in on us.
Love, Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Wednesday, October 25, 2000 at 05:00 PM (CDT)

Hello,
Emma went on the potty!!!!! Yea!! I was so proud of her this morning!! I asked her if she wanted to wear big girl panties today and she said no, she doesn't want to have to use the potty all fo the time. Well at least we have a start!! This has been such an ordeal for us, she is very strong willed when it comes to the Potty!! The doctor was able to check her urine for glucose, and thankfully it came back negative!
Her counts are very good also,
They were as follows:
WBC(infection fighters):3.86
Hgb(carries oxygen in blood):12.5
Platlets: 292
ANC:2875 (this is really good, anything over 1000 is usually enough protection to fight off infection)
She had another shot of L-Aspariginase in her thigh today, she did really well. Her counts should be going down soon though, the medicine she received last Friday starts to show a change in her counts after 7-10 days. Hopefully not too drastically.
We go back on this Friday for more Vincristine, Doxorubicin, and another shot of L-Aspariginase. Thanks for checking in on us, I will keep updating on the "potty progress!!"
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Monday, October 23, 2000 at 08:10 PM (CDT)

Hello,
Not a whole lot to update. Today Emma had a doctors appointment where she received L-Aspariginase as a shot in her leg. She hates these. We put a numbing cream called Emla cream on her leg an hour before her appointment, but she hates the Emla cream also. She does not like the numb feeling. She goes back Wednesday and Friday of this week. Today they also wanted Emma to give a urine sample so they could check her urine for glucose. She simply told them "I won't", and she did not. We tried to go on the potty 2 times while we were there, but she would not, she thinks it is "yukky". They sent me home with a specimen cup to try again before her appointment on Wednesday. I will let you know how this goes, although I already have a feeling I am going to return to clinic on Wednesday with an empty cup!!
Today there was an Art Therapist at the office who played with Emma while we were waiting for her medication and after she had her shot and we had to wait. She really enjoyed this, she drew pictures, cut out shapes and glued them on paper, and colored. We took to pictures over to Grandma's office in Orthopedics afterward and she hung them by her desk!! Emma was very proud of them!!
We have noticed a big difference in her activity level since Friday. She is much more tired, and weak. She keeps saying that the yukky medicine makes her sleepy. She will get a burst of energy and start playing then get tired and lay down for a while. She seems to know her limits though, we try to get her to rest every so often, so she does not get too run down. She is not eating very well either. This is a side effect of the medication. Hopefully, her appetite will start to pick up. Thank you for checking in on us.
Love, Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Friday, October 20, 2000 at 06:56 PM (CDT)

Hello,
Today Emma officially started the Delayed Intensification #1 phase of her treatment.
Today she had to be put under anesthesia and had a spinal tap were she received methotrexate. She also had Vincristine (a syringe of medicine in her tubbies, and Doxorubicin( a bag of IV medicine given over about half an hour). She did really well. She was nauseated on the way home and we had to give her some Zofran which helps with the nausea. She also started Dexamethasone today. She will take that for 7 days. Her counts were really good. They were:
WBC(infection fighters):3.32
normal : 5.5-15.5
HgB(carries oxygen in blood): 11.7
normal : 11.5-13.5
Platelets(blood clotters):292
normal : 150-400
ANC(ability to fight off infection): 1760
anything above 1000 usually is enough to fight off bacteria and fungi.
She received a lot of chemotherapy today, so we are not sure how long her counts will remain "somewhat normal". Dr Levien said that her counts should not be hit as hard this time because her bone marrow is healthy, as opposed to last time (the initial phase of treatment) when her bone marrow was full of leukemic cells.
This next phase of chemotherapy is called Delayed Intensification. It is targeted at any remaining cancer cells that may be "hiding" in her body. It will last for 8 weeks (56 days). It should be done right before Christmas. They do not stop the chemotherapy for low counts during this phase (unless of course they bottom out), they only would hold the treatment if she would develop a fever/infection.
This phase consists of:
Dexamethasone(similar to the dredded prednisone)given in pill form : days 0-6 and 14-20
Vincristine given in tubbies( this is the drug that causes her to have joint pain, jaw pain, and bladder spasms): days 0,7,14
Doxorubicin (this is the one that can cause heart muscle damage and worries me horribly!)(given IV ): days 0,7,14
L-Aspariginase(given as a shot in the thigh): Monday, Wednesday, Fridays for the next two weeks (for a total of 6 shots)
Cyclophosphamide (this can cause bladder problems)(given IV): day 28
Thioguanine(pill) : days 28-41
Ara-C(given in tubbies): days 29-32
and 36-39
Methotrexate(given in spinal taps): days 0, 28, and 35.
The new drugs this phase are cyclophosphamide, Thioguanine and ARA-C(she has had ARA-C in her spine but never in her tubbies).
Please continue to pray that Emma does not have any side effects from the chemotherapy. These are some pretty strong drugs, and they can cause pretty severe side effects.
She was very good today, and really cooperated with the medical staff, even though she couldn't eat after midnight last night because of the spinal tap. They finally did the spinal tap around 11:30, so she really had a long wait. She was very patient.
We go back to clinic on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for the next 2 weeks. She will get L-Aspariginase shots in her thigh on Monday. After this shot we have to wait around the clinic for an hour because she could have an allergic reaction. She has been ok to this point(she has had 9 of these shots so far) but never the less please pray for her.
Thank you all for checking in on us, and for your continued prayers, they mean more to us than we could ever express. We love you all.
Love, Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Friday, October 13, 2000 at 11:15 AM (CDT)

Hello,
Good News!! We just came back from Emma's appointment, and her counts are back up, which means that, she is not neutropenic, and the delayed intensification phase will start on time!! (PRAISE GOD) We really did not want a delay.Her counts are as follows:
WBC(infecion fighters): 2.36
normal: 5.5-15.5
HgB(carries oxygen in blood): 11.6
normal: 11.5-13.5
Platelets(blood clotters): 397
normal:150-400
ANC(ability to fight off infection):1100
(anything above 1000 is good)

She was kind of grumpy this morning because she had to wake up at 6:45 am to be at our 8:30 am appointment. She had a nap in the car on the way home and is a bit better now.
Last night she took her last dose of mercaptopurine, and today she will take her last dose of methotrexate. Next week the only medincine she will have to take is Bactrim on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday! They give her a week off from chemotherapy to allow her counts to rebuild. Her ANC must be at least 1000 before we can start the next phase. They feel that it should be high enough to go ahead and start. But we will keep praying that it remains high enough.
The next appointment is next Friday October 20th. She will go under anesthesia and have a spinal tap where she will receive methotrexate in her spine, she will receive doxorubicin thru an IV into her tubbies, and vincristine which is a syringe of medicine injected into her tubbies. She will also start on a steroid called dexamethasone which is similar to prednisone. Oh boy!!
Thank you all for your prayers.
Love, Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Friday, October 06, 2000 at 08:59 PM (CDT)

Hello,
Emma's appointment went well today. First she had her echocardiogram of her heart. After waiting an hour to get the test done, we finally made it in and she was very good. They put gel on her chest and used a probe to take an "ultrasound" of her heart. She thinks they put peanut butter and jelly on her chest!! And then wrote on her with a pen!!
After the echocardiogram, we had to go to get bloodwork done. Her counts are getting low and she is slightly neutropenic now. That means that she does not have a lot of neutrophils that can fight off infection. Her blood counts are as follows:
WBC(infection fighters):2.06
normal (5.5-15.5)
HgB(carries oxygen in the blood): 11.3
normal (11.5-13.5)
Platelets(blood clotters): 413
normal (150-400)
ANC=600
Her ANC (absolute neutrophil count) provides an indication on her ability to fight off an infection. The higher the ANC, the better. An ANC of 1000 provides her enough protective neutrophils(infection fighers) to fight off exposure due to bacteria and fungi. The guidelines are :
ANC of 500-1000 : means we should keep her away from large groups of people, and pretty much stay at home.
ANC of 200-500: means we should definitely keep her at home. Visitors should be healthy and should wash their hands.
ANC of 0-200: means we should keep her at home and she can not have any visitors since she would be very susceptible to infection.
Since her ANC is low, they have cut her chemotherapy to 50%. This is pretty common, this will allow her blood to rebuild itself.
This also means that the drugs are doing what they are suposed to do, destroy any remaining cancer cells. The only problem is that the drugs can not tell which cells are which and healthy ones are also destroyed.
Decreasing her chemo to 50% means that she only had to take a half of pill of mercaptopurine, and 2 pills of methotrexate (instead of 4)today . She also took 2 tablespoons of Bactrim to prevent pneumonia. This is really important now that her counts are low. Low counts also means that we have to go in for blood work next week instead of having the week off. That is ok, as long as her counts are low, we like the weekly reassurance. We go back next Friday.
The next phase of chemotherapy tentatively begins on October 20, as long as her ANC is 1000. She will receive a spinal tap with chemotherapy in the OR and then go to the oncology floor to receive a syringe of Vincristine in her tubbies, and an IV bag of chemotherapy called Doxorubicin. She will also begin Dexamethasone for 7 days. This is very similar to the Prednisone, and from what I hear, just as yukky tasting!!
She is doing very well despite the low counts. Please pray that she does not get an infection or a fever that would put her in the hospital. Also, please pray that her ANC increases and we are able to begin the delayed intensification on time. Thank you for checking in on her.
Love, Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Thursday, October 05, 2000 at 07:07 PM (CDT)

Hello,
Emma had a very quiet day. We stayed in today because of the rainy, cold weather. Today is our 4th Wedding Anniversary so we ordered Chinese Food and just stayed in. I can't believe it has been 4 years! Just think, on our first wedding anniversary I was going to my first OB appointment because I was just pregnant with Emma.
Emma is doing well, we go tomorrow for the echocardiogram of her heart and blood work.
Since there is not a lot to update, we thought we would explain her broviac catheter (TUBBIES as she calls them).
The broviac catheter is 2 tubes that merge together and go into her chest. The tube then goes into her subclavian artery. There is a "cuff" just below the skin that the skin actually grows to. This allows her to get her chemotherapy and blood work without having to be poked.It also allows the chemotherapy from being put into a large artery and that helps it to get diluted quickly. A lot of the chemo drugs can cause burns if it touches the skin (scary isn't it). If it is put into a vein, there is less chance of that since it is moved throught the bloodstream quickly. The tubbies hang down about 10 inches out of her chest. They have clamps on them and caps on the end. Each night we have to flush her tubbies (or give them tubbie drinks as she says) We flush them with heparin to prevent clots from forming. We also have to change the dressing on the entrance site. She calls this changing her tubbie tape. She hates it!! She doesn't like the tape being pulled off of her skin. I can't blame her!
Tonight was actually the first night that she did not cry during the whole dressing change. They will keep her tubbies in until a few months after chemotherapy is finished. She can not get them wet in the tub, but she will be able to go swimming in a chlorinated pool next summer. She is very protective of her tubbies and likes to show them off. She also thinks everybody has them. Puppy her stuffed dog has them too, the nurse in the hospital put them on him. She gives puppies tubbies drinks and changes his tape too!!! Well that is all to update tonight, I will update again tomorrow with her blood work results.
Love, Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Tuesday, October 03, 2000 at 07:49 PM (CDT)

Hello,
Emma had a good day today. Her cough is just about gone, she really did not need any cough suppresant today. We just stayed in today and played with toys and watched movies. She was a bit more active than the last couple of days, so I think she is feeling better. We are anxious to see her blood counts on Friday.
We went to church on Sunday, and Emma got to take her buddy barrel up to the altar and dump it in the bucket. She really likes that. She also got to play with Ethan, she loves him!! They play so well together. He just turned 2 and is having a birthday party on Sunday, so she will get to play with him again soon.
Emma got her first card today from the Make A Child Smile. We went to the post office to check her box and she was so excited to get mail! The site has only featured her since Sunday and she already got a card!!
Well not a whole lot more to update,no potty stories or prednisone complaints tonight, she only had to take a pill of mercaptopurine. Thank you all for your continued prayers for us.
Love,
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Sunday, October 01, 2000 at 12:09 AM (CDT)

Hello,
Emma is doing well, except she has developed a cough. We spoke to the doctor who said as long as there is no fever, and she does not seem "sick" we can treat her with cough medicine. So far it has done the trick. And so far (PRAISE GOD) she does not have a fever. Because as you know a fever of 101' pretty much means, a week in the hospital!! We worry about pneumonia, she takes an antibiotic 3 days a week to prevent it as it is. It is something that she can catch easily from what we understand.
We may have had a break through with the potty issue!!! Today Emma was playing with her toys in her playroom and I went in to check on her and noticed the bathroom door shut. The bathroom is right next to her playroom. I opened it and she was sitting on her potty chair!!!!!!! I asked her what she was doing and she said "I'm just trying to go potty!!!" Like it is something that she always does! She had her diaper off and was just sitting on her potty chair!!! Of course she wound up not actually going potty, but the fact that she tried was a big step. She must not have been "TOO BUSY!"
We told her what a big girl she was and she was really proud of herself! Maybe we are getting a step closer??!! Tomorrow we are going to church and it is "Buddy Barrel Day" the children have buddy barrels in which they save their change in and give to missions. It is the 1st Sunday of each month. Emma loves to take her barrel upfront and empty it. She may not get to do this for a while because the next phase may make her blood counts go too low to attend church. She is excited to go tomorrow, she has her barrel ready! Well, not much else going on, I will keep the site updated about her cough. Please pray that it passes and she does not develop a fever.
Tammy, Ronnie, and Emma

Friday, September 29, 2000 at 10:53 AM (CDT)

Hello,
We we had no luck with the potty. Emma would not go, so we did not get a sample for the doctor. "I am too busy" is what she told me. I called the doctors office to let them know the situation and after they put me on hold to laugh, they decided to forget the sample for now and wait to see if any other symptoms begin. She seems fine, she is not drinking as much and her diapers are normal, and she is off of the prednisone for now. She is just stubborn!!!!!
Ronnie is finally home now, he came in at midnight last night. His trip went well, but he is glad to be home. Emma really missed him.
Today is a big medication day, she gets Bactrim, Methotrexate and Mercaptopurine. That is a total of 5 pills and 2 tablespoons of liquid.
Her biography has been finalized for the web site called Make A Child Smile. She will be featured for October. We are excited to see the web site.
Well not much else going on here. Thanks for coming to her web site.

Tuesday, September 26, 2000 at 07:03 PM (CDT)

Hello,
We had to make another trip to the clinic today. This time only to The Cleveland Clinic in Strongsville which is a little closer to home. Emma has been really drinking a lot lately and really wetting a lot also. I was concerned that there may be a problem (high glucose or diabetes) so I called the doctor who said we could come in or get glucose sticks from the pharmacy and test her diaper myself. Instead we went to CCF Strongsville and the nurse tested her diaper. They did not find any glucose in her urine but they did detect some blood and leukocytes(white blood cells) which could be a sign of a urinary tract infection. Of course Emma would not go potty for them to get a clean speciman to test so they sent us home with collection jars to bring back tomorrow. Well we spent 2 hours on the potty in front of the TV this afternoon trying to go potty. She did not want to. I tried everything to get her to go, bribery and everything!!! She tried but never went. 5 minutes after we put her diaper back on she went!! I guess she doesn't like to be pressured!!! We will try again tomorrow. I am not sure what the plan is if she doesn't go tomorrow, I am not sure if they will have to catherize her again. Hopefully I can talk her into going on the potty.
Otherwise she is doing very well. She does not have a fever so I am not sure if she is getting a urinary infection or not.
Ronnie is on a business trip this week, Emma and I are really missing him. Please pray for him to have a safe trip. He left on Sunday morning and went to Georgia, Florida, and is now on his way back up to North Carolina, and then to Virginia. He should be back Friday or Saturday.
Emma just finished taking her last dose of prednisone this month!!! YEA!!!!! She did really well this time taking it, it only made her sick once (the first dose) I think she is finally getting used to it(if that is possible). Well it is time to flush her catheter(or give her tubies a drink as she calls it). Then she gets her mercaptopurine pill and hopefully it will be bedtime. I will keep you all updated on the potty issue. :)

Saturday, September 23, 2000 at 09:03 PM (CDT)

Hello,
We just got back from The Light the Night Walk for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. We had a really good time, except for the Thunder Storm!!! We had formed a team called "Emma's Crusaders!" and our team raised a total of $2961.00!!! I am not sure how much the whole walk raised but there were A LOT of people there!! It was something to see. Everyone who participated carried a red illuminated balloon and the cancer patients and cancer survivors carried white illuminated balloons. We also all received T-shirts and stickers to say I'm walking for Emma Hall. Emma had a white balloon and a sticker that said I'm Emma Hall!! She had fun riding in her stroller! We only walked part of the route because it started to rain really hard (thunder and lightning too) but other members of our team kept on farther. Our team consisted of Emma, Tammy, Ronnie, Sharon(Jama), Gary(Papa), Aunt Melanie, Jacob, Aunt Vanessa, Uncle Paul, Taylor, Jan, Willie, Janet, Wendy, George, Brenda, and Jenny. There is a photo of our team in the photo album of the web site. There were a lot of people who participated. It was neat to see all of the balloons. Thank you to all who helped us raise money. It is going to a wonderful cause. Maybe your money will be the money that finds a cure for this horrible monster of a disease!!! Emma is still doing well, she is asleep now (she had a lot of activity today ) So far, so good with the prednisone, she has taken it good. Only 6 more doses of it this month!!Yippee!!!

Friday, September 22, 2000 at 04:43 PM (CDT)

Hello,
Emma's appointment went really well today. She is doing wonderful. Her blood counts are very good. They are as follows:
WBC(infection fighters): 2.13
normal is 5.5-15.5
Hemoglobin(carry oxygen in blood) 10.9
normal is 11.6-13.5
Platelets (blood clotters):332
normal is 150-400

She is doing wonderfully. She was very good at the clinic, very friendly, and happy. She is getting used to the medical staff. She recieved her dose of vincristine in her "tubbies". Today was also the start of the dredded prednisone. She has taken one dose today so far, and yes, she threw it right up. She saw me mixing it(the chocolate syrup bottle gave it away) and started to try to run away! She was yelling, "I don't want to throw up!" It kills me to have to do this to her. But, it is working,she is doing remarkable and that is what matters (at least that is what I keep telling my self). She has to go back to clinic on October 6, for blood work and an echocardiogram(ultrasound of her heart). The next phase of chemotherapy calls for a medicine which can leave permanent heart damage and they like to have a beginning echocardiogram to see if there are any changes from the medicine. She had one when she had the medicine the last time. Hopefully, there are no changes. Well, tomorrow is The Light the Night Walk for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. I will update afterwards on how the walk went.

Thursday, September 21, 2000 at 03:04 PM (CDT)

Emma is doing good, she had another episode of the bladder spasms Tuesday night, but she is doing well now. Not a whole lot going on (again, that is a good thing), we go to the doctor tomorrow for her dose of vincristine, and the prednisone starts again tomorrow for 5 days.
We thought we would take this page to explain exactly what Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia is. Up to now we have only explained what the treatments are, not what the disease is. We realized that a lot of people reading her web site may not know what the disease really is. I know we did not.
We recieved a book while in the hospital called "You and Leukemia; a day at a time" by Lynn S.Baker MD. This book really helped a lot in explaining the disease and treatment. It explained the disease really simple which is what we needed at the time of diagnosis. Our heads were already spinning from the shock.The following explanation is from this book.

Leukemia is a cancer of the white blood cells. Cancer is when a bunch of cells won't work with the rest of your body. They get selfish. They won't follow the rules. They divide when they feel like it, which usually isn't when they're supposed to. They don't do their work right (if they do it at all). They crowd out normal cells and the normal cells can't work right either. They don't stay in the organ they belong to; they travel all over the body and stop wherever they like. They cause trouble and for this reason they are called "malignant". Any cell in your body can become malignant. If the white blood cells become malignant, the disease is called Leukemia.
Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia ,is commonly known as "childhood Leukemia" and is often referred to as ALL. Most of the people who get it are between 2 and 8 years old when the disease is diagnosed. They can be younger than that though, or older. More boys get it than girls, but not very many more. White children get it more often than black children. No one knows why these things are true.
The malignant cell (cancer cell)in ALL is an abnormal lymphocyte (white bloodcell) called a lymphoblast(blast for short) or leukemia cell. There are 2 kinds of lymphocytes (T lymphocytes and B lymphocytes). Emma has what is called pre b ALL (we were told she has pre b all which is the "best" kind to have if you have leukemia).
The blast seems to cause trouble mainly by crowding the bone marrow, so that normal cells have a hard time growing. The blasts don't kill the normal cells. they just get in the way. What the blasts do is something like this: Imagine that you and your family are at home living your normal lives. One day, a little rabbit walks in the front door and won't leave. That doesn't upset your lives too much. But then a few more rabbits show up. Then more and more, until the whole house is full of rabbits. Now, that's a problem. It would be really hard to live a normal life with rabbits all over the place. Just by being there, they would cause trouble. That's what leukemic blasts do. They start out in your bone marrow and they fill that up. But then they go other places, too. They can go to your lymph nodes or to your spleen or liver. Actually, they can go anywhere blood goes- and that's everywhere. Just as if the rabbits were not only in your house, but in every building in your city! Blasts also cause trouble by forgetting to grow up. They stay immature and keep dividing when they shouldn't. Because they are so immature, they can't do their work. They don't know how.
This was a really good explanation for us. The way we found out Emma had this was that the blasts had crowded out her blood and there were very few platelets(clotters), she had tiny purple dots on her feet and legs which are called petechia. These are actually tiny hemorrages under the skin because she had no clotting ability. This is dangerous. At diagnosis her platelet count was 25 normal is 150 to 450.
Well enough of the medical stuff, we are just very happy that she is doing so well. You would never guess she was sick. We will update more tomorrow after her appointment.

Monday, September 18, 2000 at 08:03 PM (CDT)

Emma is feeling better. She has not had any more episodes of bladder spasms and her cold is gone also. Friday night she got to spend the night with Jama and Papa(Tammy's mom and step dad)because Mommy and Daddy went to a company dinner for Daddys work. She has not done that since she was diagnosed. She used to spend the night at least 2-3 times a month before. They were all very excited. Saturday Grandma and Grandpa Kovacic (Ronnie's mom and step dad)came over for a visit. She spent a few hours playing with them. Saturday night we went to dinner with friends of ours from church Joe and Stacy. They have a son Ethan who Emma loves!! She calls him ET. She was very excited to see him. Sunday we went to church but had to leave early because she was very very crabby, we thought maybe we over did it and her cold was coming back, but after a nap she seemed fine. Today she seems fine, she is eating well, and full of energy. We go back to the doctor on Friday. She will get a dose of Vincristine and start on Prednison for 5 days as well as continue her mercaptopurine and bactrim. Tomorrow we start story time at the library. She is excited, she loves books, and loves to be read to. Another good weekend thankfully.

Thursday, September 14, 2000 at 07:23 PM (CDT)

Emma had to make a unplanned trip to the doctor today. This morning she woke up screaming, and holding her bottom crying that it hurt to go potty. It really scared us! It lasted for about 5 minutes and then she calmed down and fell back to sleep. We called the doctor who said to bring her in and we would try to get her to go on the potty and test her urine for an infection. Well, Emma has told us for some time that she is not about to go on the potty because it is "really wukky"!!! and she did not go today at the doctor. They wound up having to catherize her to get the urine. The urine came back normal and it was decided that she was having Bladder Spasms caused by 2 of the medications she has recieved. The Vincristine and the Prednisone(yes another nasty part of this horrid medicine) are known to cause these spasms. They told us that we should put her in a warm bath, or apply a heating pad and give her tylenol when it happens. It only happened the one time today which is good, she was really hurting. It breaks our hearts to see her crying because she is hurting. The rest of the day she seemed fine and had no other spasms. The doctor said it is fairly common.
Her cold is better, it only lasted one day. She is her usually happy self otherwise.
As for the potty issue, it is something we are working on. She is just very stubborn. The last time she had to have a urine test was when we were in the hospital, they taped a plastic collection bag on her bottom and waited for her to go in the bag. She told me when they put it on her that she " was not going to go potty in the bag" and she did not, she held her urine for 15 hours!!! STUBBORN LITTLE RED HEAD is the perfect name for her!!
She is doing well otherwise, her WBC(infection fighters are 2.77 (normal is 5.5 - 15.5), her hemoglobin (iron) is 10.6 (normal is 11.5-13.5) and her platelets(blood clotters) are 282 (normal is 150-400). Her counts are as expected. We have our next regular appointment next Friday.

Monday, September 11, 2000 at 08:34 PM (CDT)

Emma woke up this morning with the start of a cold. She had a runny nose all day, and spent the better part of the day just laying around. We called the doctor who said we could give her a decongestant, which seems to have helped. The decongestant knocks her out so she had a 2 1/2 hour nap today also. So far she has not had a fever which is a good thing. It is funny how something like a simple cold starts me worrying. Before it wouldn't have even phased her but now it wipes her out.
We have gotten some pretty neat news though. There is a web site called Make A Child Smile which features 3 children a month who are ill. The web site explains their story and illness and asks people to simply send the child a card. Well, Emma is going to be a featured child for October. That should be fun for her because she loves to get mail. She gets so excited when she opens the junk mail!! The site states that on average each child receives 200 cards. The web site requires us to get a post office box, they won't post our home address for safety reasons which is nice. Emma will really enjoy getting all that mail!!
Not much else to write about. I will continue to update the web page about her cold. Hopefully it continues to be just that, and nothing worse. ( Sorry just my worrying again). :-)

Sunday, September 10, 2000 at 08:34 PM (CDT)

Emma had another healthy, quiet weekend. That is the best kind!!! Saturday we had a garage sale with Aunt Vanessa, and Aunt Melanie at our house so Jama, and Papa took her to breakfast and then to the RV show at the IX center. Then they spent the day playing at their house.
There is not a lot going on this weekend, so we would like to take this space to let everyone know that September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. Childhood cancer is symbolized by a gold ribbon lapel pin .(like the pink ribbon pin for breast cancer and the red ribbon pin for AIDS)
1 in 330 children will develop a form of cancer by the time they are 19!!! These statistics are very scary!!! On September 23,2000 (a Saturday evening) we will be participating in The Light the Night Walk sponsored by The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. We will be walking in honor of Emma. It takes place in Downtown Cleveland and is a 3 mile walk. We will carry red illuminated balloons, and Emma will carry a white illuminated balloon since she is a cancer survivor. If anyone is interested in either sponsoring us for this walk and donating to the society, or participating in the walk as a member of our team walking in Emma's honor please let us know. All money goes to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Thanks to all who are participating with us so far: Jama & Papa(Sharon & Gary), Aunt Melanie & Jacob, Janet Gorman (she has almost raised $700.00 so far!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!), Aunt Vanessa & Taylor, Wendy, Brenda & Jenny Murphy, and George Glassmeyer. It should be a fun night. If walkers raise a certain amount, not only does the money go to a wonderful cause, but the walkers have a chance to earn, T shirts, sweatshirts, and gift certificates to The Gap. For more information on The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, there is a link at the bottom of this page.
That is about all for now, there is an updated picture of Emma in the photo album section of the web page, for those who haven't seen her for a while.

Friday, September 08, 2000 at 08:36 PM (CDT)

Emma had a doctor appointment today. She is doing wonderful. Her counts are very good.
Her counts were:
WBC(infection fighters): 3.75
normal is 5.5-15.5
Hemogloblin: 10.5
normal is 11.5-13.5
Platelets(blood clotters):411
normal is 150-400
Her blood work was very good. Some counts are down, but that is expected, the chemotherapy can't distinguish between the luekemia cells and the good cells, so both are killed. The doctors were very happy with the results.
We have noticed such a difference in her behavior since she has started the maintenance phase. She is so much more active. Yesterday we played out in the yard and she was running around, jumping, and playing. This morning she woke up and was actually sore because she had not used those muscles in so long because she wasn't feeling well. We look back now and can see how much the last few months of chemo has slowed her down. Either way, she has been doing so well. Today was the big medicine day for her. She took 5 pills and 2 tsp of liquid medicine. She took her Bactrim(which she calls her "bathroom"), methotrexate(which she calls "hippotrixie"), and mercaptopurine (which she calls "cappoputer")! She has a name for each of them and makes us tell her what each medicine is before she takes them! She wants to make sure we aren't slipping her the wukky medicine(prednisone). This morning when she was sleeping she was dreaming and talking in her sleep. She was yelling "no, don't take my tubbie tape off". Poor thing , she has nightmares about us giving her catheter a dressing change! She hates when we have to take the bandage off. We try to use as little tape as possible, but still one bandage is needed.
She had a busy day playing today and she is just about ready for bed. Another good day to be thankful for.

Tuesday, September 05, 2000 at 08:41 PM (CDT)

Emma has had a quiet last few days, which in our book, the quieter the better. Saturday we just stayed around the house and Emma played with her toys and watched movies. Sunday we went to church with Grandma and Papa. Janet Gorman a friend of ours who goes to Grandma's church, is walking with us in the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society walk on September 23. We are walking in honor of Emma. Janet made an announcement to the church and asked for donations to the leukemia society. She thought it would be nice for Emma to be there since she is walking in honor of her. There was a coffee hour after church, Emma had a good time, they had her favorite, salsa and chips and broccoli and tomatoes. Yes, she passed up all of the cookies and brownies for that!!!
Monday Aunt Melanie came over for a while to visit. She had to keep Jacob at home though because he has recently recieved the chicken pox vaccine and could get a mild case of chicken pox and possibly infect Emma since her immune system is down. She had also recieved the vaccine when she was a year old so she would not get chicken pox but would get shingles. At any rate, we have to keep Jacob away for about 6 weeks! It is very hard because they love to play together. Later on Monday, Aunt Vanessa, Uncle Paul and Taylor came by for a visit. Emma likes to play with Taylor who is almost exactly a year younger. They had a lot of fun. Emma has not gotten to play with many kids lately because her immune system has been low and she can get infected easily. She really misses playing with kids, mommy and daddy just aren't as fun!!
Later on Monday we went to see Grandpa Hall.
He hasn't seen her since she was diagnosed and was very glad that she looked so well. He said if you didn't know her, you would never guess she was sick because she looks so good. And he is right, she looks great!!
Today Mommy and Emma went on a picnic, she loves to "picic" as she calls it. We went to Wallace Lake in the Metroparks. We ate and then looked at ducks as mommy called them , but she corrected me and said they were "gooses"!! Smarty pants!! We had a really good time but Emma tired easily today. She took about a 2 hour nap this afternoon. Which she has been fighting lately, she doesn't want to miss anything if she takes her nap, she is just very nosey I guess! She is doing really well on this phase of treatment. This is what the last year or so of the treatment will be like. We go back to the doctor on Friday for blood counts. I am kind of anxious to find out if they are ok. I like that weekly reassurance. But we are just very thankful she is doing so well.

Thursday, August 31, 2000 at 09:06 PM (CDT)

Emma had a quiet day today. The central air unit in our house was not working (it is only 4 months old !!) and we had to stay home and wait for the repair man. We really take the central air for granted. It was a pretty warm day and the repair man did not come until 5:00!
She spent the day playing with her toys and watching her movies. She has a doctor kit that Aunt Vanessa got her while she was in the hospital. She examined "puppy" (her stuffed puppy that she takes absolutely everywhere). Puppy even has tubbies like her!!! Puppy needed medicine and shots today. When ever a test is done on Emma, puppy gets it too!! Puppy has been through it all!!!
Tonight daddy went to the store and I told him to get her a twinkie. She must have never had a twinkie because she thought it was another medicine and got all upset and said "I don't want it in my mouth!!!". Poor thing, I hate to have her upset so much.
She will have a total of 2 1/2 years of chemotherapy, which is longer that she has been alive so far!!! It seems like we have been at this forever and it has only been a bit over 2 months!!!
We don't have an appointment this week, Emma gets a week off!! It feels wierd. Since she was diagnosed we have gone 1,2 or 3 times a week. I kind of like the weekly reassurance that everything is ok. She is doing wonderfully though which is very good reassurance.

Monday, August 28, 2000 at 08:12 PM (CDT)

We had a wonderful day today. Emma, Mommy & Daddy went on an outing. We took a train(the rapid) to Tower City (Downtown Cleveland) and had lunch (Emma had a whole roast beef and a fry!! The appetite caused by the prednisone is back.)(It is the only good side effect from that medicine)Then we walked around Tower City. Emma got some new lady bug tennis shoes. We collect lady bug stuff for her room and were excited to find lady bug tennis shoes. Then we walked down East 9th Street and looked around in the Galleria Mall were Emma got hungry again and had to have a emergency Happy Meal!!! A little more fast food today then normal but it was an unexpected meal. We then walked down to the East 9th Street Pier and rode on The Good Time III. We had so much fun. She loved the rapid train ride and the boat ride. The Good Time III was a 2 hour cruise of the Cuyahoga River and Lake Erie. The boat couldn't go into the lake due to the choppy water. It was a wonderful time besides. It was a beautiful day. She was so exhausted by the time we got home.
We had a very good day medicine wise also. I think we have mastered the art of taking prednisone if that is possible. When Emma was just diagnosed, the nurse that took care of her ,Sharon, suggested mixing the prednisone with Hershey's Chocolate Syrup. The chocolate is supposed to take the bitterness out of the prednisone. We tried it in the hospital but it didn't work she was not used to taking medicine and would get very worked up and upset. Well, we tried it again out of desperation, and it has worked incredible so far. She has been able to keep 4 doses down on the first try!Yea!!!!! We have spent over 2 years trying to get her to eat right and not have too much sugar or candy and now we are giving her syringes full of CHOCOLATE!!!
What is wrong with this picture??? Well, whatever works. We only have 3 more doses of prednisone this month!!!
Emma is sleeping now, she told us she wanted to go night-night. She is tired from all of the fun today. We love to see her having fun. We are so glad she is feeling well.

Friday, August 25, 2000 at 08:22 PM (CDT)

Emma had a doctors appointment today. She is doing excellent. Her counts are pretty good. Her hemoglobin(iron in her blood) is up to 9.6 .Last week it was 8.6 (normal is 11.5-13.5). If it gets to 8.0 she has to recieve a blood transfussion. She has had 2 so far, both when we were in the hospital when she was diagnosed. We were happy to see it up, the fewer blood transfusions she has to have, the better. Today she starts the phase of chemotherapy called Interim Maintenance #1.This phase lasts for 8 weeks It consists of :
Vincristine(IV) (days 0 and 28)
Prednisone (orally) (days 0-4 and 28-32)
Methotrexate orally (4 pills at a time)
days0,7,14,21,28,35,42,and 49
Mercaptopurine Orally for 49 days

She was a ham at the doctors office today. She was giving hugs and really talking. Her new thing is to flash her armpits and scare people away. She lifts up her fat little arm
and shows her armpits(We really don't know what made her start this!!) But, it is hilarious!!! The doctors and nurses think it is hilarious too !!! She was in a good mood all day.
Then it was time for the medicine. She had vincristine at the office today, which is just a syringe full of medicine injected into her "tubbies". That went fine. Tonight we had to give her a total of 6 pills and 1 tsp of liquid. The first we had to give her was the dredded prednisone. She hates this medicine. It tastes horrible. We have tasted it and the first thing that comes to mind is to vomit and get rid of the taste. Which was exactly what she did about 4 seconds after she swallowed it. We felt so bad, she has been so good taking her medicine lately and we had to give her the "wukky medicine". Then, since she vomited, we had to give it to her again!! This time praise God, she kept it down. Then when we were sure she had that down, we had to give her 5 more crushed up pills and a liquid medicine. She took those pretty good but afterward she asked to go to bed. I think she thought if she went to bed she wouldn't have to take any more medicine.But it was really her bedtime anyway. Next time we may be able to space them out a bit. Poor thing, and we try to tell her it is so she will get better, and she really doesn't feel bad so she doesn't understand. She has been so good through all this. She asked me why the doctors had to put her to sleep (for the spinal taps) and I told her so they could give her medicine in her back. She told me that the medicine wouldn't work, only green beans would make her better!!! She loves her green beans!!!!!
This phase lasts until October 20. She has to go back to the doctor on September 8 for blood work to check her counts, and then she goes back September 22 for more vincristine. So, we kind of get a break from the appointments.

Tuesday, August 22, 2000 at 08:54 PM (CDT)

Today was a very good day for Emma, she was her normal happy self. We took a trip to the library where she checked out her new favorite book, Jack and the Beanstalk. She loves going to the library. On the way home, she gave me a list of the things she did not want to do. She said, "I don't want to go to the doctor, I don't want to go to Chi-Chi's(usually her favorite), I don't want to take my medicine, I don't want to change the tape on my tubbies(her catheter), and I don't want to go to the bank!(I dont know where that came from ).
Pretty bossy for a 2 year old. But I guess she knows what she wants (or what she doesn't want.)
Emma is currently in the consolidation phase of her treatment. She started on July 28,2000 and will finish this phase on Friday.
The consolidation phase consists of:
Prednisone (tapered over 10 days)
Vincristine IV (day 0)
Mercaptopurine(6MP)orally (days 0-28)
Methotrexate (IT)(in spine) (days 7,14,21)
She has also been put on Bactrim (an antibiotic) to prevent pneumonia.She takes this on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

Emma has done very well with this phase.
She is very happy to not have to take prednisone anymore. She calls it the wukky medicine. She takes her medicine very good now. Mommy, Daddy, and Emma all have a tea pary after she takes it. She loves it.The vincristine really has not given her much problems except for sore joints and muscle pain. It can cause serious side effects such as eyelid droop,
and foot drop(temorary paralysis of the foot).We continue to pray that she does not have bad side effects from her treatment.

The hard part of this has been the 3 weeks of spinal taps. She had spinal taps on August 4,11,17.
August 4th she had a spinal tap. They do them under anesthesia in an operating room.
They take a sample of Spinal Fluid and give her a dose of methotrexate. They test the Spinal Fluid because it is a place that the leukemia can relapse to. She has never had any in her spine(PRAISE GOD) so it is now just a precautionary therapy.
She did fine throught the procedure and that night but the next morning she could not sit up, stand up, or walk. She would cry that her back hurt. It scared us to death! We called the doctor who said it was probably stiff muscles and to apply heat and give her motrin. She sat around with the heating pad most of the day but when she would try to walk she was all hunched over and would eventually give up and crawl. It broke our hearts to see her like this. By that night she was walking a bit better, and by Sunday, she was her peppy self. It was very scary. It always makes us nervous when she has a procedure that involves her spine. She did fine with the other 2 weeks of spinal taps.
Her next phase of chemotherapy begins on Friday. It is called the Interim Maintenance Phase.

Monday, August 21, 2000 at 08:52 PM (CDT)

There is not a lot to update this week since Emma does not go to the doctor until Friday so we decided to explain the chemotherapy protocol she is on.
She was placed on Protocol CCG-1961 for High Risk ALL( High Risk due to her high White Blood count on diagnosis) and on June 23, 2000 she started chemotherapy. The first phase was called the Induction Phase (to induce remission).
It consisted of :
Vincristine (IV)(days 0,7,14,21)
Daunomycin (IV)(days 0,7,14,21)*******
Prednisone(PO)(days 0-27)
L-Aspariginase(IM)(Mon,Wed,Fri for 3 weeks)
Ara-C(IT)(day 0)
Methotrexate(IT)(day 7,28)
**Emma only recieved 2 doses of Daunomycin.
She was responding very rapidly and was
placed on Protocol CCG-1952 for Standard
Risk ALL.
She has also taken Zofran for nausea and pepsid for heartburn.
********************************************
IV=intravenous (through her catheter)
IM=intramuscular
PO=by mouth
IT=intrathecal(in the spine)( lumbar punctures given under anesthesia)
********************************************
Emma did really well during this phase. She was in remission on day 7 which was a very rapid respose to the treatment. Usually, remission is hoped for by day 28. It has been said that the faster remission comes, the better the prognosis.
She had minimal side effects. The worst part of the treatment was the Prednisone which she had to take orally 3 times a day for 28 days. Which meant that 3 times a day, we had to hold her down and force her to take something that would most likely make her vomit. While telling her that it would make her feel better!! Prednisone had an awful taste and would make her vomit within seconds after taking it. We were finally able to mix it with juice and sugar, dip the syringe in sugar in case it touched her tongue while we put it in her mouth and give her something to eat immediately after it. Pasta Salad, Salsa, or Salt and Vinegar chips were what worked to mask the taste.
Prednisone also made her appetite sky rocket!! She ate constantly! She could not get enough green beans, pasta, and macaroni and cheese!! She gained a total of 5 pounds while on prednisone (28 days). She also had a lot of swelling in her face, and stomach. Prednisone also can cause mood changes(to put it lightly!) Emma was very moody, we called them Prednisone Moments, but often she had Prednisone Days!!!
Another side effect she had from the prednisone was heartburn. She told us she had a sunburn in her tummy!! Pepsid would help a bit. Prednisone was a nasty drug for Emma, but the positive action it had in helping her fight this disease outweighs the negative side effects( it was very hard to see anything positive in something that was affecting her so negatively.)We are trying to stay positive about all of this though!
The vincristine which she recieved in her catheter caused her joints to get stiff and sore, we could tell by the way she walked and ran. Tylenol was used to relieve this. She has not lost her beautiful red hair, it has thinned but she suprisingly still has quite a bit. She could still lose it but that is a painless side effect, we would much rather that happen than many of the more painful ones these medications can cause, such as mouth sores, nausea,and vomiting.
The chemotherapy also made her neutropenic(she had a decreased ability to fight off infection) which meant we did not go out except to the doctor appointments. It also meant she could not eat fresh fruit and vegetables with thin skin incase of bacterial contamination. She could not eat her favorites, grapes and tomatoes. Her counts have since gone back to normal and we are able to take her out and she can have her "bapes, and bomatoes"!!(as she calls them).
We were very glad that she only recieved 2 doses of the Daunomycin. It is a very strong drug and can have nasty, sometimes permanent side effects such as heart muscle damage (less common but scary side effect).
Emma has not complained or questioned any of this. She has been wonderful throught all of this, I don't know that I would be able to say the same if I had to endure what she has gone thru.

Saturday, August 19, 2000 at 09:42 PM (CDT)

Emma was diagnosed with Pre-B Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia with no Central Nervous System involvement on June 23,2000.She was taken to the emergency room on June 19,2000 with a rash on her feet and legs which turned out to be petechia from low platelet counts.Doctors did a blood test and discovered abnormal counts (white blood count of 50,000 (normal being 5,000 to 15,000) and platelets of 23( normal being 150 to 450)) We were then transfered to the Cleveland Clinic Foundation where the diagnosis was made.She had a broviac catheter placed in her chest in which she will receive her chemotherapy. She will have Chemotherapy for a total of 2 1/2 years. She was put on a protocol of chemotherapy and was in remission on day 7 of the treatment.This is a very fast response, the doctors hope for remission by day 28. She has been placed on a "good prognosis protocol". She is now in the consolidation phase of her chemotherapy which means daily doses of mercaptopurine, lumbar punctures with injections of methotrexate in her spine 3 weeks in a row, bactrim to prevent pneumonia, and monthly doses of vincristine and prednisone.
She is doing wonderful and has not questioned or complained about any of it. She was hospitalized August 14 thru August 18 for a fever and received a new Broviac Catheter (or "tubbies" as she calls them)in her chest because the other fell out! She will go back to the oncology doctor Friday August 25th.
We would like to thank everyone for all of the prayers and support we have received. We would not have gotten thru this without them.

Saturday, August 19, 2000 at 05:03 PM (CDT)

We have decided to create a web page to document Emma's treatment of Leukemia and to keep everyone updated on her condition.

Click here to go back to the main page.

----End of History----