History

Journal History

Monday, May 21, 2007 10:04 AM CDT

Wow. It's been over a year since I've updated this site. Emily is doing great! She's has about a month of first grade left before summer break. She loves school! She has been done with treatment for over four years now. Her last scans were in January and they were all clear. Alyssa and Brandon are both doing good. Alyssa is 9 now and Brandon is 3. Alyssa will be going into fourth grade in the fall and Brandon will be starting preschool. I hope this update finds you all doing well.
Melissa

April 16, 2006

Wow! It has been 3 years, 2 months and 16 days since Emily's last chemotherapy! Life here is good. Emily is almost finished with Kindergarten. We celebrated her birthday at Disney World this year. She is officially six years old. She is doing great! I am adding some pictures of Emily, Alyssa and Brandon so you can see how big they are all getting. I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter. Take Care! Melissa

Thursday, February 24, 2005 7:28 PM CST

Hi everyone. I realize that it has been a REALLY long time since I have updated. Emily is doing great! We had her two years off treatment scans last month and they came back clear! Alyssa and Brandon are also doing well. Brandon will be one next month. I can't believe it! Alyssa is loving school and is eager to learn everything she can. I hope this update finds everyone doing well. Take Care!

Saturday, October 9, 2004 8:50 PM CDT

Hello Again. I realize it's been a couple of months since I've updated the webpage. I just updated the pictures today. Life has been good. The kids are all healthy and growing like crazy. Alyssa and Emily are loving school. They are both playing soccer this fall and their schedules alone manage to keep us all pretty busy. Brandon is getting SO big! It's hard to believe that he is already six months old. In case you haven't seen it, the girls and I are in a couple of commercials for Bronson Hospital. They have been running on WWMT channel 3 quite often. We've manage to catch the one with Emily and I in it a few times right about five til 9am during the week. There is also another with Alyssa in it, but I haven't been able to pinpoint any run times yet. They are suppose to air all fall and then start re-running after the first of the year.

I hope this update finds everyone doing well. Take Care!

Melissa

Wednesday, August 4, 2004 7:48 PM CDT

Hello Everyone! Life here is good. Emily had a CT scan and MRI last month and everything came back perfect!! Emily and Alyssa are getting ready to go back to school in a few weeks and Brandon is growing like crazy. I hope this update finds everyone doing well. Take Care!
Melissa

Wednesday, April 7, 2004 10:04 PM CDT

Wow! Where has the time went? We celebrated Emily's birthday on Saturday. She turned four years old on Sunday, the 4th. We took Alyssa, Emily and her friend from preschool to Chuck E. Cheeses. They had a blast! I took some pictures and I will try to update them tonight. It is so wonderful to celebrate another birthday with her. It is hard to think of the time when we weren't sure if we would ever see this day. All I can say, is... Thank God. I hope everyone is doing good. Thank you all for checking in. FYI...I updated Brandon's website with some new pictures of him and the girls. www.caringbridge.com/mi/babyblair

Love to you all!
Melissa

Thursday, March 25, 2004 1:49 PM CST

Hi everyone! The big day finally came. Brandon Michael Blair was born at Oaklawn Hospital on Monday, March 22nd at 7:51am. He weighed 8lbs and 3oz and was 20 1/2 inches long! I will try to add some pictures asap. If you go to Oaklawn Hospitals website to visit the newborn gallery, you should be able to see a picture of him there. The address is www.oaklawnhospital.com. The family password is bmb04 . We also created a website for Brandon courtesy of Caringbridge.com. The address is www.caringbridge.com/mi/babyblair. I will try to post some new pictures of Brandon there soon.

Melissa

Wednesday, March 3, 2004 7:55 PM CST

Hi Everyone. I know it's been a while since I've updated, so I'll do a little back tracking. The doctors decided not to even wait 3 months to do Emily's repeat CatScan. They opted for 6 weeks instead just to be on the safe side. Her CT was yesterday and we got a wonderful call today saying that the area in question at the base of her right lung has not changed since her last CT. This is great news! If it was malignant tumor, it would have grown larger in this time frame. So needless to say, Jarrod and I are both breathing a little easier now. Emily is feeling great and is full of it! Her and Alyssa are getting excited about the baby and can't wait until he gets here. 19 days and counting!!! I hope this update finds you all doing well. Thanks for checking in. Take Care and God Bless!
Melissa

Wednesday, January 21, 2004 1:12 PM CST

Emily's MRI of her shoulder came back wonderful. Her CT came back with some new "scar tissue" at the base of her right lung. The doctors are not concerned with this, but to be on the safe side, they are scheduling another CT in 3 months vs. the standard 6 months. Thanks for all of your prayers!!!

Melissa

Wednesday, January 14, 2004 6:36 PM CST

Life here has been going smoothly. We all had a nice Christmas break. We took a short vacation the week after Christmas to an indoor waterpark in downtown Miluakee.

Emily's one year off treatment scans are this Friday. Please say some extra prayers that these scans are clear. This past year has seemed to fly by so fast. We are praying that these scans are clear and continue to be clear forever.

I hope that everyone had a nice holiday. Please take a minute to sign the guestbook to let us know that you were here. Take Care and God Bless.

Melissa

Thursday, December 18, 2003 8:07 PM CST

Hi everyone! Life here has been going smoothly. The girls are enjoying school and are looking forward to Christmas. Both of their Christmas parties at school were today. Emily had a chance to see Santa Clause and Alyssa had fun singing songs and doing activities at her party.

I finished my last final exam on Tuesday. This semester has been a long one, but it's finally over. I don't start next semester until the second week of January. It will be nice to have a little break.

I've decided that this baby is going to be at least a 10 pounder by the time he is born. I have three months left and I already looked like I swallowed a whole turkey! Other than that, I've been feeling great. The girls are looking forward to having a little brother. They've already decided who is changing the diapers and who is doing the burping!!!! If I can only get them to agree to get up in the middle of the night!

I hope everyone is doing great! I apologize for not updating more, but I feel like I don't have much to report these days. Isn't that wonderful! Emily's one year off treatment scans are in January. This year has gone so fast! Merry Christmas!

Melissa

Saturday, November 15, 2003 7:16 PM CST

Emily and Alyssa are going to have a baby brother!!! The ultrasound was on Thursday and everything went good. We will meet with the doctor next Tuesday to go over the formal ultrasound and discuss lab results. As of right now, the c-section is scheduled for March 22nd. We are pretty sure that we will name him Brandon Michael. Jarrod really likes this name and has turned down every other name I've suggested, so if you can think of any little boy names, feel free to email me!

Take Care and God Bless!
Melissa

Monday, November 3, 2003 12:05 AM CST

Hi Everyone! It's now been 9 months since Emily finished chemo and she has come such a long way!!! Her scans that we had done in October came back crystal clear and she doesn't have anymore done until January for her one year off treatment check up and scans. Her hair is growing like crazy!!!! I've updated the photo album with some recent pictures of the girls. Emily was a cute little kitty cat for Halloween and Alyssa was a Snow Princess. They both looked absolutely adorable. We had a Halloween party here at our house with about 30 kids. Yes! We are absolutely crazy! But it was a lot of fun for the kids!

I hope everyone is doing well. I'll update sometime later this month to let you know what we find out at the baby's ultrasound!!!

Wednesday, October 1, 2003 8:35 AM CDT

Hi Everyone! I've finally updated the photo album to include pictures of Alyssa and Emily's first days of school. They are both loving school. Emily's favorite part of school is snack time! Alyssa really likes her music class, she comes home singing new songs almost everyday!

Emily had her monthly oncology check up last week and everything looked good. Her White Blood Cell count was elevated a little, but she's had a cold for 2 weeks now that just won't go away. At her check up, the nurse practioner noticed that her ears looked a little "dull" and said to keep an eye on them and if they started to hurt her, to make an appointment with the pediatrician. Well, that was last Wednesday and yesterday Emily complained of her right ear hurting for the first time. We made an appointment and drove to Kalamazoo to find out that she has a really bad ear infection in her right ear. The doctor had me look in the scope at the inside of her ear and you could actually see a small blister on her eardrum. She prescribed amoxicillin and gave us a prescription for some ear drops to put in if Emily complained of pain.

Life here has been very busy, but a good busy. I hope that everyone is doing good. Please sign the guestbook to let us know that you were here.

Friday, September 5, 2003 9:29 PM CDT

Hi everyone! We're all still here and doing great!!! A lot has been happening since my last update! Alyssa started school (kindergarten) two weeks ago. She is loving it! I started my college classes the day after Alyssa started school. Emily starts preschool next Tuesday. Everytime we drive Alyssa to school, we go past Emily's preschool and she tells us how many days before she starts! She's excited! I could probably wait another year before she goes off to school, but I think she's ready! Only time will tell. Jarrod and I found out at the end of July that we are expecting another baby in March! The girls are so excited! They keep changing their minds about whether they want a little brother or sister!

Today Bronson Hospital had a Locks of Love day. Several nurses and family members showed up to have their hair cut off and donate it to Locks of Love. For info on Locks of Love, visit their website at: http://www.locksoflove.org/ .
Emily was asked to come and help cut the pediatric nurses hair for the cause! I'm unsure of the actual numbers, but the turnout was amazing! Originally just the pediatric nurses were growing their hair out to donate, but since the time they started (about a year ago) word got around the hospital and several other nurses and staff members & families decided to participate too. Needless to say, Emily thought it was pretty cool to be able to cut everyone's hair! I posted a couple of pictures in the photo album, you'll have to check them out.

I hope this update finds everyone doing good. Thank you for keeping Emily in your prayers for continued good health and clear scans. Please take a minute to sign the guestbook to let us know that you were here.

Take Care and God Bless!
Melissa

Tuesday, July 22, 2003 8:54 PM CDT

Hooray!!!! Emily's MRI and CT came back CLEAR!!!!!

Thank you all for your continued prayers!

Tuesday, July 15, 2003 8:51 AM CDT

Hi Everyone! I'm guessing that in a few years, Emily won't be thrilled with the above picture, but for now, you can't tell me that it's not cute!!! She was completely au-natural with the exception of her frog floatie! She paraded around the yard like that for about 5 minutes until I decided we should probably get a swimsuit on!

Life has been good. No major ups or downs. Just the way we like it. Emily has scans coming up this Friday. She has her MRI at 8:15am and then her CT will follow after that. Please say some extra prayers that these scans will come back clear.

We took a small vacation over the 4th of July. We went to Crivitz, WI to spend some time with our family. Jarrod, the girls and I borrowed a canoe and went down the Pestigo River for about 2 hours. It was very neat. We were able to see a Doe with her fawn drinking at the river. The girls thought that was the best part.

After a few days in Wisconsin, we headed to Chicago and went to Six Flags and then the next day went to Gurney Mills Mall. Very neat place to shop. Alyssa and Emily really liked Six Flags. We went the Monday after the 4th and it was very slow. There were no lines for the kids rides. When I say kids, I mean children under the age of 12. Now for the older children (Jarrod's age) there were lines! We managed to pull him away from the park even though he didn't get to ride the Superman ride!

This has been our only excitement since my last update. I can't tell you how nice it is to have little to report! Take Care and please keep Emily in your prayers as Friday's scans are coming up fast.

Melissa

Saturday, June 21, 2003 8:13 PM CDT

Alright! Alright!!! Here's an update!!! We have been living life to its fullest every single day and have had very little time to sit down and update this journal!!! :0) We went to the Relay for Life in both Branch and Kalamazoo counties this weekend. Emily joined the other child survivors for a lap around the track this morning at 9am in Kalamazoo. It was awesome! I will try to update the pictures tonight. We are going to "story time" at the library every Tuesday and are planning on going to the beach and kiddie pool sometime this week. The girls and I have been trying to take it easy and relax, but our first week of summer vacation was a little crazy. Emily woke up with a fever Monday morning. She already had an appointment with Dr. Mattano for her monthly check up that afternoon and we were able to get her in with her pediatrician an hour after that. Her pediatrician said that she just a sinus infection. She is feeling much better. Thank goodness. It has been a long time since she has been "normal sick" and it was kind of weird having to worry about a little sinus infection after what she has been through. Anyways, they rechecked her Wednesday and agreed that she seemed to be doing much better. Thursday I went and signed up for classes at KCC for this fall. I am finishing all my pre-requisites for the nursing program. I just applied to the program this week, so it will probably be fall of 2004 before I actually start nursing classes.

After the Kalamazoo Relay for Life today, we went to Chuck E Cheese's with Emily's chemo buddy, Paxton. Paxton had never been there and she LOVED it! She just finished chemo a few weeks ago and is just starting to get some peach fuzz back in! The girls had a blast. Be sure to check out the pictures!!!

Okay...I hope this is enough information to hold you over until the next time I get to sit down at the computer and fill you all in! Take Care and God Bless! Thank you all for your prayers! Keep them coming! We WILL enjoy our summer this year!!!

Please sign the guestbook to let us know that you were here.

Saturday, May 31, 2003 7:53 PM CDT

Everything here is still going great! Emily's hair is getting SO long!!! We had been spiking it, but now it's looking a little silly that way, but it is still too short to just brush down. It's so nice to have to worry about trivial hair style problems. How is everybody? There hasn't been a whole lot of entries in the guest book lately. The girls and I have started planning our day calender for the summer! I'm not working this summer, so we have already started a busy schedule that includes, the kiddie pool, story time at the library, picnics and the BEACH!!! Yes, it is still possible to make a date with us, but time is short, make yours soon!!! :0) We still have to slide Jarrod in sometime too! I hope everyone is doing great! I'll do my best to keep you all updated over the summer.

Take Care!!!!
Melissa

Saturday, May 17, 2003 2:07 PM CDT

Great News!!! Emily's CT Scan came back CLEAR!!!! The nodules that were seen on her last CT are completely gone!!! Woo Hoo! Thank you all so much for your prayers!

Saturday, May 10, 2003 11:58 PM

*****New Pictures******

Hi everyone! Emily has been feeling great! She's been a little extra tired lately, but I am guessing that it is a combination of nice weather and a lot of playing!!! She has scans coming up this Thursday afternoon. Please say some extra prayers that these scans come back clear. Jarrod and I can't thank you enough for keeping Emily and our family in your prayers. I will try to update as soon as I get back results from the scans. Don't be surprised if it's not until Monday though. Her scans are late Thursday afternoon and we may or may not get results back Friday.

Thanks for checking in!

Melissa

Monday, April 21, 2003 10:10 PM CDT

New Pictures!!!

Hi everyone. Sorry it has been a while since my last update! I promised that I would tell more about our Disney trip, so here I go.

Sunday, March 30th at 8 am a limo picked us up and took us to the airport. (With a complimentary stop at the McDonald's drive thru!!!) When we got to Orlando, there was a volunteer from Give Kids the World (GKTW) holding up a welcome sign for Emily. He showed us to our rental vehicle (Chevy Venture) and gave us detailed directions and a map to get to GKTW. Nope...we didn't even get lost!

Give Kids The World is a non-profit organization that exists only to fulfill the wishes of all children with life-threatening illnesses and their families from around the world to experience a fun filled vacation in Central Florida. This village is spread out over 51 acres with 96 villas solely for the use of children who are battling life-threatening illnesses. There are almost 2000 volunteers who volunteer their time at the village on a regular basis. They serve ice cream from 7:30am until 9 pm. The kids can have as much as they want all day long and the best part is that it is free! They serve a wonderful breakfast and dinner every day at the Gingerbread House Restaurant. This restaurant is the neatest! The tables are child sized and are all filled with peppermint candies. They told us that there are more than 27,000 peppermints in all!!! Perkins restaurant donates ALL of the food that is served in the Gingerbread House Restaurant. We didn't pay for any of the meals there. Please keep this in mind when choosing where to eat out next! The closest Perkins to us is in Battle Creek, but you can bet your bottom dollar that we will be eating there one day soon!!! How wonderful for them to do that!

Also at GKTW is a magic castle with lots of toys to play with, video games, a carousel that runs all day with no wait to ride, magical mirrors, and also this is where the magic show and other special events are held. There is a water park and two in ground pools. There is an amazing Mini-Putt golf course and a movie theatre. One night, Santa Clause and Mrs. Clause came and it snowed! I'm telling you...this place is magical. The girls got to ride horses and ponies. One night they took us for a ride in a horse drawn carriage. The characters came right to GKTW to do pictures and autographs with the kids. There were no long lines or crowds to push through. It was great! They were able to take their time so that nobody felt rushed.

Please keep in mind...all of this is at the village we stayed at! When we went to the parks we were also given wonderful treatment. Emily wore a pink button that said Give Kids the World with her name on it. That button enabled us to not have to wait in line and all other kinds of perks! At first we felt really weird about going in front of all of the other people who had been waiting in line, but then we decided that we would never get to do everything that the girls wanted to do if we waited through all of the lines like everyone else! We actually tried to wait a couple of times, but Disney staff members spotted us and took us to the front of the line or through the back door! They were wonderful!!! The girls were able to meet all of the characters and get their autographs. One night we had dinner at the Grand Floridian Hotel and the girls got to personally meet Cinderella and all of her storybook friends, including Prince Charming who made them giggle when he kissed their hands!

On Monday, we went to the Magic Kingdom and the girls loved it! The characters were so friendly and made a big fuss over them!

Tuesday we went to the animal kingdom. Very neat! We got to see all of the animals and we went on a wild river ride and got soaking wet!

Wednesday we went to Sea World. Emily and Alyssa both really liked the dolphins. We went out on this lake there in little Pink Flamingo paddleboats. They were two seaters, so Jarrod and Alyssa went in one and Em and I took one. It was so funny to see Jarrod and Alyssa's boat! It was lopsided and looked like it could tip over at any time! I can't imagine why!!! (Love you sweetie!!!)

On Thursday we went on an airboat ride through the swamplands in central Florida and got to see several alligators. At one point, our guide pointed out a 12-14 foot alligator that was about five feet from our boat! Yikes!!! I've watched way too many scary movies!!! Emily really liked the ride; Alyssa however opted to take a nap half way through!!! This in itself was amazing considering how loud the engine on the boat was. We had to wear huge, blue earmuffs!

Thursday night is the night that we had dinner with Cinderella at the Grand Floridian. The girls loved seeing all of the characters. Jarrod loved the Prime Rib!! ;0)

Friday we spent the majority of the day at Wet in Wild. It is a water park that has all kinds of stuff for little kids to do. From a tiny wave pool to water slides and what not, the girls had a blast. Jarrod and I took them on a big water slide too! All four of us were in this canoe looking thing that went a bazillion miles an hour down a huge twisty curvy water slide! We survived! Jarrod even managed to get on a couple big boy rides by himself! Before we left, we made a couple of trips around the lazy river. It is the huge river that surrounds the park. It has a current that keeps everybody moving at a nice slow pace. The girls sat on my lap on top of an intertube as Jarrod swam next to us. It was a lot of fun! Thank goodness for the 45 SPF sunscreen! Neither the girls nor I got as much as a tan the entire week! Although 1 week later Jarrod's head was still peeling! :0)

Sorry that I have rambled on and on. This is only a glimpse of the magic that our trip was! We were all sad to go home on Saturday morning, but once we got home, we were ready to relax!

If you get a chance, please visit Give Kids the Worlds' website. It is www.gktw.org

I can't think of a better place to donate money or your time. Jarrod and I are trying to think of something special to do for them to thank them for the generosity that they have shown us. Please let us know if you have any ideas.
Also, check out Make A Wish's website.
It is: www.wish.org
They are the ones who pulled all of this together. They arranged our stay at the village, the limo, the flight and tons of other things. Our wish manager was Alyssa Shipman. Thanks Alyssa! Our trip to Disney could have never been as magical without all of the help from these two wonderful organizations.

I will try to post more pictures soon from our trip, but be sure to check the new ones out that I posted tonight. Also, please sign the guest book to let us know that you were here!

PS...Emily had her three-month post chemo check up this afternoon and a big thumbs up!!! Next month she will have scans and we will go from there!!! Keep those prayers coming!!!

Take Care and God Bless!

Saturday, April 5, 2003 9:35 PM CST

Hello Everyone! Our vacation was wonderful!!! I've added some pictures tonight, and I will try to post some more soon. We were able to do so much in the week that we were there! I will try my best to tell you about it when I update next. I hope everyone is doing good. Please sign Emily's guestbook to let us know that you were here and don't forget to look at the photo album.

Take Care and God Bless!
Melissa

Sunday, March 23, 2003 8:46 PM CST

Hello Everyone!!! Things are still going great here! We are all getting ready to go to Disney World next week. The girls are so excited they can barely stand it! We went shopping for some summer clothes for them today. They both picked out a few outfits and some new sunglasses! Emily is getting a lot of new hair. On Friday we met with volunteers from Make A Wish and they gave the girls some going away gifts that included disposable cameras, photo albums, a Minnie Mouse balloon and some snacks. They also brought Emily a tot sized backpack so that she could take it with her to "Mickey Mouses' House"!

She has been feeling amazing lately. It seems so strange that we have all of this "extra" time lately. We don't know what to do with ourselves!!!

Emily's 2 month off treatment doctors appointment is tomorrow. It's hard to believe that it has been two whole months since she has had to have any chemo. It's wonderful to see her so healthy and energetic! She is also starting to get chubby cheeks!!!! ;0)

I hope everyone is doing great!

Take Care and God Bless!

Wednesday, March 12, 2003 6:14 PM CST

Hi Everyone!!! Everyone is doing great here!!! Emily is feeling like a million bucks! Her and Alyssa have been enjoying the great weather that we have been having. If we ever get a snowday here, I will update more!

Thursday, March 6, 2003 3:35 PM CST

It's official! The tubies are gone!!! Emily had her broviac line removed this morning. Everything went smoothly and she is feeling great. I'll update more soon!

Sunday, February 23, 2003 5:33 PM CST

It's cold & beautiful here in Coldwater!!!! Jarrod, the girls & I spent part of the afternoon playing outside & sledding. Emily is feeling absolutely great! We've decided to take the latest news as a blessing and enjoy the next three months trying not to think about the what if's. Emily and Alyssa are very excited about our upcoming Disney trip. Emily is waiting impatiently to get her "tubies" out. I called the Doc's office Thursday afternoon to find out when they will be taking them out and I still haven't heard back. (Hint! Hint! Diane if you're reading this - can you check this out???)

We took some pictures today & I will post them here shortly. Please take a peek at the pictures & sign the guestbook while you are here. And yes we love to hear from you even if you have already signed it a bazillion times.

Please keep Em in your prayers over these next few months. Take Care and God Bless!

Thursday, February 20, 2003 2:29 PM

We received Emily's scan results back about a half hour ago and I haven't decided how to feel about them yet. Her MRI & Bone scan came back clear. Her Cat Scan showed that the one nodule that has been there the last couple of scans is gone, but they also found two "minute specks" in her left lower lobe. Her doctor said that he does not think that it is live tumor. She will have another CT in three months just like planned and we will go from there. Please pray that these "specks" are nothing.

Wednesday, February 19, 2003 3:30 PM CST

Emily had her end of treatment evaluation scans today and everything went smoothly. We should find out results from the scans either tonight or tomorrow. I will update soon.

Tueday, February 11, 2003 10:10 PM CST

Hi everyone! Emily has been feeling great! She is starting to get some hair! She talked me into buying her a new hairbrush at Meijer yesterday! ;0) Keep the prayers coming for clear scans on the 19th. I'll update soon!

Melissa

Friday, February 7, 2003 3:37 PM CST

Jarrod took Emily to get some more platlets this morning. About 10 minutes after they started giving them to her, she complained of her tummy hurting, started coughing and got hives. The nurse knew that she was having an allergic reaction to the platlets and gave her IV Benadryl ASAP. They Benadryl started working immediately and she was able to breath easier and the hives went away. They decided to wait until tomorrow and give her a different unit of platlets. She is now sleeping on the couch here at home. Hey...just another bump in the road of life!

Hope everone is doing well! Take Care and God Bless!

Wednesday, February 5, 2003 9:07 PM CST

Emily had another nose bleed Monday night. It started around 5pm and didn't stop until shortly after midnight. To make a long story short, we ended up taking her to Bronson Hospital around 6:00. She received some platelets and some packed red blood cells and that was about it. While we were there the doctor decided to prescribe her more steroids to help with her low pulse ox. They seem to be working, because she hasn't been on oxygen since yesterday. I'm glad that they are helping with her pulse ox levels, but it was kind of a bummer to have to add 6 more pills to her daily meds when we are finally done with chemo. It seems like they should be decreasing not increasing! Other than the nose bleed incident, life has been pretty normal.

Emily received her confirmation from Make A Wish in regards to her Walt Disney trip. We will be going to Disney World over spring break (March 30-April 5). Emily is very excited about going and so is Alyssa. Emily has never flown in an airplane and has had a lot of questions about it.

That's all for now. Thank you for checking in.

Melissa

Saturday, February 1, 2003 3:51 PM CST

It's official! As of 4:30 yesterday afternoon...Emily is done with Chemo!!!!!! The Hem/Onc office and pediatric floor staff had a end of treatment party for her complete with Hooray Cake! (I added new pictures to her photo album) So there is the wonderful news, but in the Cancer world it seems like there is always some cruddy news to offset the good news. The chemotherapy that Emily had everyday this week along with the hours of hydration that she received did quite a number on Emily's lungs ability to get rid of the excess fluids. What that really means is that Emily's pulse ox level is very low. Not a really big deal in the scheme of things, but still cruddy news. She was given medrol yesterday to help her body get rid of the extra fluids and it seems like she peeing alot more, but her pulse ox is still in the low 70's/ without Oxygen. So for right now she is on one liter of blow by oxygen as needed but for the most part feeling good. She is estatic to know that she is done with chemo. She can't wait to go back to daycare "Aunt Jaynes" and to go to Mickey Mouses house.

Thank you all for your continued prayers and support. I will continue to update the webpage with Em's progress. Please take a minute to sign the guestbook to let us know that you were here. Take Care and God Bless!

Monday, January 27, 2003 at 10:28 AM (CST)

Okay...I know it's been a while since I've updated, but I've said it before, and I'll say it again...No News is GOOD News! Emily has been feeling fantastic. Right now Em & Jarrod are in Kalamazoo doing the first of five days of Emily's LAST CHEMOTHERAPY!!!!! Woo Hoo!

Sunday, January 19, 2003 at 11:58 AM (CST)

Today was one of those stay at home and don't do much of anything days!! We love those! Jarrod slept in this morning and the girls and I just watched cartoons. Emily reminded me that I had promised to show her and Alyssa how to make a snowball. As I was getting their coats on Jarrod decided to get up, so we all went outside. The snow wasn't very good for snowballs or snowmen, there was barely enough to cover the ground in places. Emily and Alyssa didn't let that get them down. Alyssa showed Emily how to make a snow angel and they had a blast. They both made a couple in our front yard and then we went to our neighbor's house and they both did one in her yard! I took some pictures and I will post them here in a little while. I hope everyone is doing great! Don't forget to look at the photo album and sign the guestbook while you are here. Take Care and God Bless!

Melissa

Friday, January 17, 2003 at 11:10 AM (CST)

Emily is feeling like her normal self again. She is eating great and starting to get up and move around. We are making some of the final plans for her Disney Make A Wish Trip. We are hoping that we will be able to stay at "Give Kids the World". It is a resort near Disney just for kids who are battling life threatening illnesses. They really go out of their way to make the kids feel special. We are planning on going either the week of spring break, or the week after. If we go the week of spring break, Emily will turn 3 while we are there.

I don't have much to report, but like I have said several times before, "No News is Good News"!!! I hope everyone has a safe weekend. Take Care and God Bless! Fourteen Days left until she is absolutely completely DONE! Keep those prayers coming!!!

Tuesday, January 07, 2003 at 07:40 PM (CST)

Emily is starting to feel a little bit better from the chemo that she received on Thursday. We just discovered that she has two sores on her tongue. They are a normal side effect from the chemo, but she has never had any before. From what I understand they can become pretty painful and some kids even stop eating and drinking. Emily doesn't seem to be bothered by them though. She has had an upset stomach off and on. It usually has subsided by now, but the nausea is still hanging around. We met a girl last week who had the same shoulder surgery as Emily 15 years ago. She was at the doctors office for her one year check up and we just happen to start talking in the waiting room. What are the odds of that! The scapulectomy that they both had is very rare. We've never met anyone else who has had it and neither had she. She had a similar cancer as Em and was not given much hope of survival. She is now 20 years old and is engaged to be married this year!! God works in wonderous ways!

We've met so many special children since Emily was diagnosed. Some of them have won their battles, some are still fighting and sadly some have lost their battles to cancer and have gone to live a life in Heaven with no medicine, chemo, tubies & best of all no pain! Please continue to pray for all of the children that are fighting this terrible disease.

Take Care and God Bless!

Melissa

Saturday, January 04, 2003 at 09:18 AM (CST)

Emily just finished her last overnight chemo! She has one more week of Topotecan and Cytoxan at the clinic every day during the last week of January and then she is DONE! Woo Hoo!

Please sign Emily's guestbook to let us know that you were here! Take Care and God Bless You!!!

Friday, December 27, 2002 at 11:01 AM (CST)

Hi again. Christmas went very well. As all of you know, Emily had not been feeling well. Up to Christmas Eve she was not interested in opening presents. We got together with Jarrod's dad and stepmom on Christmas Eve and she still wasn't perked up enough to open her presents by herself. She laid on the couch the entire time we were there. I'm not sure if was "Christmas Magic" or what, but come Christmas morning she was feeling great and ready to open every single present that Santa had brought for her. By the time she was done with that she was ready to go back to bed! She took a couple hour nap and then we went to Battle Creek to spend Christmas day with Jarrod's Mom, StepDad, Sister, Brother'n'law and Grandma. She didn't perk up quite as much there, but still seemed to enjoy seeing everyone and opening up gifts. Emily and Alyssa led the Christmas prayer at dinner. They were (are) so cute!!!! Alyssa had a great Christmas too. She has changed so much over these past few months. She seems so grown up. Lately she has been giving up things for herself to give to Emily. We are so proud of her. I am going to add some new pictures to the photo album, so take a look. Also, while you are here, please sign the guestbook to let us know you were checking in.

Take Care and God Bless

Melissa

Wednesday, December 18, 2002 at 11:11 AM (CST)

Hi everyone. Sorry it has been so long since my last update. Last week when Emily had the flu, the doctors stopped her colace (stool softener). They were afraid that if she kept vomiting and the colace caused her to have diarrhea, that she would become dehydrated. To make a long story short, just the opposite happened. She ended up constipated without the colace. She spent most of the weekend on the couch being uncomfortable. We had been giving her Magnesium Citrate, Colace, Mineral Oil and Milk of Magnesia at home and nothing seemed to help. She was admitted on Monday. They put a NG tube in through her nose down into her stomach so that she didn't have to taste the meds. Finally yesterday she started to go potty. I talked to Jarrod this morning and they should be on their way home in a hour or two.

On another note, Emily and Jarrod were on the news this morning! The K-Wings hockey team came to Bronson Hospital to bring the kids on the ped's floor stuffed animals. While they were there ABC 41 popped in and got some footage of Jarrod and Emily. It's not real exciting or anything. Emily is just laying in bed (it was before she had gone potty). Still it was neat to see them on TV!

I hope everyone is doing well. Friday is my last day at work before Christmas break and then I will have a couple of weeks off. Jarrod has about a week and a half off too. Hopefully if will go smoothly. The girls are excited about Christmas. Emily is still adament that she wants pink and purple gum for Christmas!!! We stopped at a live nativity scene a couple of weeks ago and the girls really liked it. There were live animals and people dressed like the wise men, Joseph & Mary and of course baby Jesus. Alyssa was disappointed that he wasn't a real baby!!! They also had a big hey wagon with a stage on it with people dressed like angels singing. It was VERY neat. If you get a chance to be in Coldwater this weekend, it is at the Northview Christian church on Union City Rd. heading north out of Coldwater. Let me know if you need directions.

If I don't update again before Christmas...I hope everyone has a great holiday. Please remember the Reason for the Season. It's not about presents and eggnog!!! It's a birthday celebration for Jesus, so CELEBRATE! Take Care and God Bless!

Melissa

Thursday, December 12, 2002 at 2:07AM

Hi again. Emily was admitted yesterday afternoon with a temperature and vomiting. Initially the docs thought that the vomiting was from the chemo that she is receiving every day this week, but when she spiked a temp is when they decided to admit her. Yesterday she felt really cruddy, but today seemed to be doing better. She only vomited once this afternoon and as soon as I left tonight(this morning), she vomited again. I left the hospital at approximately 12:30am and she was sleeping, but when I went to give her a hug good bye, I noticed that her pillow case was soaking wet with sweat. Not really sure if she has the flu or some other bug yet. We should have culture results back tomorrow morning and go from there. Hopefully her night will go uneventfully and Jarrod and Emily can get some sleep.

I also have some sad news to report. Our next door neighbor, Oscar Reed, passed away yesterday. He has been battling cancer since the spring of this year. Emily and Alyssa called him "Pa Pa" and I'm not really sure what to tell them yet. I talked to Em a little bit about it, but she didn't understand. She thought it was very neat that "Pa Pa" had "tubies" just like hers. Almost everytime we stopped over she wanted to see his to make sure they were still there! Please keep Oscar's wife Patty and his family in your prayers. Even though they knew that he didn't have much time, I'm sure it doesn't lessen the grief that they must be feeling.

I will update more soon. Please keep Emily in your prayers also. I hope that we can get past this "bug" soon.

Take care and God Bless!
Melissa

Thursday, December 05, 2002 at 08:56 PM (CST)

Wooooooooo Hooooooooo! Emily's scans came back GREAT!!!!
They found one little tiny "something" in a fissure of her lung, but are pretty sure that it is scar tissue from all of the pulmonary problems that she has had. So all in all that is TERRIFFIC news. Jarrod and I had prayed for the best and prepared for the worst! All of the nodules that were on her scans five weeks ago are GONE! Thank you all for your prayers!!!

Today was kind of a crazy day. We took the girls to Sears to have their Christmas pictures taken this morning at 9:30am, then we drove to Kalamazoo for Emily's cat scan at 11:00am. After her cat scan we went back to Battle Creek to Jarrod's mom's house so that the girls could take a nap. When they woke up we went to a Christmas party at the West Michigan Cancer Center. Emily had a chance to see all the staff that took care of her during her 4 1/2 weeks of radiation. She was really tired from the long day we had, but let Ron hold her for a little while. He is one of the people that work at the Cancer Center and she just adores him. She also got to see her friend Paxton that has Rhabdo too. Paxton goes to our Hem/Onc clinic and also had radiation at the Cancer Center. She is doing super!

After we got done with the Christmas party, we drove back to Battle Creek to meet with some representatives from Make A Wish to sign some papers for Emily's Disney trip. They were very nice. They told us that they need some volunteers in the Branch County area. If you know of anyone who is good with all kinds of people and has some spare time and flexibility, email me and I will get you some contact info for them.

I hope that I haven't forgotten anything. It's been a long day. Take Care and God Bless!

Wednesday, December 04, 2002 at 09:36 AM (CST)

Hi everyone. Knock on wood...things have been going very smoothly since our scare last week. Emily is feeling really good and still eating great! She goes for a cat scan tomorrow to evaluate the nodules in her lungs they found five weeks ago. They will also be taking a look at her shoulder area where they found the "lymphatic fluid". Please keep Em in your prayers during this time. Thank you all for your continued prayers and support througout Emily's treatment. The saying it takes a village to raise a child is so true. I can't imagine going through all of this without the help and support from our family and friends. Take Care and God Bless!!!

Wednesday, November 27, 2002 at 06:49 PM (CST)

Wow...where do I start? As you all probably know Emily has had problems with bloody noses for the last couple of months. Yesterday afternoon she had one, but it only lasted for about a half hour. At about 8:00pm she got another one. This one was coming out very fast. We called Dr. Mattano and he said to bring her to the hospital for some platelets. This was easier said than done. The blood was coming out so fast that Emily couldn't manage to hold one tissue and be ready to replace it with a clean one before it started dripping into her mouth. I knew that there was no way I could drive an hour to the hospital without someone sitting in the back with Emily helping her with her bloody nose. I called Jarrod at work and he came home right away. Our daycare provider, Jayne, came and picked up Alyssa and followed us to the hospital. It was all I could do to keep a tissue on Em's nose and try to get her another one. She was losing a lot of blood out her nose, but what we didn't realize was how much was draining down the back of her throat. This became very obvious about half way to Kalamazoo. She ended up vomiting very large amounts of blood. Jarrod managed to get us to Kalamazoo (which usually takes an hour) in forty minutes. We went directly to the ped's floor for a direct admit since Dr. Mattano called to let them know we were coming. By the time the residents examined her and ordered her platelets, more than a half hour had already passed. Emily was still bleeding out her nose and vomiting blood. The platelets got there about 2 hours later. In the mean time her blood pressure had dropped significantly due to the lack of blood volume in her body. At one time it was 50/20. The platelets finally came and the residents decided intstead of hanging them and letting them slowly drip, that they would "push" them since she was still bleeding and her blood pressure was declining. When they "push" something into a IV of any kind it just means that they inject it into the line vs letting it slowly drip by IV bag. This gets the IV drug or blood product into the patient much faster. As soon as Emily received the platelets, one of the Intensive Care Nurses came and looked at Emily and suggested that she be admitted to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit so that they could closely monitor her. The volume of blood in her body was still very low. By the time they wheeled her bed through the Pediatric floor to the ICU and got her into her room, her pulse ox had dropped from approximately 100 to 40. The nurses had to pump oxygen into her with a "rebreather" device. I'm not sure if I am using the right word for that or not. Needless to say, it was very scary. Emily was shaking and looked terrified. Jarrod and I tried our best to stay by her, but we kept having to move so that the doctors who had poured into her room could examine her. They went ahead and "pushed" the red blood cells the same way that they did the platelets. Between the combination of her oxygen saturation coming up and her blood volume increasing via the red blood cell push, all of her vitals started to come back within the normal ranges. By this time it was 3am. Emily was so tired that as soon as the doctors left the room she fell right asleep. She managed to sleep good throughout the night and woke up at approximately 9am when the doctors started coming in for rounds. She got another half until of red blood cells and we were on our way home about 2:15pm. She is feeling much better and is acting like her normal self again. We will do another blood draw at home on Friday to see if she needs more blood or not. I will try to update later this weekend and let everyone know how she is doing. Please sign the guestbook to let us know that you were here.

Take Care and God Bless
Melissa

Wednesday, November 27, 2002 at 06:49 PM (CST)

Tuesday, November 26, 2002 at 01:45 PM (CST)

Sorry it has been so long since my last update. Emily is feeling much better compared to my last entry. She has had some small bloody noses lately, but nothing compared to the one she had a couple of weeks ago at the hospital. She will be getting blood tomorrow morning because her counts are low. We had a busy weekend. Friday and Saturday night Alyssa talked us in to staying at my mom's house. She had a blast as always. She helped cut and stack wood and Saturday, Jarrod and Emily went to the Christmas parade in Battle Creek and I went to see Tommy Shane Steiner, Chris Cagle and Brad Paisley in concert with my friend Shelby. The concert was great!!! Emily got to see some clowns after the parade while she was eating at a pizza place. Jarrod took some pictures. I will try to post them soon. The girls and I got out Christmas decorations last night and started to decorate the house. I can't believe how close Christmas is!!! It is snowing right now and I can't wait till we get a few inches so that the girls can make a snowman. Well, I'm gonna skidattle. Emily just started another bloody nose. Hope it's not a gusher...the hospital is out of platlets until 10pm.

Wednesday, November 20, 2002 at 08:52 PM (CST)

Emily had inpatient chemo yesterday and came home around 5:30 tonight. She hasn't been feeling very good with this round of chemo. She has thrown up twice and is running a low grade temperature right now. As far as chemo goes, everything went well. The doctors have put her on a medicine to try to increase her appetite. Hopefully it will work and she will gain a little weight.

That's all for now. I will update more soon. Take Care and God Bless! Melissa

Friday, November 15, 2002 at 08:14 AM (CST)

Hi everyone. Alot has happened in the past couple days, so I will back track. Wednesday night when I was getting Emily ready for bed I was putting lotion on her back and notice a very large lump near her original tumor site on her right shoulder area. All that I could think is that this was a new tumor. Needless to say, we didn't sleep very well that night. We took her to our Hem/Onc clinic yesterday to see Dr.Mattano. After consulting with the pediatric surgeon and then doing an ultrasound, it was decided that the bump was a pocket of lymphatic fluid that was somehow unable to flow properly due to Emily's shoulder surgery this summer. So to make a long story short, we are going to keep an eye on it and in two weeks will scan it again to see if it has been reabsorbed or if it is getting larger. Everything else has been going good. Emily is going to go to Alyssa's school for a visit today. She has been talking about it all week. Also, Allie, Alyssa's friend is spending the night tonight, so that should keep the girls more than occupied. I will update more soon.
Take Care and God Bless.
Melissa

Saturday, November 09, 2002 at 02:23 PM (CST)

Hi Everyone! We just got home from the Kalamazoo Holiday Parade. The girls really enjoyed it. We left a little early because they were getting tired and hungry for lunch. After the parade we stopped at Clara's in Battle Creek for lunch. The girls ate pretty good, but they both managed to spill their chocolate shakes!!! The joys of parenting! :)

I want to let everyone know about the new link at the bottome of Em's webpage. It is for smile quilts, an organization that makes virtual "quilts" for children fighting terminal or life threatening diseases. These kind volunteers make these lovely quilts on their own time. If you have time, please take a look. You can also add a square of your own by clicking on the link when you get to Emily's quilt.

That's all for now. Take Care and God Bless!
Melissa

Thursday, November 07, 2002 at 03:11 PM (CST)

As of yesterday Emily was still majorly constipated. Jarrod took her to the Hem/Onc office and they decided to admit her. Her CBC results were very low, so she got some Red Blood Cells and platlets last night. About half way through the red blood cells she got a gushing bloody nose. It lasted for almost three hours and she ended up losing more blood that she had just been transfused. To make a long story short, she received more blood later on in the night, and between the hours of 12p and 7am she had five bowel movements!!! I am glad Jarrod stayed overnight and not me!!! :) Emily came home this afternoon and is doing great! She has been in good spirits and is much more active. I will update if anything changes. Until then, remember, NO NEWS IS GOOD NEWS!!! Please sign Emily's guestbook to let us know that you were here. Take Care and God Bless! Melissa

Monday, November 04, 2002 at 09:15 PM (CST)

Sorry it has been a while since my last update. Life has been crazy as usual. Dr. Mattano told us the same thing that Dr. Lobel did in regards to the nodules in Em's lungs. Wait and see. We will rescan in a few weeks and go from there. Emily had chemo every day, all day last week. She got home a half hour after trick or treat had already started on Thursday, but we still handed out some candy and trick or treated at three of our neighbors houses. I will update her pictures tonight. Friday she was admitted for a low pulse oxygen rate. The average person's is 100 and Emily's was in the high 70's/low 80's. They put some oxygen on her and monitored her overnight. We came home Saturday afternoon and we were suppose to go to my friends daughters birthday party. Emily ended up falling asleep, so Alyssa and I went by ourselves. Emily hasn't had a bowel movement since Thursday and is extremely constipated. We have doubled her colace and added mineral oil and Milk of Magnesia, but still nothing. She is very uncomfortable. On a more pleasant note, the dresses that I ordered for the girls for Christmas came today. They are absolutely beautiful. Alyssa and Emily tried them on long enough for me to snap a couple of pictures, they looked adorable. That's all for now, I will try to update soon. Take Care and God Bless. Please sign Em's guestbook to let us know that you were here.

Melissa

Sunday, October 27, 2002 at 02:52 PM (CST)

We spoke with Dr. Lobel Friday afternoon and were told that the scans did not come back clear. They found three, possibly five, tiny nodules in Emily's right lung and two in her left lung. These have not showed up on the past two scans. He said that we can " be hopeful that this is something left over from the pulmonary problems she recently has had". He also said that as the lungs clear from infections or what not, that abnoralities can be left behind. We will be hoping that is what all of this is. We will meet with Emily's primary physician, Dr. Mattano, tomorrow to make concrete plans, but after speaking to Dr. Lobel, it sounds as if Em will continue scheduled treatment for 4-6 weeks and then they will do the CT and MRI over again. I will update as I find out more. Please continue to keep Emily in your prayers through this difficult time.

Take Care and God Bless,
Melissa

Friday, October 25, 2002 at 12:47 PM (CDT)

Emily had her evaluation today. It consisted of a Cat scan and MRI. She was unsedated for the Cat Scan and did great. The MRI took much longer and she had to be sedated. No results back yet, we are still waiting. Please say a prayer that these results come back great! We can't wait until the day that this is over and Emily and our family can get back to our "normal" lives.

Right now Em and Jarrod are upstairs at the Hem/Onc clinic. Emily needed a unit of Red Blood Cells today. She is napping now and her transfusion should be done soon. I will try to update more soon.

Take Care and God Bless! Melissa

Saturday, October 19, 2002 at 08:22 PM (CDT)

We took the girls to the Zoo Boo at Binder Park Zoo today and they had a good time. They were thrilled because they got to wear their costumes. They looked absolutely adorable! I took a couple pictures tonight. They are not the best, but I will post them until I can take some from Halloween. Today was the first time that Emily had tried on the Dorothy wig and she thought is was wonderful! She is calling it her Dorothy hat! She looks too cute in it! See for yourself! Alyssa was a bride and looked stunning. I made a veil last weekend for her to go with her dress. It turned out really cute! That's all for now. Things have been going smoothly. (Knock on wood!) Emily goes for physical therapy and a check up on Monday. Her MRI and CATSCAN are still scheduled for this coming up Friday. We are anxious to get them done and over with. It is nerve racking waiting for the results and I hope that they come quickly this time. In the mean time, we will be praying. Thank you for checking on Emily and all of us. If you will, please sign Em's guest book so that we know you were here. Take Care and God Bless. Melissa

Friday, October 11, 2002 at 02:25 PM (CDT)

NO NEWS IS GOOD NEWS!

Life has been going smoothly here. Emily is scheduled for scans two weeks from today. Emily had chemo on Monday. She only received Actinomyocin and Cytoxan, no Vincristine (due to the lung problems). She is still all geared up to be Dorothy for Halloween.

Alyssa is doing good also. Her school had a field trip to the pumpkin patch on Wednesday. I took the morning off so that I could go too. I've never seen so many pumpkins in my life!!!

No other news to report I'm glad to say! I hope everyone is doing great! Please sign the guestbook to let us know that you were here! Take Care and God Bless!

Friday, October 04, 2002 at 08:23 AM (CDT)

Emily came home last night. She is on steroids to help her lungs. We now have oxygen at home so that in case something like this happens again, we will not have to waist time by going to Coldwater Hospital. We can put it on her and head straight for Bronson Hospital. She is feeling good and was still sleeping when I left for work this morning. Her new favorite movie is Monsters Inc. Not that you would have guessed, but we are watching it several times a day. It is the first movie that Emily had ever seen in a movie theater. Emily is planning on being Dorothy from the Wizard of oz for Halloween. She has worn her ruby red slippers since last Wednesday when they came in the mail. For the first few days, she fell asleep with them on! When we were leaving to go to Coldwater ER on Monday, she could barely breath and she managed to mutter that she wanted her "Dorothy shoes"! Even when she was in the hospital she still wanted to wear them. Alyssa is going to be a Barbie Bride for Halloween. She isn't quite as crazy about her costume as Emily, but she would probably want to wear hers if I hadn't put it out of sight. I will make sure that I get some pictures posted on here from Halloween with the girls in their costumes.

Also, I would like to thank everyone for their generosity over the past eight months. From making dinner for us to having fundraisers to help with expenses or riding with us to the hospital and phone calls and cards, we appreciate every thing that you have done for us. Thank you!

Tuesday, October 01, 2002 at 08:46 PM (CDT)

We are still in the hospital. The doctors are pretty sure that this episode and last weeks are a reaction to one of Emily's chemo drugs, Vincristine. It has been around forever and has a whole book of side effects, but we were told that the pulmonary distress that Emmy is having is very rare. Our doctors are checking w/other doctors around the country to see what they can find out. As it stands right now, we are no longer using that drug until we find out why this is happening. Emily is still on oxygen. She is currently at 1.5 liters through a nasal canula. Her pulse oxygen is in the low 90's. Not perfect, but much better. Her respirations are still a little elevated, but much better also. One of the paramedics that brought Emily here in the ambulance last night stopped up to visit tonight. He told us that if we stopped by the ambulance station that he would turn the lights on for the girls since they didn't get to hear them. Emily is excited! Everything else seems to be going okay. Can't wait to get home. Or as Emily has been saying lately while wearing her ruby red slippers..."There is no place like home!"

Tuesday, October 01, 2002 at 06:51 AM (CDT)

Emily was taken to Bronson Hospital by ambulance last night. Her respirations were 80+ and her blood oxygen level was in the low 70's when we arrived at Coldwater ER. She was stablized at Coldwater before the transport and arrived at Bronson in good spirits. She was resting comfortably when I left the hospital last night. I just spoke with her nurse and she said that she has not improved, but has not gotten worse. The doctors are thinking that this could be a side effect of Vincristine, one of her chemo drugs. All of these symptoms presented themself last week right after the chemo and she had the chemo before the symptoms started yesterday also. Last week they had diagnosed the symptoms as pnuemonia, but they were never 100% comfortable or positive that is what is was, because all cultures came back negative. Please pray for Emily, pray that the doctors figure out what is going on inside of her body and please pray that they can heal her. Jarrod is with her now, they are in room 304. Please don't call before 11:00am this morning, they both got to sleep very late last night.

Take Care and God Bless.
Melissa

Friday, September 27, 2002 at 01:14 PM (CDT)

Oh my goodness! In the half awake state that was in when I updated the webpage last, I forgot to mention some important people from MSU/KCMS Pediatric Hematology/Oncology! The first one is ELAINE!!!! She is our social worker and oh so awesome! She is the one who put us into contact with Children's Special Health Care, National Children's Cancer Society and Candlelighters. Elaine is also the person we go to when there seem so be more negatives then positives in a day. She always reminds us of the positives. And she doesn't judge us for being the dingy, absent-minded people that we are! She is superdy-dooper! She has listened to us go on for hours on the everyday trials and tribulations that we go through. She is also the person that I call when I need to vent about the stupid people in the world. And if you don't know who they are.. they are the people who say the worst things at the worst times! An examples of that is... "well, atleast you can have other children...". People like that drive me crazy and I have often thought it would be nice to have Elaine in my back pocket so that I could pull her out to tell the stupid people off! Thank you for being you Elaine! You are so awesome.

The second person that I forgot is Dottie. She is the CCRA LPN at the clinic. She is responsible for keeping all of the doctors and nurses in line and making sure that all of the t's are crossed and all of the i's are dotted when it comes to protocols and childrens studies. We don't see Dottie very often, but when we do she is such a sweetie!

I also forgot the on call nurses who are at the clinic on occasion. Sue, Patsy and Lee, you guys are great!

I also didn't mention the janitors! You guys are doing great! Keep up the clean work!

P.S. Emily came home from the hospital and is doing great!!! More updates later!!!

Wednesday, September 25, 2002 at 08:52 PM (CDT)

We have been at the hospital since Monday. Jarrod and Emily came in for Vincristine(chemo) on Monday and afterwards they went to get something to eat downstairs in the cafeteria while they waited for Em's blood counts to come back. Jarrod said that Emmy started to complain of her back hurting and she started breathing really weird. He took her upstairs and had the nurses and doctors check her out. They decided to do send her for a chest x-ray. The x-rays showed matter throughout both of her lungs. They admitted her and began antibiotics shortly afternoon. At one point Monday they told us that the substance in her lungs was likely pnuemonia, now they don't sound 100% positive. I am a little confused with the whole situation. I haven't been here during the day since I have gone back to work and I feel entirely out of the loop. Jarrod doesn't ask specific enough questions for me! (Not that anyone could!!!) From what I understand, they are second guessing whether or not it is pnuemonia. Yesterday they discovered that her heart is enlarged. Not sure why. Jarrod said that they mentioned that it could be a side effect of chemo or radiation. It must have been in that book that they gave us on each drug and their one million side effects! Anyways...enough on the yucky stuff. I will update more on that as I find out....

I understand that their are a couple hospital staff members that feel left out because they were not mentioned here. So here I go, I will try my best...

First of all, Diane 1, you and Diane 2 are AWESOME! Diane 1 and Diane 2 are the receptionists and God only knows what else at our Hematology/Oncology office. They do just about everything from answer the phone to electro-shock therapy for crazy parents!!!! You gals are great and have gotten Jarrod and I through many cruddy days and I am sure hundreds of other parents too.

Kelli... you are just as great as D1 and D2, just not as needy when it comes to being recognized. :):) Thank you for being you. Thank you for sitting with Emily on the days that it was nice to have a break. Even though sometimes that break only consisted of making it to the ladies room, it was nice to be able to go by myself for once!

Jean, Jean the dancin' machine you are great too! Jean sings for Emily and answers all of our crazy questions that we ask over and over. She doesn't even get mad at us! She is the one that keeps super tabs on all of Emily's bowel movements and etc... ha ha Jean!

Michelle is pretty awesome too! Her and that little baby in her belly that I really think she should name Melissa! Michelle is one of Emily's favorites because she is so much fun! Michelle also puts up with all of our silly questions! To properly pronounce Michelle like Emily does you have to say "Shewll"!

I will be in trouble for this next statement, but I am pretty sure that Chris is currently Emily's FAVORITE nurse!!! Chris is just as wacky as we are and she is a perfect fit into our little family. Emily loves the goofy things that Chris says and does! She gives great back rubs and gives good advice. We missed you this summer Chris!

Laura keeps all of the above in line on a regular basis. She is the back bone of the Hem/Onc clinic and we respect her opinion and advice on whatever she is giving it on. Laura is Boo's mom which is another bonus for Laura if we were scoring. Emily LOVES Boo. And for those of you who don't remember who Boo is, she is the clinic pet. Really, she is Laura's dog, but she works part time at the clinic.

We can't forget the doctors....

Dr. Mattano is Emily's primary physician, and he is very on top of things. He is great w/Emily and gets down on her level to make sure that she is comfortable. We give him an A+++!

Dr. Lobel is also great! He is still unsure of what to think of us! Not to blame the poor guy, he is probably a little shooken up over those dog biscuits! ha ha !

Dr. Eliott reminds me of a mama bear! Woo Hoo! The world needs a few more of these! Especially when it comes to infectious disease doctors!

This is a general idea of how great our Hem/Onc staff is. They are all very special in their own way, but all have the same common goal. I can't imagine Emily being treated anywhere else!!!

Sunday, September 22, 2002 at 11:20 AM (CDT)

New Pictures! Enjoy!

Monday, September 16, 2002 at 02:22 PM (CDT)

Hello everyone. Life is still going smoothly here! Emily has chemo everyday all day this week. We dread when this week comes up on the protocol schedule. It makes for a very long week when you spend everyday at the hospital. Jarrod is the one doing it now that I am back at work. It is kind of crazy, but we somehow make it work. Jarrod switched back to second shift so that he could take Emily to treatment during the day. Emily starts physical therapy a week from today. All along they had told us that she wouldn't need any and out of the blue they changed their minds! The doctors have told us that they are very happy with how she is using her arm, so I am a little confused to why she needs PT. Emily has been quite the turkey lately. She has been demanding that we watch the wizard of oz a bazillion times a day. When we started treatment at the begenning of May her favorite movie was Shrek, then we watched Barbie and the Nutcracker for about 6 weeks and we have been watching the wizard of oz now for about two weeks. I suppose she watches them until she memorizes most of the movie!

The girls should be pretty surprised when they come home today. I found a little puppy dragging its chain down Morse Street on my way home from work today. I just couldn't leave it there. I almost hit it and I was afraid that someone else would too. He is a little cutie. I just hope that they understand when we tell them that it is NOT ours! Anybody need a puppy?!

Wednesday, September 11, 2002 at 05:50 PM (CDT)

Nothing has changed since I've updated last. Emily had chemo on Monday and the day came and went without anything out of the normal. We will be doing a blood draw at home tomorrow and dropping it off at the lab here in town. Hoping that blood counts are still good. Alyssa started her second year of pre-school on Monday. It will be nice for her to get back into the swing of things with school. She is upset that she can't go to kindegarten. All of her friends from preschool went to kindergarten this year because they are five. Alyssa is only four and won't be five until next April. She is kind of bummed, but I am sure she will get over it. I am glad to say that is all I have to report! Almost feels like things are normal! (knock on wood!)

Saturday, September 07, 2002 at 05:03 PM (CDT)

Busy week again this week. The girls and I had dinner and went to the park with my friend Shannon one day. Yesterday we went to Litchfield to see the homecoming parade and watch the football game. In between the parade and game we had dinner with my mom at Kaseys. The girls had a good time at all the above! :) Today they got to go to their Aunt Jaynes while Jarrod and I went to a funeral. We picked them up when we were done and drove to Kalamazoo for a summer fest put on by the West Michigan Cancer Center. The girls had a good time. They got to ride the ponies, jump in the air dinasour and also got to watch the bellie dancers. Although, Jarrod enjoyed the belly dancers more than anyone else, we all had a good time!!!! The crew from channel 41 was there and Emily might be on the news at 7pm tonight Michigan time. That about sums up our week! Take Care and God Bless!

Tuesday, September 03, 2002 at 02:02 PM (CDT)

Our weekend went great! Grandma and PaPa Bowen from Wisconsin visited and the girls, Jarrod and I loved every minute of it. We don't get to see them near as much as we would like to. We went to breakfast with Jarrod's family Monday morning in Battle Creek. It was nice to get to see everyone. His Grandparents will be going to Florida for the winter pretty soon. We don't get to see his Grandpa Morris very much and it is amazing the way that Emily takes to him. She is not really crazy about going to people that she doesn't know or see often, but everytime we see her PaPa Morris, she is sure to be sitting on his lap or making googely eyes at him!

Jarrod and Emily had to stop at the Cancer Center this morning so that Dr. Vermont could see how Em's neck was doing. From what I understand she thought it looked good. We have to go back next week. Emily had chemo today. Her counts are pretty low, but she is feeling good. She has had a runny nose and just started coughing yesterday, so please keep her in your prayers that she won't get a full blown cold. With her counts this low, it could be pretty serious.

Thank you for checking in, please sign Em's guestbook to let us know that you were here and checking on her. Take Care and God Bless.

Saturday, August 31, 2002 at 03:04 PM (CDT)

Radiation is done!! Woo Hoo!!!! The nurses, doctors and staff at the Cancer center had a nice going away party for Emily complete with a certificate of completion of radiation treatments. Em is still recovering from some pretty nasty radiation burns, but they are getting much better. We are putting Biafine and Silvadine on right now to help them heal better and hopefully prevent infection. We had a garage sale this weekend. Emily and Alyssa helped yesterday. Alyssa's theory of helping is to pay people when they buy something. I lost a little bit of money before I realized what she was doing!! I don't see a future in retail for her!!!! :) Grandma and PaPa Bowen are visting from Wisconsin this weekend. They should be here around 5 or so. I need to skidattle, but I will try to update soon. Take Care and God Bless!

Sunday, August 25, 2002 at 05:12 PM (CDT)

Wow, it has been almost a week since I have updated! Life has been busy. I started work on Monday. It was a long day. I had to take Emily to radiation at 6am in Kalamazoo, go to work, come home and then Jarrod went to work!!! By the end of the day, I was praying that the girls would go to bed early. Tuesday was pretty much the same. Wednesday for some crazy reason I agreed to take Alyssa to Emily's radiation appointment with us. She was very good and so was Emily, but I was afraid of what might happen with two little ones getting up at 5am. It's hard enough with just one!!! We stopped at Mc'Donalds in Battle Creek for breakfast on the way home and about 2 miles later I noticed smoke behind us. Come to find out it wasn't just behind us it was coming from us!!! I pulled over and there was smoke coming out from underneath the hood! Short version of this story is that Jarrod came and picked us up. They towed the car to a garage in town and $187 later we are back to where we started!! The rest of the week was not quite as exciting, but just as busy! Today we went to the zoo with Jarrod's parents. The girls had a nice time. They are now napping and I am going to try to get one in before the new week starts! Emily is doing good. She has some pretty serious radiation burns, but she is tolerating them better than I would be. Two more treatments left!!! Tuesday after radiation Emily will be inpatient for some chemo, but she should be released Wednesday. Thank you for all of your prayers. If you have a chance, please sign the guestbook and look at the new pictures in the photo album. Take Care and God Bless. Melissa

Monday, August 19, 2002 at 10:17 AM (CDT)

Radiation is still going as planned. Emily needed Red Blood Cells on Friday, but other than that everything has been good. We went to the Calhoun County Fair on Friday and the girls rode the ponies. They both had a good time. Saturday we rented Harry and the Hendersons for the girls and they loved it. They watched it in Alyssa's room and ended up falling asleep. Then on Sunday they tried to watch it again and they fell asleep again together in Alyssa's bed. I took a picture. I will post it soon. Today is my first day back of work since June and it feels a little bit weird. I'm sure I will get back into the swing of things soon. Take Care and God Bless.

Wednesday, August 14, 2002 at 11:44 AM (CDT)

The last couple of days have been uneventful. Radiation has gone well. Emily is starting to get a pretty severe radiation burn in the area. We have been applying a gel to her shoulder and under her arm that was made just for this type of burn. I am worried that if it gets any worse, that it may be a source of infection. It bothers me more than it bothers Emily. The first time that she even commented on it was last night and I have been agonizing over it for days. I suppose that I worry too much. I am just afraid of it really hurting her. I have read horror stories about radiation burns and although I am sure that I read about the rare occurences, it still scares me to death. Emily is sleeping right now, so I should probably take a nap too. I hope that everyone is doing good. Take Care and God Bless.

Monday, August 12, 2002 at 03:25 PM (CDT)

Sorry it has been a while since I have updated. Just for future reference, no news is good news! Emily and the rest of us have been doing great! Emily never got sick from chemo last week and we enjoyed our weekend. We went to the Kalamazoo Kings game Saturday night and both of the girls had a good time. After the game they got to run the bases with daddy and grandpa and then while Alyssa was playing around, Emily played catch with one of the ball players. All I know is his first name, Terry. If anyone knows his last name, will you please email me or put it in the guest book. He probably spent a half hour playing with her and I would like to send him a little thank you note. Radiation went well today. Emily and I did a little bit of shopping afterwards and she is finally napping now. Thank you all for checking in. Please continue to pray for Emily and if you would, please sign her guestbook. Take Care an God Bless!

Thursday, August 08, 2002 at 10:40 AM (CDT)

Everything has gone as planned this week. Monday and Tuesday we had radiation and all went well. Wednesday after radiation, we had inpatient chemo. We were discharged at 5:30am this morning so that we could make it to our 6:30 am radiation appointment. All of the nurses there are a riot!!! I told them that I was going to wear my P.J.'s since we were staying at the hospital. They told us that they would too. I didn't take them seriously, but when we got there this morning, everyone was in their jammies! They are so funny! We took a picture, if I can get it scanned, I will try to download it here. Emily thought it was hilarious. The Anesthesiologist chose not to wear his pajama's, but he did bring in donuts for everyone! Anyways, everything has gone great! Thank you for all of your prayers. Please sign the guestbook to let us know that you were here. Even if you only sign your name, it is nice to see who comes to check on Emily.

Monday, August 5, 02

Hi everyone. I JUST added two new pictures in Emily's photo album. Check them out now, I will try to change them next week. I took the picture of Rocco and the girls on Saturday and the one of our naked Emily yesterday!

Sunday, August 04, 2002 at 02:27 PM Things are still going smoothly. Thursday and Friday's radiation went well. My good friend Shelby rode with us for radiation on Friday. We have to be there by 6:30 am, so that means we are up by 4:00-4:30am and leave the house by 5:15am. It is so tiring making that trip everyday. Emily usually sleeps, so there isn't a whole lot of conversation. It was nice to have her ride along. Yesterday some friends of ours came over for dinner with their twins, Megan and Zach. They are 3 years old and the girls had a blast playing with them. All of the kids managed to eat 3 popsicles withing a 20 minute time frame!!! While I am on the subject of eating, Emily has been doing very good lately. We went to lunch after church today and she ate pretty good, the last few days she has been doing awesome. The foods she has been eating are a little odd, but as long as she's eating, I'm not complaining. Yesterday she ate 4 pieces of Bologna! Yuck!! This morning instead of cereal, she wanted chip dip! So instead of just letting her eat chip dip, I gave her trail mix with peanuts, rainsins, dried aprictots, cranberries and M&M's and some chips. That whole nutrition concept goes flying out the window when you need to make sure that they are eating enough. Emily has grown taller since we started chemo, but she has lost a little weight. So anytime she wants to eat, we try to encourage her. This tends to make life interesting because Alyssa doesn't understand and then she wants to have whatever Emily is eating. So I made two plates of junk food for breakfast this morning. I am waiting for my nomination for mother of the year to come in the mail anytime now!!! Ha Ha! :)

Only three weeks of radiation left. Emily has been taking Neupogen for the past couple of weeks now. Her blood counts were really high last Monday. But after they told us to stop taking the Neupogen, her WBC fell from 13.2 to 1.1 in a matter of 4 days. So we started taking it again on Thursday. Our pharmacy that ships us all of her IV medicines and supplies is not always on the ball (hardly ever). They sent us her Neupogen on Thursday and it was warm by the time we got home. They have to deliver it from Novi, Michigan and by the time they drove it down here and let it sit on our front porch for a couple of hours, the one icepack that they had just throw in the box had melted. This is not good news for them or for us. The neupogen can not go below room temperature or it may become unstable and not do it's job. I called the pharmacy and left a message. They called back and left a message saying to go ahead and use it. Short version of this story is that I called back and convinced the pharmacist to go back to the lab and look up the stability and storage needs for it and she ended up reshipping $4000.00 worth of drugs to us out of their pocketbook because they weren't packaged right. All I can say is that I would not want to be the person who packaged it!!! This is the 4th time we have had an issue like this with them.

Anyways, I will stop griping. I try very hard to be positive, but it's not always that easy. :) Okay... on a positive note, next Saturday, Aug 10th at 6:35pm there is a Kalamazoo Kings game at Homer Styker Field with all proceeds going to the treasure chest at our Hem/Onc clinic. Emily gets to pick a toy out of the chest every time she has to get a poke or go through a painful procedure. It is something that she looks forward to and I think it makes all of those yucky things a little bit easier to go through. The Kings are playing the Chillicothe Paints and the admission price is $4.00. There will be ways that you can give more $ if you want to when you get there. I think that this is a great way to show your support not just to Emily, but to all of the kids that are going through this at our Hem/Onc clinic. If you have any more questions, please email me and I would be glad to answer them as best as I can.

Wednesday, July 31, 2002 at 02:04 PM (CDT)

First: Check out the new pictures that were posted yesterday. I would like to change them periodically, but I want to make sure everyone has a chance to see them. Radiation went good again today. The nurses at the West Michigan Cancer Center have been so great!!! Today, when Emily came out of sedation, she had a little surprise. One of the nurses had bought her some chocolate milk and another one had brought in some popsicles. They are so sweet! Emily was in heaven! Chocolate milk AND a popsicle all before 8am!

Emily is napping now, so I am ging to take advantage of the opportunity to begin cleaning the house. Thanks for checking in and as always, please sign Emmy's guestbook to let us know that you were here.

Tuesday, July 30, 2002 at 02:56 PM (CDT)

Today's radiation treatment went good. We stopped at Aunt Jaynes when we got to Coldwater and visited for a little while. We brought Alyssa with us and went to McDonald's for lunch. Jarrod met us there on his lunch hour. The girls had a good time playing, but didn't eat very much. Before I forget to tell everyone, I figured out how to download pictures from our digital camera to the website. I had tried before, but was unable to download them due to size. So now that I have figured out how to shrink them, I will try to update them occasionally. I hope everyone is doing well. Thanks for checking in.

Monday, July 29, 2002 at 09:55 AM (CDT)

Hi Everyone. Emily and I just got home from her 2nd readiation treatment. Everything went great and we were done within an hour from start to finish. Emily's blood counts are great. Actually, her white blood cells are higher today than they were before we started chemo because of the Neupogen she has been taking. I don't know if I mentioned this before, but Emily has had severe problems with constipation from chemo and some other drugs and I believe that we have found a solution that works for her. We had been giving her 50mg of colace daily. Well, when that started to not work we pushed it to 100mg. We ended up doing 200mg of colace and 3tsp of M.O.M. twice per day. None of this worked. Our solution?... 1 1/2 teaspoons of mineral oil. It worked within 12 hours and oh my goodness did it work! I won't go into details, but anyone out there has constipation problems, try mineral oil!!!!!

Everything else is going well. Yesterday some friends of ours put on a bass tournament benefit for Emily. They raised over $500.00. The girls had fun dipping their feet in the water and seeing the fish. Thanks Steve, Joe, Patty, Rita and Beth and everyone else who helped, participated and donated prizes. You guys are great!!!!

I should go now, Emily is hollering for lunch! Please sign our guestbook to let us know that you were here.

Friday, July 26, 2002 at 05:04 PM (CDT)

We are home! The cultures that they took on Tuesday have all came back negative. Emily was eating and drinking good and feeling great, so they sent us home. Her counts are on their way back up. Hooray! It is always scary when her counts are so low. She is an open target for any bug that is out there. We are continuing her Neupogen to help with her white blood cell growth until Sunday and then we should be back to normal as far as counts go.

This Sunday some friends of ours are putting on a Bass Tournament with the proceeds going to Emily. We are planning on being there most of Sunday afternoon. We are so grateful for all of the people who have helped us in one way or another. There have been several people who have made dinner for us, watched Alyssa, ran errands, and several other things. It is so nice to see how caring people in our community are. We are also grateful for all of our family and friends. There have been many occasions where they have been our sanity!!!! Thank you everyone!!!!

I will update later this weekend to let you know how Emmy is doing and how the tournament went.

Please sign our guestbook to let us know that you were here. Take Care and God Bless You! Thank you for your prayers.

Thursday, July 25, 2002 at 09:12 PM (CDT)

We are still here! We had a pretty uneventful day today. Emily and I managed to sleep until almost 9:30 this morning. The puppies came for a visit today. Emily looks forward to seeing them. They come to the hospital every Thursday afternoon! We had a Cat Scan at 2:00 and when we came back to our room they were ready to visit with Emily. Speaking of puppies. I forgot to mention yesterday that we had a scare with our dog, Rocco. Jarrod took him to our friends' house Tuesday night when I took Emily here to the hosptial. When Jarrod got back home from dropping him off, there was a voicemail saying that he had jumped their fence and was GONE! Emily adores Rocco. All I could think is that he was going to get hit by a car or someone would take him. We went crazy calling everyone that we could think of that might be able to help,...city police, humane society, animal placement bureau in Lansing where we adopted him, friends and family. My friend Shannon drove around with her two kids looking all over the neighbor hood for him. Jarrod's mom who was also watching Alyssa at her house in Battle Creek drove down to Coldwater to search for him also. Her husband Duane left work early to help too. It was so nice for everyone to look for him. I think that they know how important he is to Emily. Come to find out, he was at a neighbor of our friends house that we took him to. The man kept him until he could find out who he belonged to when he got out of work. We were so happy to hear that he was okay. We were almost to the point where we were going to flip a coin to see who had to tell Emmy. :) Everything else went well today. Alyssa and Jarrod brought us dinner tonight and went on a little walk downstairs with us. Emily and Alyssa like to throw change into the wishing well in the garden here. Well, Jarrod and Alyssa just left, so Emily and I should get ready for bed. Thanks for checking in, please sign Emmy's guestbook to let us know that you were here.

Wednesday, July 24, 2002 at 09:32 PM (CDT)

We are here at the hospital again. I will backtrack to yesterday to update everyone. Yesterday morning, the girls and I got up at 4am to get around and go to Kalamazoo for Emily's first radiation treatment. Jarrod's mom came with us too. Her radiation treatment from beginning to end was only 5 minutes or so. But between sedation, x-rays and all of the other stuff, it took over two hours. After we were done there, we had to go to the Hem/Onc clinic for a red blood cell transfusion. Emily's temperature went up four degrees with 10 minutes or so of starting the transfusion. She had already had Tylenol right before, so they gave her Motrin and the fever disappeared. We got home just a little bit after 5pm and got settle in and had dinner. While we were eating dinner, Emily wanted to lay down. We took her temperature and it was 101.7 degrees. We can count on an admission with anything over 101 degrees, so we called the Hem/Onc doctor who was on call (Dr.Lobel). He told us to come in. We were walking in the entrance to the hospital as he was pulling in. By the time we both got there it was right about 9pm. They started antibiotics and fluids as soon as we arrived to the Ped's floor. Her temerature had reached 103.5 degrees. She had some tylenol and it came back down. They took some blood cultures and labs before she went to sleep. We should here back on the first cultures tomorrow morning. Today went pretty well. She spiked a temp a couple of times, but other than that she was doing pretty good. I will update more as I find out some info tomorrow. Please keep Emily in your prayers.

I have emailed several people within the last couple of days in regards to participating in local blood drives. If at all possible, please try to donate blood. The Red Cross has announced that we have a serious blood shortage this summer and they are worried that we will soon not have enough to give to those in need. As most of you are aware, Emily recieves blood transfusions frequently and they are an essential part to her recovery. If you can, please donate blood. It doesn't matter what State you live in, everyone is in need right now.

Thanks and God Bless!
Melissa

Thursday, July 18, 2002 at 12:28 PM (CDT)

We are home. Chemo went good yesterday. No vomiting! Hooray for that! Emily is feeling good. We got home a little bit after noon today and she is watching Shrek as I type! The last doctor that misdiagnosed her came in to "visit" Emily today. Well, let's just say that he didn't stay long. I can't help but feel angry at him. He is the doc that told us that the "bump" on Emmy's shoulder had always been there and that we just never noticed it! That's right, I am sure that we were just overlooking a tumor the size of a softball!!!!!! He also told us that Emily had a blood vessel disorder and was ready to send us to Mott's hospital in Ann Arbor to have shunts put in it. What a quack! Sorry for the negativity, but I about bit his head off today. How dare him come to "visit"! He had his own agenda for visiting and I didn't let him think for a minute that I didn't know that.

Tuesday, July 16, 2002 at 10:15 PM (CDT)

Sorry so long since my last update. Life is busy as usual. Emily had her simulation for radiation therapy today. All went well. She was put under for approximately an hour and a half and during that time they were able to make the mold that she will need to lay in during radiation and also do a cat scan. She woke up in a good mood, which is uncommon. She is never happy when she has to be sedated or put under. We went to lunch and then came home. She is sleeping on the couch with her "my my" right now. She spilled juice on it earlier, so it had to be washed for the second time today. She was a basket case the entire time it was in the washer and dryer. She fell asleep within five minutes of getting it back. It is the one thing that is able to bring her comfort through all of the yucky things that she has to go through. I have to say though, it is starting to show how much it is there for her. It is falling apart at the seams and there are stains here and there on it from a variety of spills. Her grandmother actually made it for Alyssa when she was born. But, I used it when Emily was first born to bring her home from the hospital in. Ever since she was about a year old it has been her "my my" and when she hurt her finger last summer in Chicago while we were on vacation, it became her best friend. Now that we are fighting this ugly monster, she and her "my my" are inseperable. Her grandma tried making her another one just like it. We tried to switch it one night after she was in bed. Her room was dark and she was tired, but believe me, she knew the difference. She was livid! I'm just glad that it was daddy who tried to fool her and not me! Tomorrow we will be at the hospital for inpatient chemotherapy. We will get to come home sometime on Thursday. She will also have her drainage tube from her shoulder taken out tomorrow. She will be happy to have that out. It gets in the way alot.

Everything else here seems to be going smoothly. Knock on wood! :) I will update when we get home on Thursday, if not before. Please sign Emmy's guest book to let us know that you were here. Take care and God Bless.

Saturday, July 13, 2002 at 11:27 PM (CDT)

Hi Everyone! Our weekend adventure went well. But before I go into details about that. Friday we got the pathology results back from the surrounding tissue and bone from where they removed Emily's shoulder blade. They like to check the margins around the removed area to make sure that they took all of the tumor. Well.......Woo Hoo!!!! They came back 100% negative! They found NO malignent cells! We are not for sure yet, but this may mean that she could get less radiation than we had planned on! Wouldn't that be great?!?!?!?!

Back to our adventure... The girls and I picked up Anna Thursday and made it to GrandRapids around 4:00pm. We went to the rehearsal dinner and then crashed at the hotel. Friday the girls, Anna and myself went to the church to help decorate. Then I went to a get together with the bridal party. Anna stayed with the girls and by the time we came back, Jarrod was already here. Today we had to be at the church by 11am for pictures. The girls did excellent! They were so cute! Adorable! Gorgeous! I have some pictures from the wedding that we took with the digital camera, but I am having some trouble getting them downloaded on our laptop in order to put them on Emmy's webpage. When we get home, I will try again. After pictures we had about an hour and a half of time to relax. Alyssa ran around being my social child and Emily got grumpy when we tried to get her to take a nap. Anyways, when 2:30 finally rolled around, Emily was asleep in Jarrod's arms and Alyssa was walking down the aisle! She did super! I am pretty sure she was less nervous than I was. All in all, things went well. We had dinner with the bride and groom tonight and right now Jarrod is sleeping on the pull out couch in our hotel room with the girls. We will be heading back to Coldwater tomorrow.

Emily's shoulder is feeling 100 x's better! She only had one dose of Tylenol with Codeine today and one dose of regular motrin tonight and she hasn't seemed uncomfortable. We go back to see the surgeon for a check up on Tuesday and they should be taking out her drain tube on Wednesday when we go in for chemo. I will update soon.

Thursday, July 11, 2002 at 07:48 AM (CDT)

Hi Everyone! I am going to back track a little bit to catch everyone up. Tuesday was a busy day. Jarrod's aunts and cousin stopped by for a visit and brought Emily and Alyssa some books. While they were there, we heard that Annie, the little girl from our Hem/Onc clinic had passed away. Thank you everyone for praying for her. Now she is in heaven with our Lord and not feeling ANY pain. Emily is too young to understand this, so we haven't told her. I did tell Alyssa, because she also had met Annie. She seemed to understand. I am thankful to have the staff that we have at the hospital to lean on and talk to during this time. As I have mentioned before, our hospital staff of doctors and nurses are like family to us. They are great!

But on a different note, Emily was able to participate in "Be a doctor for a day". Our surgeon had a medical request that none of the children doctors were able to give him, a hair transplant! Well, if you know the mommy that Emily has, you can probably guess what we did! We made him a little hair piece. Constructed from colored paper and BRIGHT orange yarn. It was quite the masterpiece. When Dr. Downing made it down for his transplant, he was thrilled with his new hairpiece. He wore it back from Emily's room, down the hallways, past all of the nurses and doctors to his office! What a trooper! Emily was also able to go down to the playroom and see Ronald McDonald. Alyssa and Grandma Henderson came too! He was so funny! The girls had their pictures taken with him and he gave them stickers and certificates for french fries. What else does it take to make a 2 and a 4 year old happy? Emily was a little uncomfortablle by the time that we got back to our room. I am pretty sure that it was just from moving around a little. She sat in her stroller to see Ronald, but we still had to put her in it and get her out of it to put her back into bed. She had some pain medicine and was very comfortable. She slept great Tuesday night and thank goodness for everybody, so did Mommy! Wednesday the puppies came from "Paws for a Cause". This is an excellent organization that puts pets into volunteer homes to be socialized and then they are trained to become seeing eye dogs or service dogs for people who need them. Well, probably needless to say, this was the highlight of Emmy's hospital stay. They brought four dogs. Emily got to play with everyone of them! They also gave all of the kids a little stuffed puppy with a "paws with a cause" back pack on it. They were cute! After we seen them in the playroom, we went back to our room. As soon as we got settled in, the puppies were at our door for another visit! Emily was on cloud nine! After the puppies left, the nurse gave Emily her chemo and we were on our way home! The surgeon said that she was tolerating the pain well and eating and drinking well enough so home we went! She is always amazing us!

We got home about 2:00pm yesterday and as soon as we got home we noticed that Emily's drainage tube from her shoulder had backed up again with a bloodclot. Well, we called our surgeon and he told us how to fix it and had us change the bandage. After we got through that, Emily watched Shrek and had a little snack. We went and picked up Alyssa at Daycare and visited with Aunt Jayne for a little bit and then we came home. We hadn't been home for an hour when Emily wanted her Aunt Jayne again, so I called her and she came right over!

I finished making the wedding hairpieces for Alyssa and Emily last night. They turned out really cute. We are still planning on both of the girls walking down the aisle. Actually that leads us up to our plans for today. As I type, the girls are still sleeping. When they wake up, we are going to get packed and go pick up Jarrod's cousin Anna and then go to Grand Rapids for the rehearsal dinner tonight. Anna is coming with us because Jarrod has to work today and tomorrow and will not be with us until Friday night. I finally swallowed my pride a little and said HELP! I know that I will have my hands full with Emily needing extra attention due to pain and her new limitation and Alyssa running around like a wild woman! We will be staying in Grand Rapids tonight, tomorrow night and possibly Saturday too. The wedding is Saturday afternoon at the Church of Christ. We plan on taking several pictures and I will try to post them here and soon as I get them developed.

I think that this is all that I can possibly type before my fingers fall off! Thank you for being patient enough to read it all! Thank you for all of your prayers. Please keep them coming our way! They obviously are working by the grace of God!

Tuesday, July 09, 2002 at 12:36 PM (CDT)

Emily is doing much better today. We had a very rough night. Right now Jarrod and Emily are reading Mother Goose. She is very alert and in a good mood. Much better than we had anticipated. Ronald McDonald will be here today to do a magic show. If she can't make it to the play room, he will do a private show just for Emmy.

Grandpa Henderson stopped in today and brought Emmy some dried strawberries. Her favorite! She ate quite a bit! She is drinking pretty good and believe it or not, she has not had very much pain medication today. Only twice since 6:30 this morning.

I will do my best to continue to update as things change. Yesterday I didn't think that there was any chance that she would make it to her aunt Heather's wedding, let alone be in it. If she keeps progressing like this, I am pretty sure that she will be walking down the aisle Saturday.

Thank you for checking in. Please sign Emily's guestbook. We enjoy reading everybody's entries and prayers.

Monday, July 08, 2002 at 07:45 PM (CDT)

Surgery went as planned. They took Emily back a little bit after 8am this morning. They put the Broviac in first and then decided that the MRI that she had done on Wednesday was not as clear as they wanted. So at approximately 9:30am they took her down to do another MRI. All went well and they began her shoulder surgery a little after 11:00am. The surgeons and nurses kept us very well informed throughout the entire procedure. It was nice to know what was going on. They finished at about 2:30pm and we met with Dr.Mott. He is the limb salvage specialist who came in for the surgery from Detroit. He told us that everything went like they had planned on and that we would be able to see her shortly. About 20 minutes later, Jarrod and I were able to go back to recovery and be with her. After Jarrod smooched her and said hello he went and got my mom from the waiting room so that she could say hello before she left. After my mom left, Jarrod's parents came in to visit. Emily was still out of it. The only thing that she wanted was her thumb and "my my" (her blanket). We were in recovery for a couple of hours and then we came up here to our room. We are in room 302. Our phone number is 616-567-2302.

A couple of hours ago one of the residence here wanted to take a look at her. When we went to move her, I noticed that her bandage and the entire padding and bed were saturated with blood. The doctor called the surgeon and he came up. Come to find out the drainage tube they put in her shoulder for some reason backed up. Dr. Downing fixed it and left. He probably needs to go home and have a couple of drinks after dealing with me all day! Calm me turns into psychotic me when it comes to my babies being in pain! Doctor Downing is a great doctor and we are very thankful for him. Something very special that he does is prays with us before every operation. That means alot to us.

Emily is doing much better now. She actually sat up about an hour ago and had a popsicle. She talked to Alyssa and Grandma when they called. She is back asleep now.

I will try to update more tomorrow. Thank you for all of the thoughts and prayers. Please continue to send them our way!

Sunday, July 07, 2002 at 02:52 PM (CDT)

Here we go again! We attempted to do a blood draw at home this morning and all we could get was 1cc. After that it just stopped. I tried to flush it with Saline and it wouldn't flush. I am assuming that there is either a clot or the tubing in her arm has collapsed. As I write, Jarrod is in the emergency room at Bronson Hospital with Emily trying to figure out what is going on. The did a blood draw from her arm so that we could see what her counts were. I just got off the phone with Jarrod and he said that her counts were high enough that she didn't need a platelet transfusion today for her surgery tomorrow. They will be on their way home in just a few minutes. Jarrod said they ended up taking the PICC line out of her arm and they are just going to put an IV in tomorrow for surgery and then she will have her Broviac line in afterwards. I can't wait to get back to a normal line. It will make all of our lives much simpler.

As for surgery tomorrow. Please pray for Emily. Pray that God guides the surgeons hands where they need to go to remove all of the tumor and malignent tissue. Pray that she has a speedy recovery and please pray for comfort for Emily and our family in the long days ahead. Thank you all and God Bless.

Thursday, July 04, 2002 at 10:55 PM (CDT)

Our 4th of July went well. No real excitement other than the fireworks I'm glad to say. The girls and I didn't wake up until almost 10:30 this morning. I am pretty sure that is a first! After we had breakfast and got dressed, we went grocery shopping. Alyssa is on this kick about Dannon drinkable yogurt. I've bought it before and she seemed to like it, but since she came back from Wisconsin she had been asking me to buy some. Well, I hope she really likes it. I bought so much, we probably should have invested in the company! Emily has not been eating good, so I tried to find some snacking things for her. The big hit today was chocolate pudding in a tube. I stuck some in the freezer and she really seemed to like it. Hey! It's calories!!! It has been a while since she hasn't been eating well. I think it had a lot to do with skipping chemo for two weeks. It is hard when she doesn't want to eat. We will try to offer her anything. It is very hard for Alyssa to understand why she has to eat her dinner but if Emily doesn't she can get a still get a snack. We've tried explaining, but Alyssa told me that she thinks that we love Emily more. She also said that is why she thinks Emily gets to sleep in our bed. Since then I have tried to let Alyssa sleep in there occasionally too. I could go on and on with our daily trials and tribulations, but I am sure that I am boring you to death. To sum everything up, we went to Jarrod's Grandpa's in Battle Creek for fireworks tonight. He lives right by the Kellogg Airport and you can see all of the neat fireworks. Everything went good. We just got home a little while ago and both of the girls are sleeping peacefully.

We have to do a blood draw tommorow morning and drop it off at the lab here in Coldwater. We are planning on having to do a transfusion tomorrow to make sure that Emily's counts are high enough for surgery on Monday. I will update as I find out any info. I hope that everyone had a great holiday!

Wednesday, July 03, 2002 at 10:17 PM (CDT)

The MRI and CAT Scan went well today. We had to wait for a couple of hours before they could do her MRI, but once they did finished it they were able to get her right in for the CAT scan. Everyone there is so great. I'm not sure if I have mentioned it before, but everyone (from nurses and PCA's to doctors and volunteers and especially child life staff) is absolutely amazing! They make us feel like family. I think that in some hospitals it may just be a job, but at Bronson, it seems to be more than that. Our Hematology/Oncology staff is the greatest! I will update more when I find out about her scans. I hope everyone has a great 4th of July!

Monday, July 01, 2002 at 09:16 PM (CDT)

Last week went well. We had a nice weekend with no suprising glitches! We went to a birthday party on Saturday for a friend of mine's daughter, Maddie. The girls had a great time. Emily managed to puke on Jarrod! Thanks for the cake and candy Beth!!!! (Sorry about your carpet!)

Speaking of Beth... she and another friend of ours, Lesli, have been conspiring to raise money for Emily. They are so awesome! It is amazing how much the little things like transportation and meals away from home can add up! They took it upon themselves to do a benefit hotdog stand outside of Scotts in Angola, IN with the proceeds going to Emily. They told us Saturday that there is a possibility that their Sorority may match what they earned with the hotdog stand! It is just like them to be thinking of others.
Thanks guys!

While we are on the subject of others, I would like to ask a favor from everyone. I would like you to pray for a little girl named Annie that we have gotten to know at the clinic who also has cancer. Annie and her family were in New York a few weeks ago for treatment and the doctors basically told them to go home and spend time with her because her cancer has progressed dramatically and is beyond treatment. Annie is currently undergoing radiation to help control the pain. It would be great if everyone could say a prayer for her. Her family is amazing and so is she. She is one of God's most special angels.

We also went to a family reunion over the weekend. The girls had a blast! Although neither Jarrod or I knew half of the people there, it was still nice to see the ones we did know. Alyssa made a friend named Jenny and we met a little boy named Donald who is being treated by the same doctor as Emily for a blood disease. What cuties!

We went for chemo again today. All went well. We met with one of the surgeons that will be doing Emmy's shoulder surgery next Monday. He went over the everything that he will be doing and what we can expect. Emily's counts are still good. We are hoping that they will drop and then recover by Monday for her surgery. She is taking Nuepogen and Procrit to bring up her white and red blood cell counts. Hopefully they will do the trick.

I will update more as the week goes on. Emily will be having a CT scan and MRI on Wednsday. As soon as I know anything, I will let everyone know.

Take care and God Bless!

Thursday, June 27, 2002 at 08:51 PM (CDT)

Whew! It has been a busy week. Sorry for not updating, but I feel like this is the first chance I have had more than 5 minutes to myself. Emily has had chemo every day this week and we will go again tomorrow. So far, so good. She seems to be doing very well with it. Alyssa went to the Hem/Onc clinc with us today. We had a good time considering the circumstances. The girls and I even managed to sneak in a nap while Emily's chemo was running. Emily's shoulder surgery is still on for July 8th. They will also be giving her another Broviac that day. Her doctor and I talked and decided to do another Broviac vs the port due to all of the shots she would have to get. I will try to update more later. Thank you for checking in.

Thursday, June 20, 2002 at 07:44 PM (CDT)

The removal of Emily's Broviac went well today. They actually put her pic line in first and then had to take an x-ray to make sure that it was in right and then the surgeon came and removed her Broviac. She was completely sedated, but before they sedated her they gave her Versed to relax her. She went from being mad at us to giggling within 30 seconds. It was so funny! She isn't thrilled with the idea of her "tubbies" being gone or the idea of this tube sticking out of her arm, but she is playing and in good spirits. We are planning on going home tomorrow afternoon. We are suppose to be at the Relay for life by six so that Emmy can walk in the survivors lap. Emily will be starting chemo on Monday, so hopefully we will have an uneventful weekend.

Thursday, June 20, 2002 at 07:06 AM (CDT)

Sorry it has been so long since my last update. We are still at the hospital. They are going to take out Emily's Broviac tube today due to infection. She still has the same bug that we were fighting last week and it just won't seem to give up. The doctors are afraid that it might flare up at a time when her blood counts aren't so good and Emily would have and even worse time fighting it. They will take it out at 2:00 today and put a pic line in for a couple of weeks. A pic line is similar to an IV, but it has approximately 3 feet of tubing that will be inserted through a vein in her arm up to a major artery in her chest. Although we had never heard of this, the nurses and doctors tell us that they do it all the time. She will be sore today after the procedure, we will stay overnight, do chemo tomorrow and then be on our way home. We will have to be back on Saturday and Sunday for outpatient chemo. Depednding on how Emily is feeling tomorrow, she may walk in the survivors lap at our Relay for Life. We were all scheduled to walk on Saturday, but with her chemo, I'm guessing that we are not going to make it.

Emily is sleeping still, so I suppose I should take advantage of it and go across the hall and get something to drink. I will try to update tonight and let you know how her procedures went.

Monday, June 17, 2002 at 07:17 PM (CDT)

Here we go again! Emily spiked a fever last night. We called the doctor on call and they told us to come in today at 1:00 for some blood cultures. Well, we left there at 3:00 and were on our way home when Emily starting uncontrollably shaking. I pulled off on the first exit too see if she was okay, she was burning up! I called our Hem/Onc Clinic on the cell phone and they told me to turn around and come back to the clinic. By the time we got there, her temp was just over 100 degrees. So, here we are sitting in the hospital room again. We are in room 327. We will be here atleast 48 hours. I will update more as we have more information.

Friday, June 14, 2002 at 12:19 PM (CDT)

We're Home!!!! Emily is feeling much better. A nurse will be coming to the house today to teach us how to give her new medicines. I had thought that we would just have to do an IV push drug, but she will need an IV drip drug like in the hospital. Hopefully it will go smoothly, they told us that we could do it while she was sleeping if need be. The supplies just got here, so the nurse should be soon to follow.

Thursday, June 13, 2002 at 11:48 AM (CDT)

It sounds like we get to go home today. Emily will be glad to see her puppy Rocco! The pet therapist dogs are suppose to be here in about an hour. She is napping right now, but hopefully she will be awake by then. After all the time we have spent here, we just discovered last night that we can hook up to the internet in Emily's room. This will make updating her website much easier.

Wednesday, June 12, 2002 at 01:02 PM (CDT)

Sorry it has been so long since my last update. We had a great weekend and then Sunday night/Monday morning at approx 12:30am Emily spiked a fever of 104.9 degrees. We called our doctor and were told to bring Emily to the hospital for admission. She was admitted at approx. 1:45am on Monday morning and before the night was over her temperature reached 105.3 degrees. Over the last couple of days they have taken blood cultures and the first set came back positive for a blood infection. They also did cultures yesterday and they came back negative. So it appears that the IV antibiotics have cleared it up. We should be getting released sometime tomorrow. As of right now they are telling us that she will be on IV antibiotics for 10-14 days at home.

Alyssa left with her Grandma Bowen, Aunt Amber and 3 cousins yesterday for Wisconsin. She will be staying for three weeks. It will be a long three weeks for us and I hope that we make it. Wisconsin is only 8 hours away if not! :) Emily is already asking for Alyssa!

I need to get back upstairs with Emily. Her Grandma Henderson is sitting with her now. If you need to reach us for any reason, we are at Bronson Methodist Hospital, Room 316.

Sunday, June 09, 2002 at 03:13 PM (CDT)

Hi Everyone. Thank you for checking Emily's website. It is very encouraging to read everyones prayers and words of comfort and support. Today was another good day. Emily was a little tired, but other than that, all went well. Alyssa will be going to Wisconsin for three weeks to her grandparents house. She has been looking forward to it for weeks! Emily will be lonley without her, but I think it will be a growing experience for both of them. Not to mention Jarrod and I. I'm glad to say that this all the excitement we have had for almost a week. Tomorrow Emily and I will head back up to Kalamzoo for more Chemo.

Monday, June 03, 2002 at 08:05 PM (CDT)

We had an uneventful day today. Everyone seems to be feeling well. The girls and I took a walk tonight and played a game of hide and go seek, but I am glad to say that it was the excitement of our day! I only have 4 days left of work and then I am off for the summer. Hopefully that will make things a little less hectic. I have to say that I do work at a wonderful school. Everyone there has been so supportive through all of this and I really don't know how I could have made it through some of the tough days without them! Between making dinner for us and the special calls and emails, they were there for us in every way. I only hope that we could do the same for someone else if they were to be in our shoes.

Sunday, June 02, 2002 at 12:08 AM (CDT)

Emily came home last night approx 4:30-5:00. Jarrod's parents sat with her for a couple of hours so that Jarrod and I could go to Alyssa's gymnastic meet. Which by the way, she was super at! :) Emily is doing good. We had a nice and relaxing day today. We ran errands this morning and then this afternoon we grilled out and some friends of ours joined us. The girls played with their children and I think I can safely say that everyone had a good time. Emily bumped her eye on a little plastic bike that she managed to drag in the house. It is a little red, but not swollen yet. I am keeping my fingers crossed! :) After it got dark, Jarrod started a little fire outside and we made some smores. Emily managed to eat two! Well, that is if you include what she had on her face! The girls talked me into lettting them sleep in our bed tonight, so as I write, they are both sound asleep next to each other in our bed. I am going to attemp to sneak in with them! I suppose it is the little things in life that I enjoy! Take Care Everyone! :) :) :)

Friday, May 31, 2002 at 01:49 PM (CDT)

Emily will be getting released from the hospital within the next couple of hours. She is getting a platlet transfusion and then she will be on her way home. It was a long week and we will be glad to be done with the running for a couple of days and hopefully enjoy a calm weekend.

Wednesday, May 29, 2002 at 10:07 AM (CDT)

Jarrod had to wake Emily up yesterday morning to take her for chemo. When he did, he noticed that her eye was all red. By the time they got to the clinic, her eye was full of mucus and she had a temperature of 101.7. They decided against doing chemo and admitted her to the ped's floor instead. They did some blood cultures and we are waiting to see what they find out. Her fever spiked up to 103.1 about 8pm last night. After some tylenol, it went back down. She took a four plus hour nap yesterday. She must of really needed it! I stayed with her until about 12:30 last night, but Jarrod stayed the night with her because I had to be at a meeting in Reading at 8am this morning! I talked to Jarrod a little while ago and the doctors are plannig to keep her another 24-48 hours. I will try to update tomorrow as I find out more information. In the mean time, please keep Emily in your prayers.

Friday, May 24, 2002 at 09:04 PM (CDT)

Today was a long day. Emily had a transfusion of Red Blood Cells today. We got to clinic at 9am and didn't leave until 3:30pm. Everything went well. Emmy had a chance to play with Boo, the clinic pet therapist. She is a 14 year old black lab with Renal failure (not sure if I spelled that right). Unfortunately it sounds like Boo will be retiring this summer. They are not sure how much longer she will be able to fight her health problems. Emily looks forward to seeing Boo at the clinic and sometimes she is the only reason that we are able to get her through those Hospital doors. Regardless, she is a sweet doggie and I'm sure that all of the kids there will miss her.

On another note, Emily is feeling better tonight. Its funny how you don't notice how cruddy she is feeling until she has a transfusion and then she is just full of energy and has some actual color to her skin.

Thursday, May 23, 2002 at 08:40 PM (CDT)

Emily is starting to feel better today. Still tired, but she is eating a little better than yesterday. Her blood work came back today with her Hemoglobin really low. They will be doing another transfusion tomorrow morning at 9am.

Tuesday, May 21, 2002 at 03:36 PM (CDT)

Emily is home, but not feeling well. She vomited on the way home from Kalamazoo and is now sleeping. We were told today that her shoulder surgery is scheduled for July 8th. I will update as I find out more information.

Tuesday, May 21, 2002 at 08:05 AM (CDT)

Emily was admitted to the hospital yesterday for her large dose of chemo. She ate very well and we went for a walk around the ped's floor. Per Emily's request, we watched Shrek three times last night! Our very first chemo nurse, Jeanette, stopped in to visit us a couple of times yesterday. She was working in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. Jeanette lost her daughter to Rhabdomyosarcoma 12 years ago. That is when she decided to become a nurse. She is an inspiration to me. She is also very comforting to be around, even before we knew her story. I will try to keep everyone updated throughout the day. Check back this afternoon.

Saturday, May 18, 2002 at 09:38 PM (CDT)

I forgot to mention that Emily will be staying at the Hospital Monday night (the 20th) for more chemo. Every few weeks we have a scheduled overnight visit and this just happens to be the week. She should be released on Tuesday if all goes well. I'll keep you updated.

Saturday, May 18, 2002 at 09:24 PM (CDT)

Today was a busy day! I think that might actually be an understatement! We went to the Relay for Life Team garage sales this morning to see how they were doing. Alyssa and Emily managed to talk us in to buying more toys that they don't need! :) We went to lunch at McDonalds and the girls played for approx an hour. Emily got to the top of the play place and her little legs couldn't reach the next level to get down. Luckily there was a girl a little bigger than Alyssa up there who gave her a helpful lift down! After we left McDonalds, we went home and the girls took a nap. When they woke up, we went to their friend, Rhianna's, birthday party. When that was done, we stopped to see their "Aunt Jayne", who is our daycare provider. We chatted with her for a few minutes and then went to Home Depot to get shutters for the house. We stopped at home long enough to drop off the shutters and change clothes and then we went to dinner with some friends. The girls both ate pretty good. If I would have known how much they both like fried mozzarella sticks, I would have bought stock in them! Anyways... when we got home they both had a snack from their birthday party bags and then went to bed...together! This is something that doesn't happen very often and it was pretty cute! Right now they are both sleeping peacefully. And that about sums up our Saturday. Thank you for checking in. Please sign the guestbook. It is very encouraging and comforting to read everyone's entries. Take care and God Bless. Melissa

Thursday, May 16, 2002 at 02:18 PM (CDT)

Emily has been feeling really good today. The nurse just called with her blood count results from the lab that we drew this morning. Emily's Hemoglobin is very low. The nurse thinks that we will need to go in for another transfusion tomorrow.

Monday, May 13, 2002 at 08:45 PM (CDT)

Emily had chemo again today. This was the first time that Alyssa went with her. We thought it would be a good idea if Alyssa could see what happens to Emily when she is gone. Alyssa didn't have alot to say when they came home, so it must not have been that exciting for her! Emily is still feeling good. Her red blood cell and platelet counts are really low. Jarrod got the impression that they were going to do another transfusion today, but they didn't. I'm guessing that if they are still really low on Thursday, we will need to take her up for one.

Friday, May 10, 2002 at 01:51 PM (CDT)

Hooray for great days! Emily is having another one! She is happy as can be and definitely full of energy! Thank you for all of your prayers.

Thursday, May 09, 2002 at 08:32 PM (CDT)

Jarrod and I did our second blood draw from Emily today. I feel like we are both pretty comfortable with it. She also started a medicine to help her body create red blood cells today. She is already taking a drug to stimulate white blood cell growth. I told Jarrod that we should get our RN degrees based on just experience by the time that Emmy is done with her Chemo!

Emily is having another good day. She is eating good and is in a pretty good mood. Although, I have to mention, she would be in a better mood if Jarrod would have given her a nap today!!!

Tuesday, May 07, 2002 at 08:15 AM (CDT)

Jarrod and Emily met with Dr. Mattano yesterday. He told Jarrod that they are planning to remove Emily's shoulder blade the second week of July. This has to be done due to the erosion of the shoulder bone from the tumor. They also did some more blood work yesterday and Emily's counts are still dropping. But, so far so good, she is still feeling like herself. When I left for work this morning she was still sleeping. Hopefully Jarrod will be able to catch up on some sleep too!

Monday, May 06, 2002 at 09:09 AM (CDT)

Emily had a great weekend and is still feeling good. Her sister Alyssa had a birthday party this weekend and Emily had a good time playing with all the kids. Jarrod put together their swingset on Saturday morning and they are loving it! She only has to have chemo once this week. Jarrod took her to the Oncology office this morning. She will have a dose of Vincristine this morning and then we will be done until next Monday. Hooray!!!

Friday, May 03, 2002 at 05:12 PM (CDT)

Emily had her last dose of chemo for the week today. Her blood counts came back low this morning, particularly her red blood cell count. She ended up having another transfusion this afternoon. She is feeling good right now, but a little tired. Her appetite is still doing good and she met some new friends at the hospital this week. One little girl is Emilys age and the other girl is four. I think that it will eventually be helpful for Emily to know other children that are also going through chemo.

Wednesday, May 01, 2002 at 09:45 PM (CDT)

Emily had another does of chemo today and is feeling good. She is still eating great and acting like her normal self. She seems to get tired quickly, but after a short rest, she is ready to conquer the world again!

Tuesday, April 30, 2002 at 09:22 PM (CDT)

Emily had her second dose of Topotecan and she is still feeling and eating good! Hooray! This is only the second week that she has been allowed to have a bath since they put her broviac in and she is just thrilled with the idea! Alyssa and her played for almost an hour in the tub tonight! I would be willing to say that Emily is finally back to her normal self!

Wednesday, April 29, 2002

Emily had her chemo-cocktail (as we call it) today. This included three drugs, one of those was Topotecan. This is the first time that she has had it and we are waiting to see how she handles it. So far, so good. No vomiting or obvious nausea. After her first cocktail of chemo, she got really sick and weak. We are thrilled to see that she is doing so good. :0)

Thursday, April 16, 2002

Emilys lab work came back positive for RSV today. It is a virus that babies, elderly and people with compromised immune systems usually struggle with. To the average person, it's not a real problem. But when your blood counts are so low that you can't fight the virus, it poses a real threat.

Monday, April 15, 2002 at 06:22 PM (CDT)

Emily was admitted to the hospital with a fever of 101.8 degrees. She seems to be doing okay, but her blood counts are VERY low. The nurse told us that if her blood counts drop any further that we will have to do a blood transfusion this week.

Thursday, April 25, 2002 at 09:17 PM (CDT)

Emily is eating good today. This is the first day since her week long stay in the hospital last week that she has had any interest in food. She has ate everything from chicken nuggets and a hamburger to animal crackers and strawberries! She is drinking really good too!

Thursday, April 25, 2002 at 02:48 PM (CDT)

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