Emmy's Story Archive

Little miss Emmy has been put through a number of tests including but not limited to: various blood tests, MRI, CT Scan, PET Scan, and bone marrow biopsy.

The initial round of chemo will run for 12 weeks after which we will rescan to see the effects it is having on tumor reduction. At that point the doctors will decide if it is safe to operate or they need to continue her on the chemotherapy.

The initial round of chemo drugs left our little lady feeling nauseous and very uncomfortable. As we mentioned, there are a whole host of side effects that come along with this treatment, most of which we won't begin to see for another 10 days or so, but nausea and fatigue are immediately apparent.

Back to Denver yesterday for second round of chemotherapy and first big checkup since we were released from inpatient care. Her blood tests came back looking ok and she seems to be taking the treatment process well. For those of you keeping score, this is week 2 of 12 on Emery's chemo therapy plan.

Today marks the beginning of her third week of chemotherapy treatment which leaves nine more before we will do all new imaging (MRI, CT scan, PET scan) to see if the chemo is having a positive (shrinking) effect on the tumor.

Today marks the beginning of week five of chemotherapy treatment where, all in all, things are going ok. She still battles nausea for days after each treatment but we seem to have a pretty tight handle on her medication regimen now, keeping the nausea to a dull roar.

Monday morning we will be back in Denver bright and early for surgery number two which will be less invasive than the first, but is surgery nonetheless. They are going back in to continue removal of any residual cancerous cells. After this procedure, she will continue on with chemotherapy treatment for 12 or so weeks in this cycle before new imaging.

We are thankful for you. Thankful that you are joining us on this journey through the dark, ever pressing towards that brilliant sunshine at the other end. Having friends and family by our side is where most of that strength comes from. You are the origin. Your encouragement, positivity, and love are what carry us through this sometimes very dark space. Thank you for being by our side as we go forth together.

In other news, during the last visit to Children's Hospital Colorado where Emmy had a big chemo treatment she was also intubated for a new CT and MRI. This was to take a look at her tumor site checking for regrowth but also to see an image of her chest which is where this particular type of cancer would go next if continuing to spread. We are ecstatic to report that all scans came back clear and the good people on our care team are not seeing any indications of cancer!

They told us right at the beginning of this whole thing, that it would happen. It was said that somewhere along this journey that Emmy would get sick enough to be transported to Denver via ambulance. We've gotten close to the line a few times but have always been able head home from the Vail Valley Medical Center ER without taking it any further. This time, as you might have guessed, was different.

...little Miss Emmy's condition as been improving at a pretty fixed pace. The girl quietly napping in the crib next to us is a completely different girl from the one who was rushed down here in the back of an ambulance a few days ago. Pale, fragile, feverish, and sickly was how she arrived but as of this morning she is most definitely feeling more like herself.

So, next Tuesday we head down to Children's Hospital Colorado for another overnight chemo treatment, only this one is a little different. It is her LAST in this 40+ week course of treatments! After this last big dose of those lifesaving yet horribly caustic drugs, she will get a well deserved break.

Last week found us back on the 7th floor of Children's Hospital Colorado, a floor we've become so familiar with over the last 11 months or so. This time though, was different than all the others.

It's a lot to process. We learned all of this yesterday, today waking up in a fog feeling incredibly hungover from too much unwanted information. This week we have gone from total elation about being at the end of treatment all the way to now where we have been thrust back into a newish and very intense world of aggressive cancer treatment.

When we last touched base, we had just gone over the proverbial waterfall finding out that her cancer had returned nearby the original tumor site and would require an extensive run of treatment. This new approach will consist of 54 weeks of chemo (2 days a week and 5 days a week, alternating weeks) with the addition of radiation therapy.

I am not the writer in this family, but I am the nurse. I truly love what I do, but now I am realizing the reason why I pursued this profession; to care for my daughter. This is the job I was meant to do, and by far, the most challenging of my life.

I do want to point out how beneficial writing about our story has been for Aja and I. We’re dealing with some pretty heavy stuff that comes with a mountain of information attached to it; to hold all that in your head without release, may in fact cause your head to physically explode.

You may be wondering why we’re traveling all the way across the country to this particular hospital and the answer is that they are one of the few and one of the best in the world treating children with cancer and she deserves nothing less than that.

T-1d...

The next morning we woke, haggard and sleep deprived as much from the arduous travel as from the two crazy children, who were jet-lagged and ornery. It was all made ok though as we woke in our new Denver apartment, Team Emmy’s new base of operations for the remainder of the journey.