Emmy's Story Archive

Recently we have learned that our little Emmy has been diagnosed with a rare childhood cancer.

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.

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.

So last week Emery went down to Denver for her last chemo treatment and all new images. She was put asleep and intubated for a new MRI and PET-CT so see what effect twelve weeks of chemotherapy had on her large tumor.

Surgery went well!

We were left standing there, a little bit sad watching our girl being carried away but mostly filled with the relief that we were finally at a place along this journey where our care team could operate. So we set up camp in the waiting room for the next five hours anxiously awaiting news of the procedure."

Positive (negative) results from these tests will not alter our current plan which has us continuing chemo through the end of April at the earliest. It is hard as parents to wrap our heads around that many treatments and that many times these caustic drugs have to work their way through our daughter's system but it is what needs to be done to ensure she will someday be cancer free. So, carry on we shall.

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.

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.

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.

Every time we do get to pass through the threshold of our own place, there comes a moment where a certain smile crosses our little lady’s face, the special one reserved for when she is extra happy, and it melts you into a puddle right there on the spot. We could turn around and get right back in the truck, the whole journey back home made worth it in that one moment.