I'm Home!!

Hi everybody,
Guess what? I got to come home tonight! It was wonderful to be out the hospital. Before going home I got to go and visit with my aunt Elizabeth and uncle Len. I got home and got to play with my brothers. Sure feels good to be home again.

We still haven't received the report from the pathologist. My oncologist is out until next week, and it may be that I will have to go before the tumor board again so all the doctors can decide what to do next. As soon as I know, I will let you know. In the meantime, it looks like I get a week or two off to finish healing from my surgery.

Thank you Jesus for healing me!
Love and kisses,
Amelya

A Busy Day

Hi everybody,
Today has been a very busy day for me. This morning my doctor came and took out my catheter, and unhooked me from everything. He picked me up and stood me on the floor and asked me to walk. You can imagine my surprise! While it hurt, I started walking.

Since then I have taken two more trips around the nurse's station, to the play room where I played for a while, then back to my room. In these pictures you can see where I took a little break from walking in the play room. How you like my new pink Dora shoes?

After I rested a bit in the chair, Paw-paw and I looked out the window at the birds for a while before I walked back to my room to eat dinner.

All in all, I have to say that it was a pretty good day, and I felt better today than yesterday. Mom and dad are very proud of me. Paw-paw says I'm amazing, and Grandma keeps telling me I am a very brave girl, made of tough stuff. I told her that she was right, that I am tough stuff!

Love and kisses to you all!
Amelya

Hello Friends,
Thank you so much for all your support and prayers. You cannot imagine how much knowing that you were praying for Amelya comforted us and got us through the last couple of weeks and especially the last couple of days. It was especially comforting yesterday knowing you all were praying, just as we were before and during the surgery.

Most of all, we want to thank God. Based on all the doctors expected to happen yesterday, it is truly a miracle. The doctor only had to make one cut; the tumor was smaller than what the doctor expected to find; the tumor was not connected to any of her vital organs; the surgery did not compromise or harm any of her organs. We truly are thankful to God for all of this.

Amelya woke up this morning and asked to sit up. She drank and ate some, and talked with us a bit. She even felt good enough for a few moments to "ham it up" and smile for the camera.
A couple of hours after this picture Amelya was moved out of the ICU and into a room. While she slept most of the day, she is doing well and went most of the day without complaining of pain. God truly is good.

Please keep praying for Amelya. While we all feel the worst is over, there will still be more treatment to make sure all the tumor is gone. In addition, with this type of cancer, there is the possibility of re-occurrence until she is fully grown. Pray with us that she will soon be diagnosed as cancer free, and remain that way.

Again, thank you all for your concern and prayers.

God bless,
Larry and Amanda, and brothers Garrett and Nic
Grandma and Pa-Paw Breaux
Grandma and Grandpa Holland
Great-Grandma, and all Amelya's aunts, uncles, and cousins

Praise God -- The Tumor is Out

Hi family and friends!
I had my surgery today and the good news is -- the surgeon only had to make one cut. The better news is -- he believes he got all the tumor out without any harm to any of my organs. It wasn't connected to any of my vital organs. The best news is -- God is good and faithful!

The pathologist is going to examine what they cut out to see if they got it all. The surgeon marked everything for the radiologist to do radiation therapy if necessary. The surgeon said it could be scar tissue left or muscle tissue or small portion of tumor left. Believe with me that the tumor is completely gone.

Thank you for all your prayers!
Love and kisses,
Amelya

Surgery Scheduled

Hi everybody,
This picture was taken by my Aunt Michelle when I went to my last clinic appointment a week and a half ago. I decided I wanted to lie down in the book shelf in the waiting room. Not sure what happened to all the books that are usually stored there. Aunt Michelle thought that I was being funny and took my picture.

Mommy, Daddy and I went to talk with the surgeon this past Tuesday. Grandma and Aunt Linda came too. The surgeon, Dr. Steiner, talked about the surgery and how he plans to do it. He said that he will go in just like they do when they do a c-section. He said he plans to first mark all my vitals organs, then take out as much of the tumor he can doing as little harm as he can to my organs. He said once he gets in there he may have to make some judgment calls on what to do, and said he would come out and talk with mommy and daddy before making any major decisions, such as removing an organ. Dr. Steiner said that they still don't know where the tumor originated from, so he really can't tell us exactly what he will have to do once he gets in there.

Dr. Steiner said he will then close me up and turn me over and cut me again, from the bottom of my spine to my rectum, and then take out as much of the tumor he can reach that way. He said that after he finished trying to reach the tumor from the back, he may have to then go back in from my front again, and get any remaining tumor he can reach after working from my backside. He said if there is any more tumor he left, he plans to mark it so the radiologist can then focus my radiation treatment on those areas. Mommy and daddy asked him how long the surgery will take, and he said he plans to not schedule anything else that day.

Two positive things that Dr. Steiner said -- one, that there is the possibility that the tumor is dead, and it is just a fibrous mass left in there to be removed. My onocologist, Dr. Gardner, said that part of the tumor is dead, but she thinks there are still some live cells there. We hope that when Dr. Steiner goes in, the tumor will be all dead.

The other good thing he said from the start of the meeting was that his goal was to go in and remove as much tumor he can doing as little harm as possible. He said that he felt confident that he could get some of the tumor out, he just was not sure how much he would be able to remove. We all got to see my CT scans for the first time -- we saw the first one when I was first diagnosed in February, and the one they took at my last clinic appointment. We could see the change in size of the tumor. In the first scan, the tumor filled my entire pelvic area, hip to hip. In the latest scan, the tumor was over more to one side, and filled about half the area. We also got to see where it is located, and it is very low in my pelvic area, below my bladder and kidneys. Mommy, grandma and aunt Linda are wondering if it originated from my hip muscle...

Please be in prayer...
Right now, the surgery is scheduled for next Friday, July 24th. Please be in prayer for me, especially that day. Also please be in prayer for the surgeon, Dr. Steiner. Pray that God quickens him on exactly how to approach the tumor, and that he can get it all out without damaging any of my organs. Pray that I heal very quickly, and will not be in pain after the surgery. Also, please pray for mommy and daddy.

Love and kisses to you all,
Amelya

I need your prayers...

Hi Everybody,
Well, I finished the additional rounds of chemotherapy and this week the doctors at Children's did a re-assessment. The news is not too good. They could not see any reduction in the size of the tumor from the last two rounds of chemo. They are now thinking that the tumor is becoming resistant to the chemo. All the doctors had a meeting about me on Wednesday, and my oncology doctor, Dr. Gardner also contacted the Mayo Clinic to get input from them on what they thought. All the doctors seem to be in agreement that the tumor must be removed, in spite the risks of damage to some of my organs.

An appointment is scheduled for next Tuesday, July 14th with the surgeon. This is when the surgeon will outline what he knows, and what are the exact risks based on the latest CT scans of the tumor. If mommy and daddy agree to the surgery, the date will then be set.

Mommy and Daddy are faced with some very hard decisions right now, and they need your prayers. The doctors did say that this will be a hard surgery to do, and it will be hard on my body. So I definitely need your prayers that, first, it is not as bad as it seems on the CT scans and the tumor can be removed easily, and second, I will astound them all, and recover quickly. The surgeon needs your prayers, that his hand will be steady, and his eyes will be sharp, his mind will be quick to recognize what is tumor and what is not, and he leaves no bad cells behind. Also pray that if there is another alternative that is safer and better, that God will quicken the doctors to that idea.

Love and kisses to you all,
Amelya