UPDATE!!!!

Hello everyone!! Thanks for all your continued prayers and support, as you can see from my other posts, I can really feel God's presence and protection around me. Today momma and daddy were told that I am going to have to have another surgery. We are going all the way to CHICAGO for it. My doctor wants us to have the surgery done by someone who has done the surgery I need before. We will be going for there first week of November. BURR-R-R!!! There's going to be snow and lots of it we have been told. Please pray that all will be well with this situation.
Radiation is going well with minimal side effects. We are three weeks in and have three weeks to go. The nurses really love me at Touro and try everyday to make me smile.
Hugs and Kisses!!!
Amelya

Amelya is Praying Too

Hi Everyone,
We just wanted to share this picture with you of Amelya praying.

This picture was taken this morning just before Amelya's radiation treatment began. She had already been given her anesthesia, was just put into place on her "special pillow" that holds her in the correct position for the radiation treatment, and they were about to begin. Amelya should not have been able to move at all, yet she did.

Just goes to show that the spirit is strong even when the body is weak.

This quite amazed the nurses that Amelya did this - they asked for a copy of the photo because it was such an inspiration to them. We hope it is an inspiration to you too.

Please, keep praying for Amelya's complete healing.
Love to you all,
Amelya's mom and dad -- Amanda and Larry

1st Week of Radiation

Hi Everyone!
I completed my first week of radiation treatments this past week and then I got to come home for the weekend. This picture is of my brothers and me, waiting in line for the water slide at Global Wildlife Center Family Day.

Please continue to pray for me.
Right now the doctors have not said how many treatments I will have to have -- initially they said four weeks, but now my radiologist says that I might get six weeks of treatments. The side effects of the radiation treatments can be pretty severe, so I hope you all will continue to pray for me. Some of them include soreness, and problems with urinating and with bowel movements while I am receiving the treatments. The doctors said this will start in about a week. Longer term issues I could face include damage to my vaginal area, uterus and ovaries. This means that I will not be able to conceive children when I get older. Even more importantly, I may not enter puberty on my own, and may encounter other female problems when I am older. Please pray for me that I will not have these kinds of problems. Also pray that the doctors get every spot that needs to be radiated, and only those spots.

As I said earlier, I got to come home for the weekend -- it was good to be home with mom and dad and my brothers. Saturday we got to go to family day at Global Wildlife Center. I saw kangaroo and giraffes there! I got to slide down the water slide and hula hoop while paw-paw and his band played music for everyone there. We ate hamburgers and hot dogs, and had a sno-ball. It was a lot of fun.

Today I went back to New Orleans to start my next week of radiation treatments. I also started back on my chemo treatments today, which means I probably won't get to go out in public again for a while. I will be at Children's Hospital today and tomorrow while I get my "chemo-cocktail". Then mommy and I will stay at Hope Lodge the rest of the week while I get my daily radiation treatments. Friday I will get to go home again if all goes well!

Love and kisses to you all!
Amelya

Happy Birthday to Me!

Hi everybody!

Today is my birthday!! I am now three years old!

Yesterday we had my birthday party and boy did I have fun. It was a princess party -- I had a princess hat and mommy made me a a princess cake. We went to the state park and had bbq hamburgers and hot dogs and played in the water park. It was great fun as you can see by all the pictures, in spite of the rain.

Almost all my cousins came to my party -- so did alot of my aunts, uncles, and my grandparents (all those who did not have to work!). We have a pretty big family so that is a lot of people!

My aunt Michelle and uncle Mark brought a princess pinata and we all took a turn hitting it. In this picture you can see my brother Garrett giving me tips on how to hit the pinata.

Everyone sang happy birthday to me. Then my cousin Bethany and all my family dared me to put my face in the cake and eat it.



When I wouldn't do it, Daddy, and then Bethany put icing on my face. I returned the favor to Bethany and we had a cake icing face painting contest with each other.


It sure was funny. Below is a picture of my brothers enjoying my birthday cake.


Afterward we all played in the waterpark. Everyone had fun running through the water. My brother Garrett is waiting for the bucket of water to dump on his head!

We climbed on the frog and turtle. In this picture my cousin Regis and I were playing with the turtle.


Then I got into a watergun fight with some of my cousins. We shot at each other with the big water guns.

Then we all went to the play ground and played on the slides. After all that I was pretty tired and needed a little rest break. Nothing like a great big daddy hug when you've been partyin' all day!

The last picture I have to share with you is one of me and my cousins who were able to come to my party. I told you I have a big family!!

Today I go to Hope Lodge with mommy. We will be staying there for the next four weeks because I have to have radiation treatments everyday. Daddy and brothers will come and visit me and mommy during the week, and we get to go home on the weekends. I promise to give you updates on how things are going.

Thank you Jesus for healing me.
Love and kisses to you all!
Amelya

PS - Grandma said that she plans to print out this blog for me to read when I get bigger. Please feel free to add your comments to my postings!

Doctor Visits this Week

Hi Everybody!
Thursday and Friday were very busy days for me. On Thursday, mom, dad, my brothers and I went to visit Dr. Steiner, my surgeon. He said the pathology report came back that the tumor was 99% dead! Yea! He said there were only a few cells that were live in the tumor. He also said I am healing from the surgery very well and released me back to my oncologist, Dr. Gardner.

On Thursday I also went to meet my Radiologist doctor. They wanted to do some CT scans to set up for radiation treatments. I did not want any part of that, and so they scheduled for me to come back on Friday to try again.

On Friday I went back to New Orleans again. This time mom, grandma and my baby cousin Lainy went with me. I still did not want to cooperate with the radiologist, so they gave me some medicine to make me sleep and they took the pictures they needed. When I woke up, I was wobbly and loopy. I sure got happy too! Grandma called it happy medicine and said we might need to get more of that kind of medicine when I get cranky. I told her I wanted more happy medicine. Mom sure thought I was funny.

I met with Dr. Gardner, my oncologist, on Friday too. This picture is of me and mom, my baby cousin Lainy, and my aunt Michelle, who came to visit us while we were waiting at Dr. Gardner's office. We all went to lunch after we finished, and we had a good time.

I still need your prayers.
Chemo treatments will continue, and Dr. Gardner says they will start again in two weeks. She also said that the pathologist could not determine where the tumor originated from, so we still don't know the answer for sure. While they got the tumor out, the CT scans the radiologist took on Friday showed a "suspicious" area that she plans to zap with radiation. There also some pretty serious side effects to the radiation treatments that I will need God's help with. Even thought the surgeon moved my ovaries and uterus over as much as he could, I am still just a little girl. Chances are that my uterus will suffer scarring and my ovaries will be radiated. This means I probably will not have children when I get older. It also, more importantly, means that I might not go into puberty on my own. In addition, my pelvic bones will get radiated, and I might develop "soft bones". This will result in my bones in the pelvic area not growing and developing as they should. This means I might not grow to the size that I would have normally. Please pray that these side effects, that the doctors are saying are highly likely, will not be the case for me. Pray that I will grow and develop normally as other young girls do, and that I will live a long, abundant and happy life!

Love and kisses to you all, and thank you so much for your prayers and good wishes. It really does help to know that I have you all out there cheering me on in this journey.
Amelya