just the three of us

2011-12-21T16:10:00.000-08:00

Ten years ago today my Dad passed away after a two year battle with cancer. I am amazed by how quickly the time has flown by. Seems like just yesterday. I was told often in those early days that it would get easier with time. I am still waiting for that to happen! Losing a parent never becomes easier, just different. I will never understand why God took my dad home when he did, but I have learned to be grateful that I had the privelage of having such a great man as my dad even for a short time. I think about my dad everyday, but today especially i celebrate the amazing man he was! He is an example to me of the kind of person I strive to be.

thankfulness

2011-11-25T12:22:00.000-08:00

In this season of thanksgiving I have spent some time thinking about what i am most thankful for. There are many things that I can say, I have been so blessed by friends and family. I see so many people going through hard times, losing every thing they have. We struggle at times but we have what we need. As I was cleaning up the other day I was reminded again of what I am most thankful for!

The picture on the left is a picture of my tattoo. It is an ancient Egyption sign that stands for hope. It is a hieroglyph of a prisoner struggling for freedom. It is a daily reminder to me that no matter what is going on here on earth. Whether it is sickness disease finances or any of the other things that get us down, I know that there is something better waiting for me in heaven. This is such a basic simple lesson you would think I would have it down by now.

Of all the lessons I have learned over the last 3 years of our journey through having a child with cancer this I think is the greatest. It is a struggle to know that your child will most likely have a shorter life than you had thought. To know that all of the hopes and dreams that you had for them will most likely go unrealized. It is important that I remember that God has a greater purpose for her than I could have imagined and that I cannot put my hope in those things, I have to put them in him and know that he has something far greater than anything this world could ever provide.

Surgery update

2011-10-24T23:09:00.001-07:00

It has been a week since my surgery and I am doing well. I have already lost 10 pounds, which is not suprizing since I am on a liquid diet. I spend most of my energy in the day trying to take in enough protein for my body to heal and function. This is not a high protein diet, but since I am able to take in so little I have to concentrate the calories I am able to get where they are most important.

I realize that my decision on having gastric bypass seemed really sudden to alot of people and I am feeling bad it is not something that I discussed with only a few people.I tend to be a private person and was not sure how I felt about everyone knowing what i was going through. I began the journey of gastric bypass six months ago. When going to a normal physicians check up I was asked if gastric bypass surgery was something that i have ever considered, and my doctor suggested that Steve and I look into it. I had borderline high blood pressure, my cholesterol was borderline high. My glucose levels were much higher than they should have been. From a physical standpoint I was very unhealthy and needed something very different to happen or I was at risk for heart disease, diabetes, and a multitude of cancers. The honest truth was that when looking at the risk factors between what could happen while having this surgery and the risk factors of me walking down the street in my present health conditions, surgery had less risk.

If I were to say that the only side of this surgery that I considered was health I would be lying. I am of course excited for the shallow side of being slimmer as well. I was a large kid who grew up in a large family. I have never felt thin in my life or even average. Some of my thinner friends will never be able to understand the feeling of always feeling like you stand out like a sore thumb becuase of your size. When my daughter Ammy got sick three years ago she was paralyzed for some time, and then was only able to do things when she was an arms length away from an adult. I feel such guilt sometimes that she was not able to do things because mom was not able to keep up, or I felt like everyone was laughing at the fat girl that I did not want to do them. For example game time at Awana was just a no. I did not want the other adults to see how winded I got just going around the circle. Time spent with friends was board games because mom could not muster up the energy to run around. I promised myself that I was going to change that and not be that kind of person if God forbid she ever had to go through that again. I have tried for years to try and loose the weight and was not able to be successful.

In order to have this surgery I had to through several meetings with Dieticians, and physical therapist , and a psychologist to try and start my journey in weight loss. Gastric bypass is not a for sure weight loss gimic. I am positive that no matter what these next 6 months I will loose significant amounts of weight. The truth is though that if I do not change my habbits and my mindframe i can gain in it all right back plus some. As doctors can point out where there is obisity there is usually emotional trauma. Most of us can look back at our most significant amount of weight gain and can tie it to an emotional time in our life. Mine was when my Dad passed away and I was pregnant with my amazing little girl. I rememer this as a time of deep depression and lonelinesss. As my pounds strip away I will have to make a big effort to deal with the emotions I have been hiding through my weight.

In a month I will meet again with my physician, I will have labs done to make sure my blood work looks good, I will also meet with my dieticians and physical therapist to make sure I am continuing to do what i need to do to stay healthy. They will help me set realistic goals for myself and to do what I need to do to meet those goals. I will continue to try and update you on my post surgery fun as the months go by.

2011-09-30T23:44:00.000-07:00

September has been a very busy month for us! Ammy strated third grade this year. I was a bad momma and did not get any pictures this year. She is having a great time with her teacher, and I am very grateful that she has the same teacher as she did last year. The nice thing is that there is always a few months of the school year where we are struggling for the teachers to understand that Ammy does not always look as bad as she feels. Teachers also don't understand how much school ammy actually misses. It was nice to start with a teacher who knows when to push Ammy to do more and when she is having an off day!!

At the beginning of the month Steve had Gastric bypass surgery. He was not feeling so great for the first 2 weeks, but after that he was feeling much better, and had two more weeks off. We have been able to have lots of fun adventures. We took a day trip up to Silver creek falls. This is one of our favorite hiking spots and when weather is nice and the kiddo is in school, we go here weekly.

The Children's Cancer Association sponsers many events in the area and this month we were able to take a friend of Ammy's with us to the enchanted forest. This was fun for us since we live so close to the park but have not yet had a chance to go. I was really surprised how different it is from what I remember as a kid. I don't know if they have added the rides later, or if my parents just had us hang out in the cheaper part, but it was fun to see all of the new things going on.

The picture to the left was from an inpromtu photo shoot we had while waiting for Ammy's chemo pal. They went to a the lion king 3-d while steve and had a little time to ourselves. All in all a very good month! Hopefully the next update will be sooner than a month!!

2011-08-27T23:24:00.000-07:00

This Friday Ammy's counts were low again. Too low to start her next round of chemo therapy. This was a little disappointing since we want to be done with this chemo and each time we miss a treatment it pushes back the ending time. On the bright side Ammy's awesome ChemoPal Jessie was able to get us in to Omsi for a free day of fun thanks to the children's cancer association. Steve had never been here before so he had a fun time exploring, and I enjoyed seeing Ammy explore and learn from the same science experiments I remember from my childhood. When we were down exploring the submarine we saw the jet boat excursions and decided to extend our day with a ride. If you have never done this I highly recomend it. We had a little history of the water front from Portland all the way to the waterfalls in oregon City. It was a lot of fun. Sorry there are no pictures but since it was not planned I did not bring my camera.

2011-08-27T23:09:00.000-07:00

This week Ammy's troop got the chance to lead the flag ceremony to open a meeting with congressmen Defazzio. They did an amazing job, especially for their first time. One of the things I love about her troop is that they are all at different levels. This does at times make it very challenging at times, but it is so rewarding to see the older girls setting an example for the younger and helping them through their work. I also love the example it sets for the younger girls and gives them lots of fun things to look forward to. Our troop has 12 girls in it so this is just the girls who are up for helping out. We had a pizza party for lunch as we practiced our ceremony and finished the day with ice cream.

2011-07-23T00:37:00.000-07:00

July has been a busy month! We have been busy working on our girl scout patches and enjoying our summer time together. Steve has finally gotten a schedule for the time being. With his job he will work pretty steady until christmas. At that time we will go back to living day by day! This week was the first of Steve's new schedule so we were excited to take a family vacation on his two days off. So after Ammy's chemo appointment we rushed home and packed up. We headed over to Hebo lake which is right over by tillamook. The first night was fun and relaxing, but then around three in the morning the rain started. We woke up to puddles in the tent and wet beds. We braved the rain to try and build us a fire to cook some breakfast, which ended in incinerated bacon, burnt hashbrowns, and some eggs, at 12 in the afternoon! We stuck it out for a few hours hopeing that the rain would go. We even tried fishing in the rain, trying to make the best of the situation. Finally around 4 in the afternoon we gave up, packed up camp and went home. I think I spent more time packing and cleaning than I did actually camping!!

I will hopefully have an update for you next week. We have a very busy week planned with all kinds of fun things!

Just one of those days

2011-06-28T22:37:00.000-07:00

Today was just one of those days... the kind with nothing special planned. With my husbands lack of a work schedule that is how most of our days start. There was some grocery shopping and some housework. When we did not get the call at 2 that my husband was supposed to work the usual question of what we were going to do quickly followed, as usual. Today we decided on an adventure to Detroit Lake. We did a little fishing and I caught my first fish of my adult life. Ammy caught Three with her barbie fishing pole! All together our family brought home 9 fish about 12 inches each! We then set up our bonfire and had grilled steaks corn on the cob, and some salad.

Transitioning from being a student and mom with a busy schedule to a mom with no schedule has been hard for me. Days like this that start with nothing special but turn into the kind of days i know my daughter will always remember makes it a little more tolerable. Some times not having a plan can be hard to handle, and other times it can be a little blessing waiting to surface!

Ammy's new hair do

2011-06-03T12:26:00.000-07:00

I am so excited to tell you all about another amazing company I have learned about during our journey into the crazy world of cancer. Angel hair foundation, which works with Mirage hair systems in Eugene Oregon, is one amazing company. With Ammy's hair thinning so much we were referred to Angel hair foundation which helps patients in Oregon and Washington to recieve hair systems. Jan who is the women who helped us was incredibly sweet to Amethyst and helped us have a great expereince. Ammy's hair peice comes at a high price of $2,580. Through many people's generosity we had this donated to us. I am so thankful for all of the people that are here to help with these things. I would never be able to provide this for my little one on my own. Now not only does Ammy have a new confidence and pride in what she looks like, she is extra excited because it is "Hannah Montana" hair.

sea horses

2011-05-22T21:33:00.000-07:00

We have had a fun week as we help Ammy prepare for her first school report. Her subject was star fish. Aside from the never ending battle between Mom insisting that they are really called sea stars because scientifically they are not fish, and Ammy insisting that her teacher calls them starfish so that is what they must be, things went really well. Ammy enjoyed using the internet to collect some basic information at home and has been reading about it like crazy at school. The final project, the diarama shown below shows both her creativity and my extreme self control as I tried very hard to let her do all of the work with just a little bit of guidance. It was very hard to let her have ownership and not fix it when she went to bed! You cannot see the bottom of the box but she covered it with Brown sugar to look like the ocean bottom. A little bit of using her resources, since mom kept forgetting to go to the store to pick up some sand.

Make a wish

2011-05-13T22:35:00.000-07:00

Through all of the struggles we have been through in the past 3 years since Amethyst was diagnosed with her tumor I have been amazed at the kindness and generosity of strangers. There are many amazing organizations set up to help those going through hard times and they are mostly run by volunteers. Yesterday we met two more amazing ladies from the make-a-wish foundation, working hard to give Ammy a week that she will never forget.

Ammy's wish is to stay the night in the Cinderella castle in disneyland. The suite located here was made in 2007 for the year of a million dreams promotion. The suite is only used as a prize that can be given and no one is able to stay for money. The space was set aside for Walt Disney and his family to be able to stay in the park. The operators of the park feel like it would be against Disney's vision to allow anyone to stay there for a price. Although this would be a difficult wish to grant it would be truly magical if it were to happen. Hopefully we will know within the next few weeks!

If we are unable to stay in the castle there is another place set up called Give kids the world which make a wish partners with. It is super cool as well. Each family staying there are placed in two bedroom villas. It has a carousel, train station, horses, swimming pool, mini golf, as well as an ice cream parlor with all you can eat ice cream open from 7:30a.m-9:30 p.m. They celebrate Christmas every thursday complete with cariage rides, and santa clause. All make a wish kids who stay in the area are welcome to come and hang out, so even if we stay in the castle we will be able to partake in these fun things as well. I think Steve and I might be almost as excited as the kiddo!

All this should be taking place after the new year, that way Ammy can get the most out of her experience since we will be done with chemo.

2011-05-08T22:16:00.000-07:00

This year was the best Mother's day I have had. My little one is old enough to be truly thoughtful, but still young enough where her thinking is a bit ecocentrical. This meant I got to spend the morning sharing in her favorite activities. We began by snuggling on the couch while we watched Strawberry shortcake. Then Ammy decided to make me some breakfast. Our delicious meal was made of pancakes and toast! She then gave me all of the paper flowers and cards her and her friends have been working on over the last week.

It seems like the last few weeks Ammy has been asking for more and more time together with Mom. I have loved finding the time to Just hang out. In the past I have let homework and housework interfere with the time i could spend with my girl. Through my stress management class i have really began to realize that this moment in time will never happen again. I can spend it looking at the past, worrying about the future, or i could choice to enjoy this moment and the ones i have in my life!

Amethyst turns eight

2011-03-27T20:35:00.000-07:00

Today my sweet girl turned eight years old. Looking back on the year. I am continually amazed by this little ones amazing strength and ability to push through most anything. She has adapted well to being in a new school and has stayed healthy and strong through a year of chemotherapy. She is a very brave little girl and stronger than anyone I know. I am so proud to be your mom, and really do thank God everyday that he keeps you in my life. I love you am! Can't wait to see what wonders this next year of your life will bring us.

Mri update

2011-03-19T00:13:00.000-07:00

I recieved a call from Ammy's Doctor a few nights ago sharing some good news. Ammy's tumor is the same size as the last measurement and appeared to possibly be a little less bulky. It is sometimes hard to rejoice with the thought of nothing changing, but we are doing our best to continue to trust that God has a plan here!

Many of you have noticed Ammy's thinning hair as you can see in my sister's amazing pictures on her blog. We have an appointment set up on the 31st of March to meet with an amazing organization that will provide her with a free wig, since she is a patient at dorenbecher. We will try and keep you posted on how that works.

2011-03-11T21:28:00.000-08:00

It has been a little bit since I have updated I guess it is about time to share the highlights of our life!! Ammy is doing really well. She is still going through Chemo but continues to be very healthy. The only school she really misses out on is the days she has chemo. I finally got a hold of the make a wish foundation and we have started that process. They need an ok from her onchologist, who is the person who told us we should really get going with the process so i am sure she will be approved. Next job to tackle is getting her a new wig. Sadly her hair has finally hit the point where it is so thin it is looking a little patchy and really needs to be shaved. We had lots of tears talking about this reality tonight. She said that she wanted me to be the one to do it for her. We may have a video of it for you if she is ok with sharing. She wants to submit a video to the bic4good campaign to help earn money for make a wish.

Steve and I are also doing well. I am almost done with this term of school, and then have one more term until i take some time off. I am looking for a part time job to help with the income a little and get out of the house. We'll see how that works having a little one with the medical things she does. Steve is still hanging on at Winco, but it is definately a challenge. He is getting about 80 hours a month which is hard on the finances, and not having a set schedule can be really stressful for the family. He and I are also getting ready to undergo gastric bypass surgery this summer which means that we definately need him to stay at winco even if money is not so great because he gets really amazing benefits. We are praying that things will fall into place soon and we will be able to pay all of the bills!

2010-12-27T11:07:00.000-08:00

December was a very busy month for us. First of all we had our wedding. I spent many many months making the snowflakes to the left. I got the pattern

on Martha Stewart in her Christmas decoration section. They are crocheted, and then I used a glue and water mixture to starch it, I then also modge podged it for some extra stiffness, and then spray painted it with a fine glitter. I used them both as a runner down the aisle and then as a center peice in the reception. I am usually not a very crafty person so i was rather excited when these turned out looking so well!

The programs were another idea taken from Martha Stewart. In the wedding section they had a couple who were married in Bend Oregon that put peices of cedar trees on their programs i tried the same idea with a peice of evergreen!

Then came the big day! It was so much fun to see so many friends and family there to support us. We had a great time and then were off to the beach for a short honeymoon. It was a good time, we stopped by the casino before going home and made 40 bucks! not a whole lot but we did double our money!!

This picture is my absolute favorite. My little double fisted drinker!!

I will be posting more about our month as time permits!

2010-12-14T15:20:00.000-08:00

i just realized that i have not blogged in over a month..yikes. i guess planning a wedding takes up a lot of time. i will be workinng to update you all on what has been going on!

2010-10-30T03:39:00.001-07:00

We have had another week of some hard struggles and would love prayer from all who follow this blog. Earlier this week we got a call from Ammy's Dad. Her Grandpa had a stroke and was taken to the hospital. Upon doing an MRI they have found a brain tumor and operated on it on Tuesday. The Biopsy showed that it was between stage 3 and stage 4, and i am not sure what kind of tumor it was. Ammy is very close with this Grandpa and spends a night with him and his wife about every other weekend. I have told her that he has this tumor but not the severity of the situation. Please pray for both Ammy and her grandpa as well as the whole family. They have had lots of tragedy in thier life lately and are not christians. I pray that God will bring them into a relationship with him and that they will find comfort.

Please also pray for Ammy she is on the part of the cycle that hits her hard with a pretty nasty chemotherapy medicine. She started to loose a little hair last week and this high dosage of this particular medicine could make it come out even more as well as give a big hit to her immune system.

2010-10-23T20:44:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday I was given one of the greatest honors i think i have ever had. I got to baptize my little girl. I am so proud of the young women that she is becoming, and excited to know that at age seven she has a profound faith that surpasses even my own at times! Ammy was asked if ther were any verses that she wanted to share and these are the ones that she chose.

Romans 8:28-and we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

Jeremiah 29:11- For I know the plans I have for you declares the lord plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.

Joshua 1:9 -Have i not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.

I love that these verses speak so much about where she has been in her life and how she is so brave. I have used these verses to try and help her see through what she is facing in the moment. i am so glad that she has placed these nuggets of truth in her heart. i know that they will follow her throughtout life.

2010-10-10T23:09:00.000-07:00

Another week has come and gone and I am just now getting a moment to myself!! This has been quite a week. Steve will have put in 60 hours by the time he gets off in the wee hours of the morning. This means that we have not seen much of him! I wonder what i ever did without him here!! Ammy is continuing to do well on her chemo treatments and not really experiencing many side effects. We are all very excited that tomorrow she will be able to play on the playground and join in on recess activities. She has had to sit out of this all year long so she is very excited to participate. I was able to get myself over to David's Bridal this week and finally buy my dress!! That was super exciting. i have the dress down, the shoes, the veil, and am now working on the many decorations and getting my man down to the tux shop to get fitted! It will be only two months away tomorrow... yikes.. my cue to get busy!

2010-10-03T20:10:00.000-07:00

We started this week with a fun family trip to the salon. I told Ammy when we found out that she had to get chemotherpy that she could get a pink streak in her hair. That was when i assumed that she would definately be losing her hair when her treatments started. That may or may not happen but I needed to stand by my word. The following picture is taken from my sisters blog. I am not entirely sure who took it but as you can see the gangs all here!! I am always pleasently surprised with how willing my family is to support me and Amethyst. Next on our Agenda was princess day. Ammy and I started this tradition a couple years back. Ammy's half birthday was on Monday and in celebration we got pedicures.
This was followed on Tuesday by the beginning of Ammy's Chemotherapy. We had a few bumps with Ammy feeling sick on Thursday and experiencing some pain in her jaw. It has been a bit hard on us all emotionally, but Ammy is such a tough girl!

Another great challenge this week... I started my senior year this week. I am taking 16 credits, and hoping that I am able to hang on long enough to finish this year with a decent gpa.

2010-09-24T17:39:00.000-07:00

Well it has been two days since Ammy's last surgery. On Tuesday she had a port put in so that when chemo starts it will be much easier with less stress on her body. She is recovering well and we are still waiting to hear about when we will start her chemo. Thank you all for your continued prayers and support. Please continue to pray for me as I continue to learn what foods ammy needs to stay away from.

2010-09-19T15:34:00.001-07:00

Well another week has come and gone and not much to report which i have learned is a very good thing!! Ammy is spending the afternoon at her Tutu's (dad's stepmom). They are baking cookies together, which is one of their favorite activities. Tutu and Ammy have a special relationship unlike any i have seen. She has embraced Ammy and all of us and is a special part of the family! So while tutu and ammy are baking i am enjoying a few hours of serenity and peace before the craziness of the next few months begin. There is not one day for the next week that i do not have something coming up. Ammy has her port put in on Tuesday, and chemo will be following soon after. I am beginning my senior year of school next Monday and my wedding is only a short 2 months away! I should be spending time figuring this all out but instead i am enjoying the sunshine and a good cup of starbucks!

Update on Ammy

2010-09-13T10:50:00.001-07:00

For those of you who follow my sisters blog this will be old news to you...I am sorry it has taken me so long to update on what is going on with my little girl. It seemed at the time that there was more questions than answers so as a family we decided to delay giving an update until we knew what was going on. As for the surgery Ammy is healing well. She just started her second week of school today and is generally in a great mood, free of pain. Dr. G was able to remove most of her tumor. Unfortunately I cannot say all is gone. In order to remove the entire tumor the doctor would have had to take out too much healthy tissue, and leave her paralyzed. He felt that under the circumstances it was best to take as much as he could and still leave her healthy and able to do what she is doing now.

As for the next stage in all of this!! I met with her onchologist and they have decided that chemotherapy is what needs to come next. Our hope for this treatment is that it will stop the growth of tumors for the next few years. The chances of the chemo getting rid of the tumor is very small and is not something we are hoping for. Ammy will be taking care of this most likely for the rest of her life. She will be going for surgery soon and having a port put in so that they can deliver the chemo easily and do blood tests with less pain and hassle. She will be taking 3 of the chemo meds by mouth and we will go in about every two weeks in order to get an iv of her other meds. This will be a big change for our family with having to be on a strict diet and a tight schedule. We have always tended to be more spontaneous and just dealt with things as they come along. I will need to be much more organized and plan ahead better than I have before, but like everything else we will learn and just take it one day at a time!

2010-09-07T09:36:00.000-07:00

Today I sent my baby girl for her first day of second grade. This was very hard as she just finished having surgery two and a half weeks ago and we are in a new school district. I am missing her a bunch but enjoying the morning sipping coffee with Steve and taking a minute to update the blog for the first time in what feels like months!!

As for an update on the medical situation, we still don't know much of anything!! Dr. G is supposed to be getting back to me in the next few days to let me know what the plan may entail!

Hope you all enjoy a great back to school!!

2010-08-04T10:56:00.000-07:00

We finally have some good news to report. Steve has gotten his job back at Winco. This means more time at home for him, and much better paychecks. This will make it so we finally have some to do some wedding planning with! This also makes it so that Steve will be able to be around to help with the stress that will come with Ammy having surgery and such and with her the possibilities of chemo and everything while i am in school.

2010-07-27T14:26:00.000-07:00

It has been quite a while since i have blogged, not having internet does make things a bit more difficult. Wednesday we had another MRI and results were not as we had hoped. The doctors have been watching a grey spot on the images since her first MRI. This spot has grown which worries the doctor. They had originally thought this could have been a spot of scar tissue or a number of other things. With the recent growth however it is pretty clear that it is cancer. We have a surgery scheduled for the 20th of August where they will take this tumor out, do a biopsy, just to make sure they know the nature of what it is, they will also check out her extra fluid in her spine, and the scar tissue in her neck. She should be at dorenbecher for about 5 days. Ammy was having a very hard time with this at first, but seems to be getting better. I will do my best to keep everyone informed on what is going on.

2010-06-30T12:55:00.001-07:00

Well another week out here in good old Jefferson and we are adjusting pretty well. We went and visited a church last weekend. It was nice a little old fashioned and really big. 2000 people attended, whish is basically the whole population of the town. It was not the kind of place for us but i think Ammy will be attending AWANA there. We were planning on having lots of pictures for you all and giving you a tour of our little city but there has just been way to much to do. Hopefully i will get a chance later in the week for all of that. For today we are hanging out at the Kroc center. This is our new favorite place to be. Ammy loves the child watch center which gives me a chance to work out or as in today a moment of peace while i work on the computer, we then finish the day off by a cool dip in the fun pool. Today I will be getting the gym schedule and experiencing my first class!

wrapping things up

2010-06-24T14:10:00.000-07:00

This weekend began on thursday when Ammy had a going away party with her neighborhood friends. They gave her a photo album with pictures of the fun times they had together. Next Was her bridging ceremony on Saturday morning. She is officially no longer a daisy girl scout, but has graduated into a brownie. We left from there to take a nap and prepare for our next event.

Ammy's dance recital! This was a bittersweet affair. It is always fun to see the girls hard work come together for this fun event. Sad because this will be Ammy's last recital with the Sherwood Dance Academy. I love this studio because they really care about their students. The owner was willing to do anything to get ammy back into dancing after her hospital stay. When starting back there Ammy was not at the level of her peers and with her teachers gentle coaching she has come so far, and gets to do it in a typical setting not in a clinical therapy! We are looking for good studios in salem but they are hard to find!There are no pictures because she would only let her auntie take them!!

After Ammy's dance recital we drove on out to Jefferson which is now our place of residence. We kept ourselves very busy the next day while steve was still around. To the left is a picture of Ammy helping us to fortify our dog kennel. She is quite the little escape artist and we have tried many things. We have an electric fence around the yard which she wears a collar for but it doesnt phase our dog!! We built this kennel in the garage so she couldn't dig out but she just untwisted the metal ties and pushed her way through the chain link fence. We are now trying burying chicken wire around the perimeter of the fence to deter her from digging and tying it about a foot up the fence. we'll see if this works!

Our other big project for the weekend was to get a garden put in. We all enjoy eating fresh vegtables so we started a vegtable garden. Steve does this every year, but since he is on the road it is my job to try and make this happen!! Those of you who know me understand that what this means is i will kill the plants in about a week and spend the rest of the summer trying to revive the stupid things!! Maybe with Ammy's help they will last a few extra weeks.

summer fun

2010-06-14T16:52:00.000-07:00

My summer officially began at 10 o'clock on Thursday. I spent thursday getting myself packed up for the big move in a week and just enjoying being done! Friday was a very bitter sweet day. I had a very sad day as i remembered my Daddy's birthday. I miss him so much especially as i plan my wedding. I was very excited to see my neice graduate that evening. I am so proud of her and all she has accomplished. This girl has had a tough life, with many obstacles. It truly has taken someone with exceptional character to get where she is now.

Saturday Mel and I headed downtown with Ammy for the rose festival parade. She chose to work on a girl scout patch that included going to this event which was fine for me i love to go. We got to talking and realized that Ammy has only missed two rose festival parades during her little life, which was while she was physically not really able to go! After that we rushed off to Alyssa's grad party for some more fun with family. Got home late and met up the next day to celebrate cousin G's birthday!

Felt like we were running around all weekend long but i got to enjoy some fun time with the sisters today as we did a little wedding planning.. i have a bunch of projects lined up for my summer vacation. Can't wait to share them with you! For all my crafting friends we are going to be planning crafting parties if you wanna help.. wink, wink!!

mother's day weekend

2010-05-10T16:27:00.000-07:00

This year for mother's day Ammy and I got to experience our first Girl Scout overnighter. We had such a good time! We were able to spend some great time with both old and new friends. I am so thankful to have the oppertunity to have my child involved in an organization like girl scouts. i remember as a kid how much fun i always had, and now that i am an adult i can really see how they are helping girls to feel empowered and to lead their world to change for the better. Here are a few pictures of our fun weekend. I also got a nice surprise for me when i got home. Steve had some flowers delivered for mother's day since he wasn't going to be here. What a great guy!!

MRI resulsts

2010-03-17T10:57:00.001-07:00

We just finished another MRI earlier this month, and things are pretty good again. There was some talk the last two times about a possible surgery for Ammy to relieve some of the pressure on her spine. The general agreement at this time is to hold off on this. The Doctors are not sure what is going on, but are afraid that the possible good that could coeme of doing a surgery is outweighed by the possible harm it could cause! So for now Ammy gets to just keep being a kid! There are also still two grey spots on the MRI that they continue to watch. We don't know what these are, as of now they have not grown or changed shape or anything. Doctors are not concerned... her momma is. If they do change at any time, or if there is a need for surgery we will biopsy them.. until then wait and watch. Ammy has now been a year without cancer so normally her mri's would go to once a year but her neurological team is keeping her at 3 months to keep an eye on her spinal fluids and whatever else is going on there.

Other than that things are going well for us all. Ammy and I both begin our spring Break next week and are excited for all the plans we have. We will be spending at least a day with Michelle's and Doug's kids.. wish i could say all the cousins but sean and jen are just so far away! We are also going to be going to the beach to watch the whale migration.Should be fun! I will make sure to fill you all in on the details and add some pictures.

2010-01-27T06:30:00.000-08:00

Wow I have really fallen behind on the whole blogging thing. I am just not as good at it as i would like to be! So here is a rundown of the things that are going on in my life.
~ Bad news first Amethyst was up at the hospital a couple of days ago. She is complaining of her legs feeling weird and has some numbness in a few of her toes. The doctors were concerned enought to do an emergency mri. The results came back with not a lot of information. There is a spot on the scan that they say they hope showed up just because of the way she was positioned. Worse case scenerio she has more growth on that tumor. Hopefully it is either her scar tissue causing issues with fluid movement in her spine, or the excess fluid is putting pressure. Unfortunately all of these possibilities include surgery in their treatment plan. March 1st is her MRI date and we will just have to wait until then to see.

~ The good news next! On christmas eve Steve and I got engaged. He had an amazing proposel all worked out... but silly him got too excited and couldn't wait. Not that I am sorry that he didn't! We are planning a wedding for next December. I will have more details up here as we go I am sure!

~ Amethyst has joined in girl scouts and I am now doing fun things like sewing patches on and helping Ammy sell girl scout cookies. It's a lot of fun, but sometimes agravating seeing that her leaders have no experience with teaching.. makes me want to step in and do it for her, but I am having to learn to not have to take charge.

Other than these big changes things are pretty much life as usual, not that we really have a usual these days!

2009-12-21T23:22:00.000-08:00

This week has been very full. We went on Monday and had Ammy's three month MRI check up. These days are always hard and I am so thankful that I have a great big sister to come with me. Ammy is scared of the iv she has and wakes up confused and thinking she just had another surgery. It is hard for her to not be able to make her arms and legs move right away because she knows very well the feeling of being paralyzed! Then we had to wait a full day to get back the results of the test. Ammy was very confident of the results this time, her mom was fearing the worst. The good news is that we had another scan showing no cancer growth. The bad news her body has produced an excess amount of fluid which can cause the same symptoms as her tumor did. We will continue to watch this spot to see if we need to do surgery to remove the fluid. We look forward to even more action this week as we celebrate christmas. I will make sure to post some great pictures.

Today has been a bit of an emotional day today as we remember my dad. He passed away eight years ago today from cancer. It is hard to believe that it was so long ago, I miss him just as much today as I did the year he died. I do feel that I am so blessed to have been raised by such an amazing man. I am thankful to have had the oppertunity to have learned so many life lessons from him.

1 year anniversary

2009-10-25T21:10:00.000-07:00

One year ago I learned some new things and reminded of even more...
just how precious life is, how your world can change within a moment, Just how an aunt and mom explains cancer to a child, how heart breaking the words we will just have to wait and see can feel, just how a pat on the back or a smile from a stranger can give you just a moment of hope, how awesome the family of God is, how friends and family can carry you when you feel like you are falling, how to celebrate the little things, how the human body is a million miracles happening each moment, God hears the prayers I can't even speak out loud, that courage and bravery are found so strong in the young, the ins and outs of a children's hospital, compassion!, never give up hope, you don't have to say the right thing sometimes the right thing is to just say nothing at all and give a hug, no matter your age your heart can feel broken too, the power of a friend, so many other things but the biggest one is My Hope is in Christ Jesus!!!!

corn maze

2009-10-13T11:26:00.000-07:00

Ammy had no school on Friday so she spend the day with me (aunt Michelle) and her cousins. While at the corn Maze she asked if I would take her picture. I swear that is all she ever ask me to do. She loves to model and why not she is a natural at it! We had so much fun together that day. So as promised Ammy her are the a few of the pictures I took. I love you!

2009-09-07T17:41:00.000-07:00

We had so much fun at the Candlelighters Family camp this weekend. One of the first activities we did was to sign Amethyst up for horseback riding lessons. When Ammy was up at Dorenbecher she told us that the one thing that she wanted to be able to do was to ride a horse again. This was her first oppertunity to do so since she just had her restrictions lifted so we are so excited to share this picture with you all. Besides horse back riding Ammy enjoyed bumper boats, go carts, mini golf, and swimming in the rain. I was lucky enough to win a ten dollar gift card while playing bunco. All in all it was a very good time. Amethyst also had the oppertunity to do some projects to auction off at the harvest of hope in October. She is now worn out and we are ready for early bed times and school tomorrow!

2009-09-05T07:43:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to let all of you out here know that we had another clean MRI scan on tuesday! That makes it six months cancer free. There was a spot that they had been watching. They thought that it was possible a scar or whatnot but it is now gone! We are heading down to a candle lighters camp today and i will be posting lots and lots of pictures from all the fun when we get back.

2009-08-06T11:20:00.000-07:00

It has been almost a month since my last post so I thought I should update everyone!! Ammy and I have been having a great summer! The timing of Ammy's last MRI made it so that I was unable to get a job before they were all filled for the summer. I was dissappointed with that, but have had such a blast staying home with her this summer. We have been able to spend time with friends, and enjoy all the fun and free things going on around town! A few days ago Ammy was able to do the almost impossible. She broke her leg braces which are made of carbon, The strongest material they make them of. Her therapist was really impressed and when we took them in to get them replaced the receptionist said that she has never seen braces that worn. Good job Ammy for playing hard! She is loving not having to wear them, but should have new ones by the beginning of the week.

Yesterday we spent some time with my sister in law and two of my neices. We went to the free movies put on by regal and then played in the fountains. They all had a great time, but by the end we had some cranky girls who were exhausted!

We have our next MRI date set. She will be going in on September First for the MRI and then on the second we will meet with her oncologist for results and plan of action. We are sad that we will not be seeing the very talented Mr. Guillium, but happy that they do not see surgeries being necessary in her near future. A few days after that we will be heading off to the candle lighters family camp which we are really excited for! I will be posting pictures!!

2009-07-17T09:52:00.000-07:00

alright so the following format is borrowed from my sis's blog which she borrowed from someone else. It seems like the easiest way of letting you all know what is going on in my life!

I am... tired. Hot weather and too many fun nights have kept me up far too much!

Outside my window... Ammy and the neighbor kids are all congregated unaware that the window is open and I can hear their cute conversations.

I am thinking... That summer break was always more fun as a kid.

I am thankful for... The ability to have perspective. I have had a horrible week complete with puddles in the passenger side of my car, broken computer (I'm now back to my extremely slow laptop) a stolen bike, and yet I can still see that life could.. and has been worse.

From the kitchen..... I am looking forward to making homemade bread on sunday when it is supposed to be a little cooler.

I am wearing... my staple. Jeans and a comfy shirt

I am creating.... I am starting in on some of my christmas gifts for this year by trying to make Calleigh a sweater. I am also working on a project for one of my sister in laws for their birthday.

I am going... to the beach on saturday with Ammy and my friend Hilary.

I am reading... the last book in the twilight series. Maybe when I'm done i'll actually be able to get some house work done!

I am hoping.... That I can find a job for the next couple of months

I am hearing... Ammy is now next to me asking how she spells teacher becky's name as she is inspired to send her favorite sunday school teacher a note.

Around the House... The normal clutter of toys.

A few plans... this week is to have fun. also to get my office organized for the upcoming school year.

A picture I would like to share.......Just a little something to remind you to make your wishes come true!

2009-07-05T00:20:00.000-07:00

Ammy had quite a busy day today. Her tutu (grandma on her dad's side) called and asked if she could come and play this morning so she was off to grandma's for the morning and I got a good 4 hours to myself which of course i spent with my new obsession reading the twilight series. After that we went to my old High school to watch some great fireworks. Ammy had a great time! She got to sit on a police motorcycle and enjoyed the fire trucks as well. Her favorite experience however was looking at the life flight helicopter and knowing that she almost got to ride in one! I have included several pictures. There's even a few of me which is probably a first for this blog!

picking Blueberries

2009-06-28T09:27:00.000-07:00

picking berries and spending time with friends

just look at those eyes!

2009-06-26T23:57:00.000-07:00

MRI UPDATE

2009-06-18T09:42:00.000-07:00

Great news! MRI was clear. They are watching one spot but when she had surgery the amazing and talented Dr Guillaume said it looked like scar tissue when he saw it during surgery. It looks better from the last MRI as well. So the doctors diagnoses for this last MRI is no new cancer growth.
Also they have changed the type of cancer tumor she had. It is a long story to explain but they have kind of gone back for on the first biopsy due to the nature of the situation which type it was. After the last surgery in March the biopsy showed it was a different type than we thought. The point... this is a much better type to have -less likely to come back, more options for treatment, and less aggressive. I am sure you are wondering what the name of it is. Well I don't remember ... I will get the info from Beth and let you know soon. Sorry it was a really long day and I can't remember every thing :)
Stay tuned for a funny video and maybe some pics from the adventures of yesterday.
Thank you so much for your continued prayer and support.

at the park

2009-06-16T22:26:00.000-07:00

Today Ammy enjoyed the morning at the park playing in the fountain with friends and some cousins. Is was nice to see her play and even for just a moment forget about her MRI and doctors appointment.

If you have a chance please be praying for her on Wednesday as she has her MRI and DR's appointment. I will post sometime tomorrow night with an update. Her appointment is not till early evening so please be paitent I will let all of you know as soon as I can.

2009-06-14T15:12:00.001-07:00

Summer vacation is finally here!! This week Ammy and I both finished school and were fortunate enough to start the summer with fun weekends. I went on a women's retreat that was a lot of fun. The women planning it put in so many extra touches and just made it a wonderful time to build new relationships and grow in our spiritual walk. If you look at my sister's link you will see some of the amazing projects she undertook for us all. Ammy was picked up from school by her Tutu and got to spend friday and Saturday with her before she went with her Dad. I love to see how much Ammy enjoy's her time with Tutu. It reminds me of all the special times i spent with my own grandma. We are all growing nervous as Wednesday marches forward. Ammy will be having an MRI on Wednesday and then we will meet with her oncologists. We will hear then what the next three months hold for us. We are all hopeful that the news is good, but scared also of what might be ahead. Please pray for us as we go to ask the hard questions, even though the answers are not always the most pleasant!!

2009-06-01T23:14:00.001-07:00

This weekend we had the privelage of taking Ammy and her cousin to Omsi. They had such a blast. The pictures here are of their favorite thing they got to do that day!! Unfortunately I did not get any more good ones of Little Mister. He is way too used to having a camera around and was just too fast for me. The kids loved all of the science experiments and got along so well. It was a fun day. We were all a little worn out by the end!
Ammy is very excited to be finishing with school in two weeks, but is a little nervous because she knows that her MRI is coming when school is out. She is very excited that she will not be needing summer school. For a while we were worried about her with all the school that she has missed but she was moved up into an advanced reading class and is doing math at level, so she will not have to miss out on the summer fun!! Thank you all for the comments from the last blog. It is so wonderful that she has so many people in her life to encourage her and help her to see all the fun things that she does have.

Toad and Frog

2009-05-23T15:27:00.000-07:00

Ammy had her school program on Thursday night where the retold the story of frog and toad. It was cute to watch her sing and dance. Ammy can not take PE at school due to some restrictions from the doctors so she has an extra music class each week. You could tell she knew those songs so well!

She posed for some pictures after her program. She loves the camera!!!

Also a special treat of ice cream for a great performance.

A side note and kind of funny story. Well you might think it is sad but keep in mind when it comes some things laughter has to what we turn to instead of sadness:) you need to know before reading this story Ammy has been put on a very low sugar diet due to the fact that cancer is known to feed off of it.
Ammy has taken a habit to sticking a piece of grass in her mouth while she is playing. Well I just read an article warning parents about all the pesticides that cause cancer in grass and how to be careful when your kids are playing in it. I told Beth about suggesting maybe Ammy shouldn't put grass in her mouth anymore. So Beth talked with ammy and explained that sometimes there could be chemicals on grass that could cause cancer so it is best to not put it in your mouth. At this Ammy starts to cry. Beth ask hers what is wrong and she responds " everything that is fun causes cancer!"
So we are on a mission to prove her wrong :)

2009-05-05T13:43:00.000-07:00

It has taken me so long to upload photo's that now my little monster has both of her front teeth missing. She was so excited that she had both of her teeth out!

Here is her getting ready for her ballet class. She was so excited to go, but then wouldn't dance when it was time. She is so afraid that she will look different from the other girls that she doesn't not want to try. This was so sad for me since she has always loved to dance and was in dance classes since she was 18 months old. We decided to take a break for a while and try swimming since she won't have to have any balance, and people won't see her walk!

School for Ammy is going great she is having so much fun and is learning so much. School is going well for me as well. My school was shut down for a few days due to the swine flu, but everything is back up and i head back to my classes tomorrow after a five day weekend!!

2009-04-20T20:12:00.000-07:00

I just got ammy's pictures back from dance from before she went into the hospital and i thought i ought to share. I have lot's more to tell you all about tomorrow, but for now here are some pictures.

Birthday partys rock

2009-04-05T21:47:00.000-07:00

party details to come from Beth here are some pictures from me...

We have had such a busy week! Ammy and I both went to school full time last week and we are both pretty tired!! Thanks to my sister's ammy had an incredible birthday, which she seemed to have a blast at. We went with a rock n'roll theme, since Ammy's favorite person in the world right now is Hannah Montana. We set up a stage area and let the kids make paper guitars and rock out. Thank you to all of you who came to celebrate her 6th birthday! We are truly blessed to have so many wonderful people in our lives!! I will be writing again soon to let you know about our easter fun. Also if you could all be praying for us on Friday. We have a meeting with Ammy's school about the 504 plan we have and some adjustments that need to be made. We are hoping that the school is cooperative. We really don't want long drawn out battles but we need to do what is best for Ammy!

Happy Birthday

2009-03-27T15:03:00.000-07:00

Wow how the years are going by! I remember the first time I held you and how I knew then you had changed my life forever! You are such a joy and I love having you as one of my amazing little nieces. Here is a little birthday review. Sorry no newborn pictures I didn't have a digital camera yet. Hope you enjoy the memories...

Your first Birthday looking out the window after having butterfly cupcakes

Wearing your new gardening stuff from your 2nd birthday

You and Cousin K at your family 3rd bday party

You and princess Alyse at C.C.

I think I used mom's camera this year so I don't have any from you princess party. however I took this picture of you a few months after your birthday and it is one of my favorites.

You have grown so much just look at the pictures in the last post. I am so proud of the girl you are. You have blessed so many people with your courage, spirit, and love. Hope you have a great birthday!!!

more pictures

2009-03-19T08:32:00.001-07:00

Here is three more pictures of Ammy taken by our very talented friend Kim of Blubel studio...

Tram adventures

2009-03-11T15:31:00.000-07:00

Today Ammy went for a check up on her incision site. It all looks great. She invited us along so I could help mom with the parking garage( you have to admit OHSU is huge and very confusing) also so the cousins could ride the tram and see her doctor again. The kids loved being together and riding the tram...

Ammy is back at school half days. She got to meet her new step sister and is excited to help take care of her. She went to PT yesterday and practiced all sorts of things. she is improving everyday! She is looking forward to her Birthday coming up and being in school all day. She will have another MRI in about 3m and they will decided based on that what the next step is. For now it is to keep improving her balance and walking and enjoy being a little girl.

going home

2009-03-02T13:50:00.000-08:00

Ammy is on her way home today!!! She was walking with some help this morning and able to roll over. Her incision is healing well. She is still feeling some weakness in her left leg but is doing so well. Beth was not able to talk with Ammy's neurologist today she has an appointment in the next few weeks so we will have more information on what may lie ahead as far as treatment plans. She will start PT again soon but for now she is off to home for some R and R.

Sunday

2009-03-01T14:19:00.000-08:00

Sorry for no update yesterday. Yesterday Ammy started to eat and they were able to take the IV out. She was able to sit up with out support and sat in the wheel chair about 3-times about an hour each time. Her mood did not improve much, until later that night when she was with her mom and they played light saber game with her glow sticks. Today her mood has improved so much! Thank you all for your prayers. She is smiling talking and even gave a little hug. She played star wars with her cousin and watched TV with her dad a bit. She is very hungry but can't eat as she is due to have an MRI at noon. The MRI got moved back because some of the team is busy in the O.R. so it look s like it may be around 5 tonight. poor Ammy she really wants to eat. The hope is to have her walking around a bit today but that may not work with the MRI happening. She is complaining that when she stands on her legs that her left side feels funny. Not sure what that will mean down the road we still have to wait for the swelling to go down in her spine to know for sure, that will take about a week. The results of her MRI and the biopsy done during the surgery will be in later this week and a plan will be made for the next step after this. I will let you know when I find out. Thank you again for your continued prayers.

blue...

2009-02-27T14:17:00.000-08:00

Spent the morning with Ammy and physically she is doing well. They had originally said she would have to lie flat for 24 hrs but she was able to sit in a wheel chair this morning for about an hour. I must admit however her spirit is not doing so well. She is very sad and not wanting to really talk with anyone. She told me she just wanted me to sit next her but not ask her any questions. I read her a few books like she asked but it seems like she was not really listening. She just liked the familiar voice and the ability to not have to respond in any way. She said she was feeling sad in her whole heart but then a little later said she felt happy a little bit too. The nurse said this is common for the day after surgery but it still hard to see and hard for Beth to watch. So as you pray for her continued healing please pray for her spirit as well. It is however not all bad that she is feeling this way as she really does need to process thru all this and she should feel sad about the things that have happened. She isn't one to always share what she is feeling so I hope as she ponders thru all this and the sadness that comes with it she will also remember the hope and the miracle of it all. For today however she can be sad...

update and sassy pics

2009-02-27T08:53:00.000-08:00

Ammy is awake this morning and feeling pretty good. Her cold is bothering her and so like all sick kids she feels a little grumpy. However do you blame her after the day she had yesterday. She is still on a liquid diet but is hoping by tonight to be eating some pasta. She is chatty and sassy which is nice to see as we remember last time she it took about three or four days to see that side of her.
I thought I would share with you some pictures our talent and wonderful friend Kim took a few weeks ago. Ammy was posing like a real model, It was fun to see her so spunky.

Thank you Kim!!!!

2009-02-26T18:33:00.000-08:00

Surgury went well! Ammy is able to move both arms and legs and was eating a popcicle. Doctors feel that they were able to get most of the tumors and are hopeful she will not need futher surgury. There was a point in the surgery where her sensory montor for her left leg dropped really low but it went back up. There may be some weakness on that side but nothing PT won't be able to help with. So now we are waiting for the swelling to go down so we can know how her movement is. I will try to update againin the morning.Thank you for your prayers!

surgary update

2009-02-26T14:03:00.001-08:00

Ammy surgery started about 11am this morning. The doctors decided to go ahead even with her cold. We just received and update about 20min ago. The have just gotten to where the tumors are and there is a lot of nerves around them so they have to go very slow at this point. It looks like it will be still be at least a few hours more. I will try to post again when we get another update. thank you all for your continued prayer for Ammy, Beth and the doctors.

surgery is still on...

2009-02-25T22:59:00.000-08:00

Ammy went to the doctor today and seems she has a cold but no infection. So they are planning on going ahead with the surgery as planned. She should be in surgery around 9:30 or 10 and it is expected to take about 4 or 5 hours. I will try to keep the blog updated as the day goes along. Thank you all for your prayers.
As for Ammy's spirits she seemed to be doing pretty good and she had a dinner with some of her cousins. Had her nails painted and played a game on the Wii with Aunt MIchelle. Some of the guys from church came over to pray over her. She was then going to sleep in her new PJ's. I hope for her it is a restful sleep.

please pray....

2009-02-23T20:49:00.000-08:00

Ammy is scheduled for surgery this thursday, however she has come down with a fever this morning. If her fever does not go away by Wednesday she may not be able to have the surgery. Please pray for her and that the doctors use wisdom in making the decision about the surgery.

2009-02-11T19:26:00.000-08:00

Ammy had her first day back to school today. she had so much fun. We are doing half days for the rest of the week, and she is not happy about that. She had so much fun that she wanted to stay for the rest of the day. She has an aide with her in the classroom with her at all times which is very helpful, at least it keeps my mind at ease! The assistant who is with her at lunch time is fluent in spanish so that will help her to catch up with the rest of her classroom. All in all it was a great day for her and she can't wait to come back tomorrow.

update

2009-02-04T18:13:00.000-08:00

Ammy had a doctors appointment and a school meeting today. The school meeting went well and it looks like Ammy may be able to return to school as soon as monday. She will have someone to help her during transitions around the school and in crowds.
At the Doctors we were able to meet with her Neurologist who performed the surgery, as well as an oncologist and a few others. Everyone was very pleased with her progress and shocked at her recovery. The showed us her original MRI and how big the tumor was. They went on to explain that the surgery Ammy had was not a normal tumor removal but and emergency life saving surgery. The goal of the first surgery was to relieve the pressure on her spine and determine what kind of mass it was. That being said they had no idea they would be able to remove as much as they did. God was at work in so many ways! The MRI from yesterday showed small part of the tumor remain and or have grown back. Compared to the tumor before the spots look like little dust speaks. What does this all mean? Well Ammy is going to have surgery again most likely in about two weeks to remove these spots. They are hope-full to be able to remove the spots. The surgery will take about four hours. There is a chance she may also do a round of radiation after the surgery but that will be decided after surgery and another MRI. To be honest we are feeling a bit relived, there is a plan and things look better the we feared.
I will post again as soon as we have a date for the surgery. Thank you again for your support and prayers!!!

World Cancer Day

2009-02-04T08:00:00.000-08:00

Today is world cancer day odd that later today we will find out just what the plan is for Amm'y cancer...
Here is some info about today and how it started. I got the information from the candlelighters web site they are an amazing organization that helps family effect by childhood cancers. To find out more about them you can go to there site at http://www.candlelighters.org/

"On 4 February 2000, the World Summit Against Cancer for the New Millennium adopted the Charter of Paris, calling for "an invincible alliance" between researchers, health-care professionals, patients, governments, industry and the media to fight cancer, and urging that each year, 4 February should be observed as World Cancer Day.

Seven years on, the need, if anything, is even greater.

Cancer claims twice as many lives as AIDS worldwide. At least 7 million people die of cancer each year and close to 11 million new cases are diagnosed.

In fact, more than 12% of all deaths every year are caused by cancer. That's more than AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria put together.

In 2020, if current trends continue, 16 million new cases of cancer will be diagnosed and more than 10 million people will die of the disease.

But together and united, we can work to reverse these rising trends"

The reason I posted this was to ask you all to today take a moment to think of those around you who have been effected by cancer and say a prayer for peace for them and their families, may they find hope in the promises of Jesus, and wisdom for the medical professionals as the search for a cure.

For more information on world cancer day you can visit the official web site at
http://www.worldcancercampaign.org/

MRI TODAY

2009-02-03T20:37:00.000-08:00

Ammy had her MRI today and was so brave. She had to have them put the IV needle in 3 times before the got it in. She woke up at the end of it and was able to see what the MRI machine looked like. She was very funny as the sedation was wearing off. She was slurring her words and could not keep her head up. The meds wore off and she spent most the day resting and enjoyed a great dinner made by Beth of Ammy's favorite meatloaf.
She has a doctors appointment tomorrow late afternoon to find out the result of her MRI. I will try to update all of you as soon as I can in the evening.

upcoming MRI

2009-01-26T23:32:00.000-08:00

Please be in prayer over the next few weeks. Ammy will be having an MRI on February 3 to see if or how much the tumor may have grown. We are not sure if we will get the information that day or later but we will post as soon as we know. In some ways it will be a relief to have an answer but yet we are still fearful of what may be laying ahead.
We are also working on getting Ammy back to school. She is nervous about going back but we hope to return some sort of normal to her upside down life. Hopefully we will have a start date for school soon. I will also let you know when that will be happening.
Please be praying for both Ammy and Beth as uncertainty lies ahead and the anxiousness that can cause.

OH, the picture was taken today at the mall before the stores opened. The kids were so happy to walk together and have no crowds to worry about. Look at the girl standing so tall!

update

2009-01-08T21:47:00.000-08:00

Ammy is doing good and now is going to PT and OT just once a week. She should be back to school soon after we have another meeting in the next few weeks. The biggest concern with her going back to school is that she has to hold someones hand as she walks around. She is also not aloud on playground equipment or in PE class. This is not because of her ability to do things but because any fall could cause damage to her brain or spin due to her surgery. She often makes my heart jump as we are walk together and she stumbles.
It is amazing how quickly we can forget just how far she has come or that anything has happened and how fast we are reminded that the journey is just beginning...

christmas miracles...

2009-01-03T22:48:00.000-08:00

What is about Christmas, it seems blessing are greater and sometimes sorrow is so much deeper. We as a family have had are share of sorrow at Christmas and great blessings. This year although has had its struggle and moments of deep sorrow it seems it is overflowing with great blessings too. WOW how blessed Ammy and Beth were by so many of you over the holidays and before. It was amazing to see how many people reached out to help this be so special of a christmas for them! Thank you seems so little to say when you have touched all of our lives so greatly!
I wanted to share with you a moment I am sure to remember all my life. As I am sure you are all aware of the snow canceled church for two weeks in a row and even on Christmas eve. So come Sunday the 28 we are all ready to see friends and family and watch the kids do the Christmas play at church. This year Ammy got to be the star in the christmas program. How fitting as she shinned that morning but not as the star but as herself. As the miracle she is! The kids part of the service was yet to start and we were singing as a congregation. To tell you the truth I don't remember the song just what I saw when I looked at Ammy at that moment.(side note from Bethany, the song was titled Mighty to save, which fit the moment perfectly) She was wearing a dress of gold for her costume and a smile that shinned even brighter then her dress. She was dancing to the music... Yes dancing.... tears sprung to my eyes. Just months ago I remember sitting with the child life specialist as she prepared me in how to best help Beth and Ammy and explain to my children that Ammy would most likely never walk again. I remember the look of amazement and shock on the doctors face as she raised her foot off the hospital bed. Even then he said she was the talk of the hospital, a miracle. Just a few months later she is dancing while singing to our God, the one who healed her, who allowed her dance again! I will never understand why God says Yes to some of our prayers for miracles and no to others. For this moment I choose to just be so very thankful he said yes to this miracle in our lives.
Thank you for all your prayers!
When Ammy was born Brian and I had not yet had kids, so while we waited for that answer to prayer we spent our time holding and loving on her. Each year I got her an ornament to remember something from that year. This year her ornament was an angel and on it's wings it said "Tis a gift to dance". I am so thankful she was given this gift again.
Thank you for letting me share this special memory with all of you.

update

2008-12-14T09:27:00.000-08:00

Sorry for no recent updates! Ammy is home now and enjoying being out of the hospital. She will be going back two afternoons a week for PT and OT. I will try to get some more pictures up soon from here christmas party at the hospital and maybe some video of her walking. thank you so much for all your prayers God has worked Miracles in Ammy.

2008-12-02T22:04:00.000-08:00

Ammy has had a great week! She has enjoyed being able to come home and visit on the weekends, but really enjoys coming back. She has become extremely spoiled by all of the nurses so who wouldn't want to come back! The picture on the left is of the monster bread she made with her thrapist. It is just normal bread dough and then Ammy dyed the dough with food coloring and then baked it. She had so much fun. She is enjoying all of her therapy and is really beginning to master so many of the skills she has developed over the last month. She is standing by herself for more than 20 seconds. She is also enjoying taking steps all on her own. She is still a bit shaky and working on balance but is doing really well. She is excited to settle in back at home and get back to school. I also am excited to settle back in and get back to school. I am taking 3 online courses this term so that i can stay in school but have a more flexible schedule when it comes to getting to all of Ammy's appointments and such. Sorry I did not get a chance to tell everyone about Ammy's weekend adventures, but i added a few pictures of her playing cards with her grandma and games with the neighborhood friends.

For all of you who were asking for the details of Ammy's fundraiser tomorrow here's the scoop!

The place is Papa's pizza parlour located at 15700 NW Blueridge dr Beaverton Or 97006. The email address is www.papaspizza.net. When at this website go to the bottom of the page and click on the link for the address above. There will be a place to print out a flyer at the bottom of the page print this and go to papa's anytime tomorrow. Anyone showing the flyer tomorrow will be able to donate 50% of what they spend to ammy. This money will go into an account my cousin Alyse set up to help pay for the many expenses that are adding up, such as a wheelchair for Ammy leg braces, a walker, as well as the daily expenses that pile up since i havent been able to work or go to school. Thank you all so much for the many ways you have helped I really appreciate you all.

Thankful

2008-11-27T08:44:00.000-08:00

Ammy is thankful not just for all of you and the amazing miracles that are taking place in her life but also she gets to leave the hospital December 11 and then receive out patient care from then on. YEAH!!!!

2008-11-23T23:03:00.000-08:00

It was so good to be home this weekend and see so many of our friends and family. I will be able to download the pictures and give some fun details tomorrow. One of our many fun activities was going to church. Ammy had so much fun with her friends. She was very worried to go because she thought everyone would laugh at her. She was excited that everyone was very kind and the kids treated her "normal" as she said. I am continually amazed by how God uses people in my life to teach me the lessons i need to hear right when i need them and this week he used my brother, Well technically brother in law but in our family he's just another brother, and my sister mel. My brother was in charge of worship and played the song blessed be your name. For those of you who dont know the song i will type out just the verse that hit me
Blessed be your name
On the road marked with Suffering
Though there's pain in the offering
blessed be your name.
I have been doing my best to keep my spiriuts up and praise god for all the great things that he is doing, but honestly sometimes it's hard. I look at all that my family has been through and I can't help but ask why.

Later that same day my sister mel and i were discussing this very song and we realized how incredibly blessed we are. Our family has been through some hard times, but i cant think of another family who has seen so many blessings and miracles up close and very personal. I just want to take a minute to remember how great my God is
-The first was my Grandma she was extremely ill for a long time doctors couldnt figure out what was wrong with her, she even at one time had her heart stop and was declared dead and god brought her back. Just as myserously as her illness came it left and we had another good 10 years with her healthy and extremely active.
- My brother S was in a bad car accident. Looking at pictures you cannot see how he could have lived the drivers side was extremely smashed in. He walked away with just a few stitches.
-My dad was diagnosed with Cancer and given 2 weeks to live. 2 months if we were lucky. My dad lived for another 2 years, and spent most of it healthy and active.
-Brother s had an appendix rupture, and did not get it taken care of for several days after. Since he is so stubborn and thought it was nothing. He should have died from all of the poisen in his body. Instead his body made an abcese which kept the toxins contained and he is still healthy.
-Nephew E born extremely premature and had to be incubated for a few months. They did not think that he would make it and he's happy and healthy
-Nephew C had some complications when he was born, a nurse listening to her intuition checked his blood sugar level, even though this is not routine, his was extremely low and could cause all kinds of problems including brain damage. Those of you who know this little guy know he is the smartest 4 year a person could find.
- and now to my little princess. Just a few weeks ago she was completely paralyzed from the neck down. The doctors hoped that she would regain feeling, and said that if she ever walked it would take years of rehabilitation. Well, thanks to God's amazing miracles it's only been weeks and she can walk with the help of a walker.
I know there are dozens of other miraculous things that we have encountered that we just don't remember.
It is so easy for us to be angry for god for allowing these things to happen. It is much harder to remember to praise God through these things. After today I'm choosing to praise God for defeating Satan's attempts to knock us down. I praise him for giving me so many people in my life to pray for Ammy. It is making such a difference in her recovery. Her Doctors are so amazed by her. It's amazing what can happen when you place your faith in God.

Movie Night

2008-11-23T07:43:00.000-08:00

Sorry these pictures are a little late. Last week Ammy had us over to the hospital for movie night. We ordered Pizza and the kids watched Wallie together in the star room. Ammy had fun and so did her cousins. Emmanuel does a good job of providing lots of fun activities for all the kids.

Ammy likes to hold her cousin on her lap as we walked to visit or friend Miss Jen.

2008-11-21T21:21:00.000-08:00

I dont have any pictures to go with this post, I just wanted to let everyone know that Ammy was able to get a pass for the weekend so we are at home until Sunday night. I will make sure to take some time on Monday and tell you all about our many adventures

2008-11-19T21:10:00.000-08:00

Sorry it has been so long since my last blog. Things stay so busy here with all of our meetings and therapy! Today Ammy had a great time playing with her friend sarah and I managed to get a few pictures.

This is Ammy after she pulled herself up from sitting criss cross applesauce. She was able to use the bars on her bed to pull herself up. She also gave me a nice dancer pose for the camera!! Ammy also told me that she was able to ride a bike in physical therapy today and is getting really good at walking. Everyone is amazed by how fast she is recovering. Her nurses and therapists are sad to say that she will not be staying here much longer. She is getting rather spoiled by them and is really starting to love it here. I think she will be sad to go.

fundraiser

2008-11-14T23:02:00.000-08:00

I forgot to add to my last post that Ammy's soccer coach has set up a fundraiser to help me out with the expenses that are adding up!! On December 3rd Papa's Pizza with donate 50% of everything purchased to help out. All you have to do is go to the website and print out the flyer and present it with your order. The address is 15700 NW Blueridge dr. Bvtn. Thank you all so much for all you do to help. I thank God continuelly for blessing me with so many great people in my life.

2008-11-14T22:26:00.000-08:00

Ammy had another fantastic day today. Her cousin's joined her for her hard work in therapy today. To the left is the product of her first day of Art therapy. The therapist gave them the assignment of painting their favorite place to be. Ammy painted disneyland and her cousin of course painted the brain!! On the right Ammy and her cousin are "making pizza". It was nice for both cousins to be able to play with each other again. Ammy worked harder with him their then her therapists had seen the entire time she has been here. Ammy and I also made a thanksgiving picture while we were waiting between apointments.

Ammy also had so much fun with her friend sarah from school, and her friends from church, and miss hilary!!

2008-11-12T23:04:00.000-08:00

The picture to the left is the nightly call to Aunt Michelle telling her about all the things we have been doing. She is sitting up all by herself at the edge of her bed, with her Aunt Sissa. I would love to be able to tell you all of the wonderful things that she did in therapy today, but for the first time she was okay with me not coming. I took this oppertunity to get some much needed sleep. Normally it would make me a little bit sad that my little girl did not want me, but in this case I am so excited. Ammy's biggest struggle in getting better is her ability to trust that the therapists wouldn't ask her to do something that her body couldn't do. I can't imagine how scary it must be for her, but the fact that she didnt need me there was a very good sign. During our break between therapy sessions Ammy was able to play some bingo. She was very excited to win a new checkers set of her very own. this has become one of her very favorite games and very much enjoyed beating her aunt sissa at it this evening. Ammy is having a hard time eating the hospital food so she had a great time when we all went to the cafeteria and got spoiled by all who had come to visit. She even got to play the WII with her Aunt Sissa in the special theater room tonight!

way to go!

2008-11-12T17:21:00.000-08:00

Ammy called today and shared something that she said was not a secret, trust me I asked a few times to make sure. She wanted me to tell you that she knew she had to go to the bathroom so she told her mom. Beth was able to carry her there and she went on the potty! Way to go Ammy. It must be so exciting to be able to do new things each day.
She worked really hard in PT today and walked with assistance about 15 feet. As Little Mister said today with deep concern " Ammy has to learn to walk all over again?! poor Ammy that's going to be hard work!" Ammy keep up the hard work we are all cheering for you.

2008-11-11T15:14:00.000-08:00

Beth had a good meeting today with the Doctors and different therapist. She did find out that Ammy will most likely be there for another 4 to 6 weeks. Please continue to pray for her miraculous recovery. Ammy is still working hard and looking forward to the movie night today.
To clarify any miss understandings Ammy will be at Emmanuel for PT and OT therapy only not treatment for her cancer. As far as her cancer is concerned they will be doing another MRI in February to determine what some of the things they saw on the last MRI that were "murky" are still there and what they might be. A course of treatment will be decided then. Meaning they will decide between wait and see, surgery, or radiation. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask and I will do my best to get you some answers.

A day in Pictures

2008-11-10T21:17:00.000-08:00

Spent the day with Ammy today and took lots of photo's to show what her day is like.
9:30-10:30 Occupational Therapy

Some bubble blowing and popping while on the swing with Brit.

Bean bag toss at Aunt Michelle and clean up. She loved the throwing the bean bags not the clean up part.

On the swing all by her self and even pushing with her feet to make herself move.She also sat there and held the bubble bottle and blew bubbles by herself. Each day stronger and stronger. This picture is my favorite of the day, look at how proud she is of herself I just wish she knew just how proud we are of her too.

Writing her name and drawing a picture using both hands!

Cutting out a ladybug using her right hand which she has been refusing to use.

Gluing on her lady bug dots and legs she cut out.

Sitting up after just falling over and getting back up on her own!

10:30-11:00 combined Occupational Therapy and Physical Therapy

Kneeling at table to play Lego's to help build leg strength.

11:00-11:30 Physical Therapy
No pictures here as I was busy passing the ball back and forth as Ammy sat on a Peanut ball to help with balance. She also tried rolling over but was not so excited about that.
11:45-1:00
We head back to her room for a potty break, lunch and a visit with Miss Jen.
1:00-1:20 Meet new Doctor who is very nice and even made Ammy laugh, Then we are back down to another floor for School
1:30-2:00 School
Practice counting and two step directions by placing the right magnet animals on each page.

More counting with a fun game.

More writing and counting combined, Ammy practice writing numbers one through ten.

head back up stairs for fun with Aunt Michelle
2:10-3:00 Fun in the Star room playing dinos. and checkers which she won of coarse.

3:00-4:00 Walk around the hospital. We went to get a treat in the cafe, to see Miss Jen's Office, and for a nice walk outside in the Children's Garden. We looked really hard to see what new things we could find today.

We then went back to her room for some rest before any visitors might be coming or mom might get back and wonder where her little girl got to. I don't know how she was not ready for a rest I know I was :)
As for the rest of her day I am not sure but I bet it included a few more trips to the Star room for a game of checkers.
Hope this gave you some understanding of what her day is like. Thank you again for all your continued prayer and support. She loves to hear from and see you all.

sunday = fun-day

2008-11-09T21:14:00.000-08:00

Today Ammy got a break from PT and OT. She spend the day hanging out with friends and cousins. When I got there today we found Ammy and cousin K playing video games in the starlight room.

After a few games and playing we headed outside to...

The cousins chased each other, followed the yellow brick road, and ran from Uncle Brian. Good thing Aunt Molly could push Ammy fast.

Look at that smile, laughing at all the fun.

good thing today was full of fun as tomorrow is full of work!

Today Saturday 11/8

2008-11-08T21:46:00.002-08:00

room change
Ammy has changed rooms she is now in room 3540 you can take elevator A to get there. The visiting hours are still the same.
Mon-Fri 4pm-8:30pm Sat 2pm-8:30 pm and sunday all day. Ammy spent the day after PT hanging out with visitors and practice her checkers skills.

Friday 11/7

2008-11-08T21:46:00.001-08:00

Sorry for no update yesterday. Will you forgive me if I give you some more pictures?
Ammy is really liking Emmanuel, Thank you for your prayers. She was doing do much stuff yesterday. She is sat up on her own. moved over in bed, rolled over, getting good at rolling around in her wheel chair and even learned to play checkers (thanks tutu Barb) She is happy here and is doing really well so far. Here are a few pictures as promised.

Playing one of her many checker games of the night in a really cool room called the starlight room. I am sure there will be more pictures from this room in the weeks to come.

Talking to her Cousin about her day. yes they do have matching pants what can say some things may never change, Little Miss loves anything her "IM" loves.

Will try to update later about how the weekend is going. They got to sleep in this morning and both were very happy about that.

Thursday 11/6

2008-11-08T21:45:00.002-08:00

Well Ammy has now official moved to Emmanuel children's hospital in the rehabilitation center. Both of them are nervous and anxious but know this is the best place for her right now. Aunt Melissa is being a huge help in getting them settled and being with Ammy while Beth is going thru paperwork, meeting people, and trying to process all the info given to her. My good friend Jen P. works there and is on her way to welcome them and bring her great big smile.
Ammy will be doing intensive PT and OT therapy or as Beth calls it boot camp. This means visiting hours are very strict here. Ammy can have visitors mon-friday 4pm to 8:30 pm, Saturday 2pm to 8:30pm, Sunday all day. unfortunately it can change day to day depending on if Ammy chooses to be part of any of the events offered. I will try to let you know here or a note on her door. She is in room 3536 elevator B
The neurologist spoke with Beth today and her spinal tap came back clean. THey also gave some information on the treatment plan for the cancer. Disclaimer here this may not answer your questions just create more but this the info we have. Because of the fact that radiation stays in your system and the harm it can do to your body the doctors have to weigh the effects of the cancer with the effects of the radiation. The have decided because this is such a slow growing type of cancer they would like to monitor it through MRI's and then maybe due surgery to remove some if needed. The surgery would not be like this last one at all. The effects and things happening now are due to the cancer in her spine not the surgery alone. keep in mind she went into surgery not being able to walk or use her arms. From my understanding they will do another MRI in about a month, then every three months and then we will see from there. To sum it up wait and see is what we got. So for now we pray and focus on PT and OT thus the need for "boot camp".
Sorry if this left you with more questions then answers but that is all we got :)
I will be up there on Monday so I will try to post more pictures then to show the kinds of things she will be doin

Wednesday 11/5

2008-11-08T21:45:00.001-08:00

Spent the day with Ammy while Beth got some paperwork, laundry and a dentist visit done. We had so much fun together! Miss Ammy is deffinatly getting her spunk back. When I told her I brought my camera she wanted me to take some pictures of her making funny faces.
Her favorite funny face picture...

Her favorite smile picture and mine too...

The fun of being at the hospital and having your aunt with you is she lets you eat things like donuts...
Truth be told I was so happy to watch her feed her self I let her have most the things she asked for :)

Just when we finished playing her new favorite game feed the kitty. (a great game by the way, rolling dice, picking up pieces, and not to long for her) Ammy got a Sticker book in the mail and we had so much fun doing it together. She did most of it herself. She liked making up a story with where she put each one. We played with it for almost an hour before we were interrupted for PT.

She was ok with the stander today because she got to play BINGO. Anyone who wants to play can from there room or in one of the playrooms. You turn the TV to a designated station and watch them call out the numbers. When you get a Bingo you call the playroom they are in and the announce your name on the TV. they play till every one wins. Ammy won twice.

Once the game is over the prize cart comes around and you get to pick a prize. Ammy won 2x so she got two prizes. She picked a cinderella doll and a snow white doll. We played with them for so long. My favorite thing she said was Belle could not come to the ball because she was busy doing laundry.

my goodbye smile

Tuesday 11/4

2008-11-08T21:44:00.001-08:00

Today Ammy practiced standing again and tried some new things in therapy. She also had a spinal tap this afternoon to make sure there was no more Cancer cells in her spinal fluid. I have not heard the results yet.
Beth found out Ammy will be transfered on THursday to Emmanuel for in patent Physical therapy rehab. Please pray for the Girls as another move brings with it more questions and uncertainty. Beth has confidence in the care Ammy will receive but it is new staff and a new place.
I should have more information on the radiation treatment and plans tomorrow after the Dr. meets with us. I hopefully will have some more pictures too.

Tuesday 11/4

2008-11-08T21:43:00.001-08:00

good financial news
Beth got news today that she has been excepted on The Oregon health plan! That means they have set it up so that it will be retro active as of the thursday before Ammy went to St. V. I can't begin to tell you what a blessing this is to Beth and Ammy. Beth feels like a huge burden has been lifted off of her and she can focus even more attention on Ammy's recovery and treatments. This will cover all medical cost but there is still lots of new cost that will occur and we will continue to pray that God provides for those as well.
Thank you again for all your prayers.

Saw Ammy last night and I can't tell you how exciting it is to see the new things she is doing each day. Plus her spunky attitude is back which makes me smile!

Monday 11/3

2008-11-08T21:42:00.000-08:00

proud Ammy
Ammy called last night to tell me her latest news, she can touch her chin to her chest and turn side to side. When I told her I was proud of her she replied " I'm proud of myself too".
This morning during PT Ammy stood on her own! Her recovery is moving so fast I know it is the work of answered prayers.
The doctor spoke with Beth this morning and told her that Ammy is already months ahead of where they thought she would be!
Go Ammy!!!!
Thanks you all again for everything you have done to help our family

Sunday 11/2

2008-11-08T21:41:00.000-08:00

Biopsy update
The doctors spoke with Beth today on the results of Ammy's biopsy. Ammy does have cancer but the doctor is hopeful that the radiation treatment will take care of it. The good news is it is a very slow growing type of cancer and the Doctor seemed to think this was a good case as far as treatment plans go. Beth is not sharing the type of cancer at this time as the doctor suggest not because the information online is harsh and not true to Ammy's case. Ammy knows she has Cancer and that it is not the same kind as Grandpa, she has been told the doctors are going to take care of her and try to get all the cancer out of her. However I don't think she is really wanting to talk to anyone but her mom about it right now. I don't really know what else to say but please continue to pray.

Saturday 11/1

2008-11-08T21:40:00.000-08:00

Today Ammy was having a tough time. She is refusing the pain meds (she doesn't like the taste) but is in lots of pain. So it was hard to get a smile but we finally got some. Well Uncle Sean got most of them. Ammy got to see more of her cousins today and that made her so happy. Unfortunately her Cousin K who is like one of her best buds is sick so she missed them.
She did great during PT again today. Practicing sitting to stand motion 3 times. Was in her stander and played potato head, throwing a ball at Uncle Sean and princess stickers. Not her favorite time of day but she was a real trooper.
When I talked to her a bit ago he was going to go on a wagon ride and have a movie and popcorn party with mom while in her big girl chair. We will see if that makes the time in the chair more bearable :)
Hopefully tomorrow will bring more smiles then today with the pain meds under control. Thanks again for all your prayers, visits and encouragement Beth and Ammy feel so blessed and up lifted by all of you!

Friday 10/31

2008-11-08T21:39:00.002-08:00

Ammy got to go trick or treating today on the ninth floor she was a little leery at first till she found out her cousins could go too. She was the most beautiful Cinderella I have ever seen!
She was not to sure if she really wanted to smile for her picture.

Little Miss wanted to help her "IM" by pulling the wagon with Aunt "sissa".

LIttle Misters "job was to be right next to Ammy. He told her they could talk together because he was good at talking. Ammy smiled in agreement. I love to watch them together. It's a relationship that is so special to them both.

Other big news Beth was telling Ammy that she missed her hugs and Ammy said she could try. So Beth lend in and got a great big hug from Ammy. Then I got the phone call to make sure we tell everyone Ammy can hug her mommy. She worked really hard today in Physical therapy. She stood with little help with out her stander!!! She kicked her legs and bent her knees. She is even beginning to feed herself. I feel like I can't keep up with all the updates because she does so much. The doctors are very impressed with her progress, one even called her a little miracle. I truly believe God is working miracles. Thank you for your prayers.

Thursday 10/30

2008-11-08T21:39:00.001-08:00

I asked Ammy today if I could take some pictures of her therapy time and she agreed to all photo's shared today. I am trying my best to respect her privacy and keeping everyone informed, sometimes a fine line. She likes her physical Therapist just not the work they make her do. Today she showed them all the things she can do different from yesterday. She touched her nose, lifted her legs up and different things she was asked to do.

She sits up but hates it the whole time. It is a bit scary for her and she is afraid it is going to hurt like before her surgery. I was kind of surprised she asked me to take a picture of it.

This is her playing a game with the occupational therapist she had to slide the cards around and make a match while in her stander. Another thing she is not so fond of.

Walking around the hall in the stander. Again she was not to happy about it but she still did it anyway.

Is that a smile for the therapist? No, Aunt Sissa is helping her practice pushing the buttons on her princess wand.

Ammy listening to a story with her friend from church read by the one of her teachers at OHSU.

All of these things plus all the doctors checking in on her have her pretty warn out by about noon where she eats a little then tries to get some rest. If you do come to visit between 12 and three please keep in mind she is very tired. Beth has noticed she does not want to sleep while visitors are there so she ask if you could keep your visit brief during that time it would be much appreciated. Ammy and Beth both enjoy the visit and seeing friends and family it is uplifting to them both. THANK YOU!!!

Thursday 10/30

2008-11-08T21:38:00.001-08:00

Thursday updates from sassy Ammy
Spending the day with Ammy and having so much fun! She is doing so well today. She is lifting her legs on her own. bending her knees and moving her arms. The doctors face was pricless he was so surpised at how fast she is recovering. I took some pictures today so I will post them later tonight. She is doign so much I know I am going to miss something.
We did not find out the official results of the tumor but what we did find out is that they are pretty sure it is not malignant. So they will decide the corse of treatment hopefully this weekend. It will either be radiation or observation. The doctors seem hopefull when talking to us.
I will try to post pictures of her physical therapy.

Wednesday updates from Ammy

2008-11-08T21:37:00.000-08:00

sorry no update sooner today. We spent the morning at home with the kids carving pumpkins trying to keep some normal things in their little world that seems to have turned upside down too.
Ammy called me late last night and she was able to move her thumb to her hand and tell that she was touching her skin not a bandage. She also was excited that she thought she wanted to move her hand up closer to her and her hand did it with out her having to concentrate and work hard at it. I was very excited!!!
She is in a new room now on the 10 floor but is still having a hard time sleeping at night. Her dad got her a nightlight today so she thinks that might help tonight.
She has her IV out right now but is not wanting to drink much. So we are encouraging her to drink as much as possible.
She had PT today and did great as usually. I am so proud of how brave she is. We have been reminding her that being brave means doing something even when you are afraid. Please believe me when I say this is a very brave little girl. She got to be in a stander today and blow bubbles throw a ball with help and lots of other things. The therapist were very happy with how much she is gaining each day.
She got her bandage for surgery removed today and it looks good according to the doctor.
We are hopping to hear about the biopsy tomorrow and start a plan regarding treatment. I know I have not spoken much on that but really we are busy making plans for physical therapy and not thinking much about the tumor as we really are not sure what that medical road will look like till we know what kind of tumor it is. Honest moment I am not really ready to write to much about it yet either. So I promise to let you know as we find out.
Ammy loves seeing all of you and we appreciate so much all of you. We have put a note on her door to remind us mostly and if you could helps us out that would be great. The note states that we are only discussing what Ammy can do and her progress she is making while in the room with her. We would like to refrain from any talk of what she is unable to do. Also Any of the family would love to answer any medical questions you might have but please ask to speak with us outside of her room . Ammy is being informed of her medical situation as needed and in terms she can understand. So Beth would like all of us to be careful that we are not using words she doesn't understand or things she hasn't had explained. Thanks to all of you for being understanding and I hope I explained this as kindly as it is intended. We want you to feel welcome to visit and ask questions .

Ammy just called again and she wanted everyone to know that she played with her princess wand that has buttons to push and she did it all by herself. Ammy knows we are keeping a blog and the things I update on for the most part is what she wants people to know. I think she looks forward to telling everyone the things she is learning and likes the idea too that somethings she can keep private. Really though most everything she wants to share with her friends and family.
Thank you seems so little that is why we say it so much. So again I say Thank you too all of you for your prayers support and encouragement.

Tuesday 10/28

2008-11-08T21:36:00.000-08:00

Tuesday progress
Today Ammy made some more progress with Physical therapy. She was very happy to see her cousin K and G so she asked them to stay with her during PT treatment. I also got the privilege of staying with the little girls. Ammy worked so hard she was able to move her arm a little bit, shrug her shoulders, and turn her head a bit. She was able to tell if the doctor was touching all over her arm and, on her upper leg and foot. The therapist was happy to hear that she could tell them where they were touching her leg. She is still struggling a bit emotionally , and trying to figure out just what happened and why her body is not working when she wants it to. Other Kids and crazy adults seem to perk her up and keep her mind off things. Night time seems to be the hardest for her.
We were originally told that we should find out the results of the biopsy on Wed. but it sounds like it will be on Thursday or Friday.
Beth would like to thank all of you for all of the many things you have done for her and Ammy. She wanted to thank each of individually but the list is growing so fast and her time is so full of medical stuff. I told her I would post it here please pass on the thanks to those you know who are praying and have done so many things for all of us.
I would also like to thank those of you who have played with and watch over my kids so I could be there with Beth and Ammy. What an amazing family and friends we are privileged to be a part of

Tuesday 10/28

2008-11-08T21:35:00.000-08:00

Ammy ate cereal,fries, a little bit of a hamburger. She seemed to really perk up and started to respond to people more and even was laughing and making jokes. She is enjoying the cards and pictures other kids have sent up. Her room is looking very bright and cheery. Last night she started screaming out in pain about her legs while a bit scary and sad to hear it was a good thing. She moved her feet on her own while yelling out and they think it may be due to feeling returning to her legs. You know that tingle you get after your legs are asleep, that what the think she was feeling.
I just got a call and this morning she was able to bend her knees on her own!!! All these things are so amazing as I was told yesterday that the chance was very high that she would not be able to use her legs again. She still has a long road ahead but each movement is a cause for celebration.
If you have any questions please feel free to ask in the comment section and I will try my best to answer them.
please keep praying for her and her parents.

Ammy and Little Mister with the Child Life Specialist Mrs Joan. Who was amazing not only for Ammy but really helped Little Mister and gave me lots of answers on how to ask his every growing questions. He came home with two stuffed animals and doctor stuff. Last night he helped his Spider get better. Ammy even let him practice on her. He asked her with deep sincerity when he was done giving her pretend shots and bandages if he made her feel better. She respond with a smile and said yes. It's these moments that really get to me.

Monday 10/27

2008-11-08T21:34:00.000-08:00

We found out more results on the MRI today and to be honest not really sure what to think. It seems the tumor is so large and because of the position it would be inoperable. If the tumor turns out to be cancer they will treat it with chemo and radiation. We should know the result of the biopsy on Wednesday.
Ammy meet with the Physical therapist today and he made her work pretty hard so she is very tired. I am not sure what the PT had to say on how she is doing

Monday 10/27

2008-11-08T21:33:00.000-08:00

Spent the night at the hospital with Ammy so Beth could get some much needed rest. She was running a fever most the night so they are checking to make sure there is no infection anywhere. As of this morning the fever was gone and she had some reflexes in her feet. Which as the Dr said not an answer just a good sign. She was able to give a thumbs up to the Nuro surgeon, which is the most we have seen her use her hand. Our concern this morning is now she is off sedation she is beginning to realize something is wrong and her body is not working like it should. Her spirits seem low and she will be meeting with a child life therapist this morning who will be able to talk with her and enplane to her what is going on. around 4am she asked me where she was and then has been very quite but awake for about an hour after that. I did however hear a laugh as we decided to watch Cinderella to take her mind off things. I will update again later when I know more about her meeting with the life therapist. Right now I am off to some needed time with my two little ones. Thanks again for all your love and support.