|
|||||||||||
|
Click here to go back to the main page. Wednesday, February 11, 2009 11:22 AM EST What a wonderful year so far, Emily and Ryan are both growing up so fast, it seem like just yesterday when she was born. She is doing so well in 1st grade and has lots of friends. She even has a little boyfriend named Jonathan. She adores him so much and he is very cute and plays the violin. We've just finished another interview with Memorial Sloan Kettering. They are publishing Emily's story for their Annual Report. They haven't had a pediatric story in a long time. We hope this will help bring more awareness and finance toward pediatric cancer research. We are honored and pleased that they have selected her once again. We can't wait for the issue to come out in March of 2009. If anyone happens to be at the hospital, please pick up an issue. It is truly an amazing journey for all of us. Over this weekend, Rich and I are proud to announced that Emily is the proud goddaughter of Melissa (my sister) and Vincent (Rich's good friend). Hope this year will bring happiness and health for all our friends and families.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008 12:32 AM CDT It has been such a long time since we've update our page. Emily have been doing so well. As some of our dear friends and familiy members may have known, Memorial Sloan Kettering, where Emily was treated for Neuroblastoma, has feature her story on their website. It is such a honor for us. We are so proud of Emily and of course Ryan too. They're both growing up to be such wonderful children. Ryan started pre-school this fall. He is loving every moment. Soon he'll be off to Kindergarten..... Friday, February 1, 2008 4:12 PM Everything is good!!! Emily is in first grade, she is doing well. She still have a slight delay in school but is making great progress. She is one spunky kid. She knows everyone in school. Everybody knows "Emily", she just lights up the room. We're thinking of holding her over for 1st grade. Though she is doing well, she is still a little behind her grade level, holding her back would be an advantage for her. Her health is doing great, she has gained tremendous weight, she is growing taller and wider at the same time. She is finally having that growth spurt that we've all been waiting for. Dr. Sklar is very happy with her outcome so far. She was tested in August 2008 regarding her hormone growth. Her results came back normal. We were worried that she was gonna start on steroids (injections). So, we're really happy that her tests came back normal. Also, since August her ITP was also gone, just like it suddenly appear it suddenly disappear, just like that. Ever since then she has finally been gaining weight and eating like a normal 6 year old. This coming March, it will be Emily's 3 year anniversary of being NED. She is schedule for a MRI on this coming Monday. Thank you for all your prayers and well wishes, please continue to give us your support and love.
Wednesday, September 26, 2007 10:18 AM CDT Hi Everyone, Thursday, September 20, 2007 1:44 PM Emily is in 1st Grade. She is having a great time in school. Her speech is coming along and is able to keep up with grade level materials. We are so proud of her, she has truly come a long way. Emily had clear scans in August. She is due to have her mediport removed on Tuesday, Sept. 25. We can't hardly wait to celebrate. This has been a day that we didn't expect to see so soon. We are definitely gonna have a great big party. Thanks for all your support and please keep us in your prayers. Friday, June 15, 2007 1:24 PM CDT Long time since we've update our journal. Emily is doing very well. She have been cancer-free for the past 2 years since her relapse in the brain. She will be graduating from Kindergarten on June 25th. We have made plans to go to Disneyland before she starts her summer school. She has progress so well. She is growing up so fast and we've really enjoy watching her and her little brother Ryan grow up. Her 6th birthday is around the corner, she will be celebrating her birthday on July 21, at McDonald's. Thank you all for your support and faith in us. Thursday, October 6, 2005 1:39 PM CDT Emily is doing great. She just finished her 1st cycle of 3F8. She did very well considering she didn't have this type of treatment for over a year. She didn't do too well for the first 2-3 days. By the end of the 1st week, she was receiving only 1 rescue. By the second week, she was watching TV and eating her pretzels. She is a real trooper. She never once missed her preschool classes. She always wanted to go to school, even though she was tired and sometimes in pain from the treatment. Her next 3F8 2nd cycle is scheduled for Oct. 24, 2005. Hope she gets HAMA positive by the next round. I am sad to say that Emily's great-grandmother passed away on 9/14/05. We will missed her very much. Emily loved her dearly and I know she is in peace and watching over my little Emily in heaven. Tuesday, September 13, 2005 10:58 AM CDT Today is Daddy's and Grandma's Birthday. Also one of mommy's very good friend's birthday as well. Happy Birthday Daddy!!!
Sunday, August 14, 2005 1:41 PM CDT Emily is doing great! She finished her last of the 4 injections (8H9) treatment for her head. She is schedule for her every 3 months scans by the end of August. Then we are off to Disney World for one week with "Make a Wish Foundation". When she comes back she will once again start her mouse antibodies treatment again (3F8) until she develops HAMA. So far she is doing just great, we visited the Children Museum of Manhattan, and she loved it. They had a special exhibit of Dora the Explorer. She had lots of fun. She will also start pre-school in September. Mom is really excited, because for once she will be free for 2 hours each day to do whatever she wants and relax. But of course she will miss Emily, but Emily will have fun, because she just loves to play with other kids. Please pray that Emily will have clear scans. Friday, July 22, 2005 7:08 PM CDT Emily had finished her first of the second set of 8H9 injections without any complications. We were able to do this outpatient, hopefully this will not put a dent in her medical bills. We are due to finish the 2nd injection next thursday inpatient, for the second dose is 10X stronger. Tomorrow we will celebrate Emily's 4th birthday. We have planned a special party at the Party Gym for the kids where they can play for an hour and eat for an hour and then back to our house for a BBQ dinner. Daddy has brought her a motorized car, we were going to surprise her with it tomorrow. But she saw it in the basement, she was very excited to see it. She test drive it today, she had her first fender bender. She will be so happy tomorrow for we are once again celebrating her birthday, it seems like every other weekend is her birthday.
Sunday, July 17, 2005 8:25 PM CDT Just a quick update on what has happened these past few months; Thursday, July 14, 2005 12:05 PM Hey Everyone, long time since I've updated this site. So much has had happened since. Emily had relapsed in March 2005 in the head. She underwent brain surgery the day after relapsing. Surgery was very sucessful, the surgeon was able to remove the entire tumor without any damages to her mobility skills. She is currently undergoing 8H9 injections to the head. Her 2nd set of injections will be done on July 21, and July 28. On top of everything else, we've found out that insurance will not paid for this type of injections. It is considered as an experimental treamtment. Each time she goes in-patient for these injections, it cost us about $5-$7 thousands. Friday, November 19, 2004 02:57 PM EST Just want to give a quick update.
Monday, October 25, 2004 2:50 PM EDT Hello Everyone, Thursday, July 15, 2004 2:05 PM EST Emily is doing really well. Her scans from early June is still clear. She has just finished her 2nd cycle of oral etoposide at home. She will be starting her 6th cycle of 3F8 on Monday. She has gain some weight and is acting like a typical 3 year old. Her birthday party is coming up next week. We have organized a birthday that she will never forget and for her birthday present, Mommy and Daddy will bring her to Disney World in August. I'll bet she'll love it.
Friday, May 7, 2004 4:28 PM EST Today was the last day of Emily's 2-weeks cycle of 3F8. She did very well overall. She will be getting a break next week from the clinic. Her oral etoposide (chemo) will start the week after. I hope she will do well taking it. She will be schedule for more tests in mid May. Please pray for her that her scans will be clear and free of cancer. Monday, May 3, 2004 3:57 PM CDT Emily have started her 2nd week of her antibodies, cycle 4, she is doing very well. Last Friday, she actually didn't had any pain, she didn't need any pain medicine at all and no hives. I actually thought she might have developed the antibodies in her system. It would've been still too early for her to have HAMA. The best time is at cycle 6 for her to have it, we are hoping that she will. She is doing great, her appetite have decreased, sometimes she gets belly aches and nausea from the medicine. Overall she is still herself. Very energetic and playful. Sometime next week or the week after, she will start oral chemo at home. We will have some time at home to rest. Thursday, April 22, 2004 8:44 PM EST Emily finished her radiation this past Tuesday. She did very well with no side effects. We will continue with the next phase of treatment, the antibodies, on the following Monday. So far, she is doing very well. She had lots of fun the past Sunday, at the Walkaton, we had so many people supporting "EMILY'S TEAM". The walk was about 4-5 hours, Emily was so tired by the time we got home. She slept for the next 4 hours straight. We thank everyone that walked and sponsored us for the walkaton.
Wednesday, April 7, 2004 10:09 AM EST Hey Guys, didn't get a chance to write for a while. Emily is doing well. Her radiation have been push back until next Monday. We had a nice long break. She had her mediport put in this past Monday. She is not having any pain or discomfort. She seems to be handling this very well. Once she woke up from the recovery room, she cried for Mommy and we were not there yet. The nurse held her in her arms, she told us that Emily kept on looking at her to make sure that she was still holding her. Once I got there she wanted me right away. She slept for at least an hour. Once she was fully awake, she wanted to put her clothes back on and leave. The nurse was very nice, she had stuff animals ready to give Emily. Emily at first chose the tiger. Then she asked the nurse for the cow too. We had to go back to Day Hospital to be discharged, once we were back on the 9th floor. She was talking a mile a minute. Once the Nurse saw her, she knew Emily can leave. Throughout the rest of the day, Emily slept. We brought her over to Vicky's house for dinner that night. She had so much fun. She started out with a horrible morning and ended the day with spending the night with people that loves her the most.
Saturday, March 27, 2004 8:26 AM EST Yesterday, Emily had her radiation simulation done. They tattooed her in a few places in her abdominal area. She has a few tiny dark spots all over her belly. She doesn't seen to notice it at all. The hardest part is keeping her from eating and drinking. Her hair is starting to grow again. Her weight is about the same. Her appetite varies from day to night. Some days she snacks all day, some days is mostly just pedia sure. But overall, Emily is progressing very well. The following week, we will have a break from the hospital. She will have a Mediport put in on April 5 and radiation will start the day after. Tuesday, March 16, 2004 9:31 PM EST Its been a week and a half since Emily's in treatment. She is currently getting her 3F8. She have been doing very well since her stem cell transplant. Her pain is less than 5 to 10 minutes, she is only getting one rescue (pain medicine). Because of that she is sleeping a lot less and is more alert after the treatment. She does sometimes get rashes but it can be controlled by medicine. She starts at 8:00 in the morning, she is finished by 12:00 and is able to enjoy the rest of the day and able to eat dinner. Her appetite is increasing, maybe because Grandma is cooking for her everyday. We will meet with the Radiation Team tomorrow to determine her next step of her treatment. She is scheduled for more tests next week and she will have a mediport put in to replace her Broviac. She will have more mobility and will feel more normal as before.
Thursday, March 4, 2004 10:37 AM EST Once again, Emily is home. She's doing very well. She had to removed her Broviac Line. The doctors think it was the source of the infection. The best to get rid of it is to replace the line with a temporary one for now. She had her line replaced on Tuesday, and we were discharged on Wednesday and she is taking antibiotics at home for the next 14 days. Her right side of her body is a little sore from the replacement line, but otherwise she is like her old self. We are due to go back to the hospital on Sunday night. She is still in isolation for chickenpox. Monday, she will start her 3F8 once again. Her isolation period will be over on March 10. She can then resume her treatment at the clinic. Friday, February 27, 2004 3:59 PM EST Emily developed a high fever early Wednesday night. She was admitted to the hospital on Wednesday. She was tested positive for a bacterial infection in her line. Her fever broke on early Thursday morning. Doctors say that we have to keep her in-patient until her blood culture comes back negative for the next 3 days. We are hoping for discharge over this weekend or early next week. Friday, February 20, 2004 9:41 PM EST Today was a very tough day for all of us. For something that was so simple turned out to be so hard. Emily was due for her MIBG scan today. She gave us such a hard time, all the drugs that she received today, she couldn't be sedated. We started at 1:00pm, she was not fully asleep until 3:30pm, the nurse had to give her another type of medication for sedation. Once we got to the scanning room, she woke up after only 20 minutes into the test. The nurse and the NP had to come down and give her more medication. She went back to sleep and was able to finish the scanning. Then she started to wake up again toward the last few seconds of the test. We didn't finish until 6:00pm. She was so hungry that during her sedation, she kept on asking for milk. I promised her that when she wake up she will see Daddy waiting for her, true to my words, the minute she was awake she saw Rich and was so happy. She started babbling away. Tuesday, February 17, 2004 1:47 PM EST Today, Emily is home, she has no tests schedule until Friday. Emily had her bone scan yesterday. We had a really tough time with her. The clinic had a Valentine's Day Party, all the patients brought in their siblings. There was pizza and ice-cream sundaes. Emily couldn't enjoy it because of her test. She can't eat until after 2:00p.m. She was so grumpy and sleepy. When it was time to sedate her, she would not sleep. She had the full dosage of drugs to sedate her and still she was fully awake. Finally she felt asleep after an hour or so. Then she woke up screaming and crying 30 minutes later, but luckily most of the scan was done. We almost had to reschedule again. She was a toughie. Friday, February 13, 2004 3:54 PM EST Today at the clinic, we found out that Emily might have been exposed to chicken pox. Evidently, the sick child was playing in the playroom. The hospital personnel’s was not aware of it at the time and all the kids might have been exposed to it. They gave Emily the chicken pox injection. They told me it would hurt alot, but I think Emily was angrier at us for holding her down rather than the pain. It took 3 nurses and me to hold her. She is rather strong for someone who just finished her stem cell transplant. She had 2 doses of the injection, one on each thigh at the same time. The nurses thought this would lessen her pain. She was so angry at me, I told her to blame mommy and hit me. She refused initially but later gave in and slapped my hand. She is a very brave girl. She is scheduled for a bone scan on Monday and MIBG scan on Friday, CT Scan and Bone Marrow Biopsy on the following Monday. Since she can potentially get chicken pox, she will be in isolation after next week for about 28 days. She will be treated in Urgent Care or at the hospital when her treatments start again in March. Wednesday, February 11, 2004 1:56 PM EST Emily had another visit to the doctors today. Her counts are steadily coming back up. She is doing very well. Her hemoglobin count is 13.5, the highest she has ever been. She is still eating small meals at a time. But as each day goes by, she eats a little bit more. She saw this little boy eating a hamburger today at the clinic. She wanted to eat one too. I have never seen her eat red meat until now. She ate like she really enjoyed it. Her taste bud has changed a little, but she still loves potato chips. She is scheduled for more tests next week. Until then we are enjoying the break, staying at home and sleeping in late. Monday, February 9, 2004 4:35 PM EST Hey Guys, Tuesday, February 3, 2004 3:00 PM EST Hey Everyone, Good News!
Wednesday, January 28, 2004 3:49 PM EST Today is Day 11. Emily is doing extremely well and is expected to leave the hospital by next week. We just have to wean her off all the drugs and morphine. Wednesday, January 28, 2004 2:49 PM CST Today is Day 11. Emily is doing extremely well and is expected to leave the hospital by next week. We just have to wean her off all the drugs and morphine. Sunday, January 25, 2004 9:31 PM CST Today is Day +8. Emily improved a lot. Thursday, January 22, 2004 12:42 AM CST Happy Chinese New Year!!! Monday, January 19, 2004 1:05 PM EST Today is Day 2 post Stem Cell Rescue. Emily is doing well. Wednesday, January 14, 2004 7:59 PM EST Today is the 7th day of hospitalization. Emily is doing very well considering the situation. Monday, January 12, 2004 11:10 PM EST Today is the 5th day of Emily's Stem Cell Transplant hospital stay. In medical term, today is day -4. Day zero is the day of the stem cell rescue.
Tuesday, January 6, 2004 9:06 Pm est Today we met with the stem cell transplant team. They are very nice. They informed us of Emily's transplant. She will be admit to the hospital tomorrow. There she will stay for at least 30 days. We are all hoping that she will tough this out. This will be a very crucial step to her recovery. Please pray for us and think of Emily for the next month. She will need all the support and love from you guys. Monday, December 29, 2003 8:42 PM EST Emily had another good day at home. Her grandma stayed over with us. She is trying to fatten Emily up before the transplant. Emily didn't eat very much today, but she did drank alot of healthy good soup made by Grandma. Her speech therapist came over today, Emily had a very good time with her. Emily taught her who Winnie the Pooh is. Saturday, December 27, 2003 11:16 PM EST Today her cousin Vicky came over to play with Emily. She loves Vicky so much, just hearing her name Emily goes crazy. They really played very well together. Emily had a very nice day overall. Soon, we will be celebrating New Year's Day at Uncle Tommy's house. As usual, she will be the life of the party. Friday, December 26, 2003 10:46 PM CST Emily had another nice day at home with mommy. She watched her usual shows, like DORA the EXPLORER, WIGGLES, OUT OF THE BOX and etc. She is very happy and she is even gaining some weight. She is teething, 3 of her molars are coming out at the same time. She have lost some of her appetite again, but she still looks very good, especially her rosy red checks. Some of her favorite aunties and uncle came to visit her. Even "MA MA" came to see her. She was so surprised, she loves to have people around the house. She is definitely a social person. I LOVE HER SO MUCH.....
Thursday, December 25, 2003 11:33 PM CST Emily had a very special Christmas this year. She was able to spent it with her 2 most favorite little people in her world and her wonderful family. She received many gifts and most of all, all the love and support in the world from her family and friends. She is a very lucky and special child. She is able to understand what Christmas is all about, she even met Santa Claus (she calls him HO HO). Rich and I only have one Christmas wish this year, is that our little Emily be healthy and happy for the rest of her life. I think this will be my wish for the rest of my life. We will have an even more wonderful Christmas next year and the year after and so on....
Tuesday, December 23, 2003 2:50 PM CST Today Emily and mommy stayed home. We don't have any more visits to the Clinic until the transplant. She is doing very well. She watches her favorite shows, like DORA THE EXPLORER, BLUE CLUE'S, THE WIGGLES and JO JO CIRCUS. She's is at her happiest that I have ever seen. I am very proud to be her mother. Monday, December 22, 2003 3:53 PM EST Emily had a quick checkup at the clinic today. A blood test was needed to see if she now HAMA Positive. (She has two cycles of 3F8 Antibody treatment already). We will find out the result some time next week.
Tuesday, August 5, 2003 11:21 AM CDT We are taking a break from treatments during the holidays and will start a month-long stem cell transplant after the New Year.
Click here to go back to the main page.
----End of History---- |
|