Sunday, February 27, 2011

I'm known to be a slacker... :)

Hey guys. Sorry that I haven't posted in a while.
I don't really know what to say. |:
I had my first round of chemo a week and a half ago. I took it pretty hard. It made me feel like I was going to throw up all the time. And I think everyone hates that feeling.
Don't feel like writing a whole lot/go into detail.
Lets just say I'm feeling much better than I was last week. :)
I might actually go to school this week if my counts are good. HOPEFULLY. I miss my friends so much.
I ordered a wig a few days ago, and will probably get it sometime this week. I'm kind of excited? :)
Here's what it looks like:
Haha. It was sent from china!

This blog is taking me forever because I'm watching the oscars. ;)
Here's some pictures taken in the hospital:
Lindsay learnin' to crochet

Oh man I look terrible. I MISS YOU ABBIE!

Me and my mommy (:

My second family(:

Oh it's blurry..

<333 My girls.

I did a lot of sleepin'.
Alright I'm done... :)

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Week One

Hello everyone. This is Abbie, Maddie's sister. I've decided to update everyone on how things are going. Maddie is a few hours away from finishing her first week of Chemo. YAY :) Some of the ups and downs have been:

1. Port Surgery- Maddie had surgery on Thursday and now how a port which is on the side of her chest near her rib cage. Once coming out of the surgery she was extremely sore. They were able to give her some serious pain meds which helped. Glad thats over. She has about 3 hours from the Surgery to when they would start Chemo and she was feeling good. She had her best friend visit and was talking on facebook with friends and family. Chemo started around 10:30pm.


2. Friday morning was rough--the Chemo had taken its toll on her and the nausea hit...and has never left. She spent most of the day with her head in a bucket wanting to throw up but never being able to. It was a day of learning which meds help and which don't. She was given a anti nausea med that ends up giving her hallucinations so we know not to use that one. Maddie has to get up every 2 hours to go to the bathroom. This is because the Chemo can damage her bladder if it sets too long. Because of this she very rarely gets a good sleep. Right when she is in a deep sleep we have to wake her up to go again.

3.Saturday-things have been better today. She is still nauseated and spends a lot of time over a bucket but today she's been able to sleep. Which was a different story from Friday. They say that tonight things may get worse because of her last cycle of chemo. We're praying that she sleeps through most of it.

Maddie had 5 friends show up today who all helped lift her spirits. Although she was vey tired she really enjoyed having them here. We're happy she has such great friends who show her love and support. Its sad because some of the little kids on this level don't have that type of support.

Maddie will be going home tomorrow evening. She will be experiencing nausea for the next 3-5 days. She will back at Primary's in 2 weeks. We are hoping that she will gain some strength back and be able to see her friends at school. Her cute cousin shaved his head in showing his love for her. She's had multiple gifts, blankets, teddy bears, etc. Everything helps at this point. Thank you all so much for the love and care you've shown to our family over the last week. This first week has been a learning process and we now have an idea of what to expect the next go around. I'm assuming Maddie will be giving her next update, right now she is sleeping and we'd like to let her rest :) Love you all so much! Please continue to pray for her to have the strength to get through this we know it's going to be a long road. For some reason it won't let me upload pictures. They'll come next week. Sorry.

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

The Journey Starts Here...

Day 1: Hey. :) Hahaha.
Honestly, I don't even know how to start this whole thing.
Lets just start from the beginning.

About 3-6 months ago (not really sure).
I started to get a killer pain in my knee.
It would just nag at me all the time. At first I just thought it was
growing pains or I'd sprained it or something.
But growing pains just don't stay there all the time, ya know?

Around the end of January I got an x ray done with a surgeon's P.A.
The x-ray came back and it looked like a normal knee. So I obviously hadn't broken a bone or anything.
But the P.A. suggested us getting an MRI because he was thinking I had a torn maniscus. MRI's are not very cheap, and I was thinking that it was going to be a waste of money. But my mom scheduled an appointment for the next week.

My dad picked me up from school and we drove to the hospital for my MRI. An MRI is kind of like an x ray in a way, but I think it can go inside the bone. Its like a more addvanced x-ray, in a way. :)

So the lady gave me headphones and told me to try not to move as much as possible. She moved me into this giant tube, and then left. I was in there for maybe 20 minutes or so, when she said that the doctor wanted to put me in another one, to look at my femur, and that I needed an IV for a contrast/dye to see things easier.

When I came out, she asked my dad if he had the x-rays from my appointment the week before because the doctor needed to compare. We left the hospital after we told the girl we would get them tomorrow and bring them to her.

The next day I was in school and my mom texted me and told me that I had an appointment with my surgeon at 2, and that she would be checking me out. On our way up there, we were kind of nervous, but not really.
We sat down in the room and Dr. Edwards walked in and showed us the x-rays.
Here is what he showed us.
He told us that if any doctor were to look at my x-ray, they would say that they look completely normal. BUT... (Oh, that darn 3 letter word BUT) that he looked at the MRI's and found a tumor on my femur. He told us that he doesn't specialize in those types of things, but that he knew a really good doctor that specializes in just that. He said that he had no idea why his P.A. wanted to do an MRI, but that he had a feeling like that's what he should have done.
He left the room to call Dr. Scott, and we sat there for like 45 minutes, and then Dr. Edwards came back and gave us the address and such.
So there we went... heading to Murray to the IHC center to talk to Dr. Scott. Me and my mom were really nervous.
When we got there, they were really nice. Of course, my mom had to fill out another paper with info about my knee. Then I had to put on some goofy shorts that were made out of the fabric from the shoes you wear in the hospital. Please excuse the weird face I'm pulling.
Anyway, in these shorts I had to get another xray so Dr. Scott could look at them. Meanwhile, my dad came and was now in the room waiting for Dr. Scott with us.
A few minutes later, Dr. Scott came in with a few papers and he set them on the counter, sat on the chair, scooted closer to me, looked at me and said
"So your name is... Maddie?" then he asked me how old I was, what school I went to, what I liked to do in my spare time. He just wanted to get to know me. It was really nice.
Then he pulled out the x-rays and wrote down some stuff on the paper like all the parts and stuff. Then he showed us the first MRI, and covered my left leg to show us what my right leg looked like.
Then, he showed us my left knee. It was totally unexpected... This is what it looked like.
Unbelievable...

We found out just yesterday, that it hasn't spread anywhere else. Which is good, REALLY good.
I've been so blessed. And I've had a lot of visitors. :)
I got an unexpected visit from someone I haven't seen/talked to, since last year. He has always been there for me. I can't explain how happy I was that he came over just to see me. I almost cried. Some people may think I'm crazy for liking this boy. But they don't know him like I do. He was my best friend in seventh grade and he always will be close to my heart. I was embarrassed because I looked terrible, and my bishop was in my living room... But as soon as I saw him walk in the door, I totally forgot about my knee and starting walking towards him because all I wanted to do was hug him. :') Jaden, you made me so happy. Thanks for being there for me, especially this week. <3

He is so handsome(: Just saying.
Then, my cousin's husband J.R. came over with a grocery bag and he said "Here's some shirts". Now I thought they were going to be BYU Hawaii shirts because that's where my brother in law Rory goes and I think J.R. was going to previously make those. Then my mom started crying. Here they are:

I, LOVE THEM. <3
I wanted to thank everyone for all of your support. <3 It means a lot to me, and a lot to my family.
I get my port put in tomorrow. It will go under my skin, and on my side. Which also means that I start chemo tomorrow. Chemo is really hard to explain, so I'll have to explain that later. (: I should probably get some sleep!

I love all of you guys. <3

This is my little "slogan" thing.
I'll probably write tomorrow!
Love,
Maddie