Ammy Update

I must apologize to some of you who have been waiting to hear an update on my beautiful Niece Ammy after her last surgery. I know you have waited a long time and we have not shared much details with you. As a family we all needed some time to process and wait for more answers. We greatly appreciate each and every one of you and your many prayers. As far as her surgery she is recovering great and enjoying her first week at school. The Doctors removed most of the tumor located on her spine. Yes I did say MOST that is why we have been quiet for awhile. We knew bits and piece of what might lay ahead but it was just to hard to talk about with so little answers. Yesterday we met with Ammy's Oncologist and got more information as to what might lie ahead.

Where to begin ... Ammy has a tumor that will not go away with Chemo or radiation so basically the plan is to keep that crazy thing from growing so she does not have to have any more surgeries. The tumor as is now does not hurt her or cause much problem it is however something she will have to check on for the rest of her life thru regular MRIs.
So how do we stop the tumor from growing? The best way at this point in time is a chemo therapy treatment. The treatment is a 6 week coarse that will include 3 different pill forms of chemo and also an injection two or three times in that 6 weeks. This coarse of treatment will be repeated 8 times, so that means it will take about a year to complete. She will be having surgery in a few weeks to get a port put in her chest to make blood draws and injections much easier. Once the port is in place treatment will begin a few weeks after that. The side affects are she will feel sick to her stomach and her hair might thin a bit as well as weakened immune system. She will continue in school and learn to be very good and washing her hands to keep yucky germs away. The chemo is hopefully to keep the tumor from growing any bigger over the next 2 to 3 years. She will be continued to monitored thru MRIs and if new growth happens we will start a new plan.
Ammy's spirit is well and she is such a brave little trooper. Thank you again dear friends for your prayers and support!!!