Emily's Journey

Hi everyone, Kath here.  Thought I’d do a quick blog update and thank everybody again for their continuous support and concern for Emily and our family.  It has helped us significantly throughout the last 8 months.  We are extremely appreciative.

Emily is doing well at home.  She continues to have frequent visits from the Outreach Nurse for blood tests, dressing changes etc.  Nourishment still remains a challenge with a  poor appetite that should improve over the coming months.  She still requires her nasogastric feed overnight to ensure an adequate intake of calories.  The multitude of medicines Emily takes no doubt plays a big part in her lack of appetite.  Her blood tests however have been great and all her levels have been within the normal ranges for the last month or so, meaning she hasn’t required blood transfusions etc.  She’s holding her own basically.

Last Friday Emily had her post surgery check up.  The surgeons were pleased with how her surgical wound has healed and said that the surgery went well.  The marble sized tumour that was removed has since been biopsied and showed that 30 percent of the cells in the tissue had viable neuroblastoma cells that could have “flared up” again.  The removal of the tumour was therefore critical.  The surgeon remained confident that they had removed it in it’s entirety.

Emily also had her radiation planning appointment on Friday.  This required her to be very still whilst they marked out the exact location on her body for treatment to take place.  They had to tattoo three areas on her body so that each radiation treatment will be given in exactly the right spot every time.  Her 3 weeks of radiation treatment begins next Monday.

Will update again in a couple of weeks to let everyone know how her radiation treatment is going.

Vanessa & Leona