Touches my heart...

Last night for Ashton's bedtime prayer she said something that just took my breath away...it started out about the same as usual, but ended in a very different way,

"please bless Alex and Tenny (little girls we met at the hospital) that they will have strong bodies, please bless Sister Carson that she will feel better soon, and bless Uncle Austin in Argentina. I'm grateful for the doctors that they could get the cancer bugs out of me and I could feel better...."

Oh my goodness my heart just stopped! I couldn't believe such words were coming out of my little 3 year old all on her own! I felt such sorrow and gratitude at the same time....It breaks my heart to hear such a little thing talk about such a big thing! Yet it was so comforting to hear her understand what's going on and that the doctors are the good guys! I'm so proud of my girl!
She never ceases to amaze me!

Our fun we had in June!

Having fun with her new "juicer" and grandpa!This is what her hair looked like after church today. She told me she wants to just shave it all off...AHHH!!!! I dunno if I can handle that yet! But it does look pretty pathetic... What a great girl!

Another uncle bald, three to go!;)

Uncle Bradley has stepped up to support little Ashton! She's balding like an old man and its kinda humorous to look at! (She's got a "horse shoe" left with one little patch of bangs in the front!)
So he decided it was time to let her at his hair!

I don't think this will ever get old for her! She LOVES doing this...
GROSS!!! Gotta have a little fun while you can I guess....;)What a pair:)

Ashton's New Hair Do!

Aunt Britney gave Ashton a CUTE little hair cut! She LOVES it!!

It's so fun to see how curly her hair really is! How wonderful!

Such support from those BRAVE enough!

So, Uncle Peter (Dan's brother) decided to give his support by going bald for Ashton! I have a HUGE respect for all those even WILLING to do such a thing...I'm am way to chicken to even CUT my hair....So, here's some pixs of Ashton shaving Uncle Peter's head and LOVING it! I hear there's more guys ready to go bald for her too! I can't believe the all support for my sweet little girl! We are soooo humbled and grateful to EVERYONE supporting and praying for my baby! And a HUGE thumbs up to all those going bald with my Ashton. Her hair is starting to fall out by the way. As of Sunday...Just little clumps of it, but its every time I touch her hair with my fingers...makes my heart hurt every time I see a hair fall off her poor little head..She's an amazing little girl who must have made quite a deal with Heavenly Father to be willing to take on such a life! I'm lucky to have her!

First day of Chemo pixs

She LOVED this doll that they gave her to give her the chance to be the nurse...pretty much!

Here she is pumping "meds" into the tube that she taped onto the dolls port! She LOVED the syringes!

Her nurse gave her a tea party set and that helped keep her busy for part of the 12 hours!

She gets pretty tired now and then..it comes in waves! You either get this

or this!
I'm just glad she still has the energy to do the things she loves! Even if its for a few minutes! I sure love this little girl!

Whats next?

Well we have begun the year long road.

Today was ashton's first treatment with Chemo.

She has been amazing!

We will come back here to childrens every 3 weeks for treatment.

She will have a home health nurse come to the house every thursday and give her some meds and draw some blood.

She is a tough little girl and is doing great.

We started chemo today because all the results are in!

Her cancer is completely gone!!!!!!!!!

Just need to do treatments and then we will be good!

The bone marrow was clear and the fluid they thought they saw some atypical cells in was nothing related.

This truly is an answer to thousands of prayers!

We are so thankful for every one of them.

Our Father in heaven lives and he answers our collective prayers!

Look what Ashton did to Daddy!

While we were at the hospital today, Ashton saw her first bald headed girl! All she had to say was, "Look at that girl..She looks funny.." So, Dan decided to let Ashton shave his head so that the "bald head" look wasn't so scary.. WHAT A TEAM PLAYER! Ashton's daddy ROCKS!

Just a daddy supporting his baby! I love this guy!
We can do this!

Ashton's Cancer

So the Oncology team has given us a preliminary Stage of III and Group I

This means the cancer was a very large tumor but they got all of it out.

We are still waiting on results to see if it has spread to anywhere else.

She will begin chemotherapy late next week and it will last for a Year.

She will have treatments every three weeks and mini treatments every week with blood work.

She will lose her hair with in 7 to 10 days post matriculation.

Daddy will be shaving his head too!!!

Please continue to send your prayers heavenward!

As we get more news we will post here. 

Thank you for all the love and support. 

Pathology Report

The pathology results are in.

Ashton has what is called Embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma.

Sarcomas are cancers that develop from connective tissues in the body, such as muscles, fat, membranes that line the joints, or blood vessels. There are many types of sarcomas. Rhabdomyosarcoma is a cancer made up of cells that normally develop into skeletal muscles. The body contains 3 main types of muscles. About 7 weeks into the development of an embryo, rhabdomyoblasts (cells that will eventually form skeletal muscles) begin to form. These are the cells that can develop into the cancer called rhabdomyosarcoma. Because this is a cancer of embryonal cells, it is much more common in children, although it does occur in adults occasionally.

One of the main rhabdomyosarcomas is;

Embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma

Embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma (ERMS) is the most common type of rhabdomyosarcoma. It usually affects infants and young children. The cells of ERMS look like the developing muscle cells of a 6- to 8-week-old fetus. ERMS tends to occur in the head and neck area, bladder, vagina, and in or around the prostate and testicles.

What’s next for Ashton?

 

On Thursday she will undergo some more testing i.e.: CT, Bone scan, and a bone marrow biopsy. After that is all done Thursday late afternoon she will have another surgery to place a Port-a-Cath (and venous blood access point) where they will be able to have a portal to begin Chemo with out damaging her peripheral veins. Thursday will be a long day at the hospital.

 

We still have one test still pending. While in surgery when the surgeon resected the tumor there was a small amount of fluid in her abdomen. They sent the fluid to the lab with the tumor for examination. The pathologist saw some cells in the fluid that he thought to be suspicious but wasn’t real sure. So they packaged the fluid and sent it to St Jude’s Research hospital for another pathologists review.

 

The one thing I am thankful for is that Ashton is not in any real pain. We are 5 days post-op and Ashton is acting normal. The road we have ahead will be a rocky one but we will prevail!

 

What can you do?

 

Please exercise faith on Ashton’s behalf.

Please remember her in your prayers.

Please support my wife she will need it.