When It All Started
I was laid off from my job the day my maternity leave ended. So Ashley at about 2 months old started going to day care. A very kind lady who's name is Pam while I hunted for a job. One day I went to go and pick Ashley up when she was 7 months old and Pam told me that Ashley had a lump behind her ear. I immediatly ran to my car and got my cell phone and called her Dr's office. Ashley had lots of colds and such and I was told that she probably had swollen lympnodes due to her most recent cold. I was also told that if it was not gone in a couple of weeks to bring her in. So while not being real pleased with that answer we headed off to Michigan to visit our family. While up north I notice a lump all inside her collarbone. It ran the whole length of her collarbone. I showed my mom the lump and worried myself to death having thoughts of cancer running through my mind. I finally broke down and took her to my old doctors son who became a pediatrician. All I really heard from him was that we needed to be seen when we got home. I had a doctor's appointment for Ashley the day after we arrived home. When I took her in her Dr. was not sure what this lump was but said that due to Ash having a strawberry hemangioma on her side that this could very well be a deep hemangioma. I questioned more than one time on whether there was any possibility that this was cancer and she did not think so. We were scheduled for an Ultra Sound and possible CT Scan almost 2 weeks later. That time went very slowly. When the day finally came the Ultra Sound did not show anything decisive so we were off to CT. Just before Ashley had her IV put in a nurse stopped them and said that we were wanted on the 5th floor. So we had time to eat lunch (I had a girlfriend with me) and get upstairs to see yet another doctor. When we arrived we were seen by more doctors that I have ever seen in one room. The CDC was even there poking and prodding my daughter. And I was being questioned from every angle on everything possible. I was not comprehending where we were or who we were seeing at that point. Ashley also had a surgeon come and see her while we were there. We finally got to go and have the CT Scan and then back upstairs for more questioning. Before we left that day Ashley was scheduled for a biopsy. After Ash went to bed that night I was cleaning things up and happened upon the business card of the doctor we saw, it said hematology/Oncology!!! I was stunned, we had seen cancer doctors, they thought my baby had cancer though no one said it out loud. So the next day we go and have her biopsy done. A very small incision in her neck was all and she was back to herself by the time we got home. We had to wait 2 weeks for the results. I remember arriving at the office and being taken to our room. I had also been waiting for a call on a job that I had interviewed for. The surgeon came in and asked if we had seen the doc yet. I told him we had not and asked him straight out if Ashley had cancer. His answer, yes. I was to wait for the Oncology doctor to come in to explain the details to me. Being a single mom with no help from her dad and my family being 700 miles away I felt the need to be strong. Not a tear came from me. I just held on to Ashley has tight as I could. Then our doctor came in to tell me all about the cancer my daughter had. It was Neuroblastoma. I was told all about the staging process that would come and what our plan may be. When I had a spare minute and my mind was not racing I called my mom in Michigan to let her know the news. I know she was afraid to answer the phone. After the doctor was done talking to us we I believe were seen by the social worker in the Oncology department. I really don't remember now. I remember being sent home to read all of this information that I was given on NB and feeling very overwhelmed and very alone. My mom was here for the staging process and we held our breath every step of the way. Little by little we would get information, her bone marrow was clean and we would jump up and down, then go back to worrying about the rest of the results. We then found out that her bones were clean as well as her belly and chest. So we had a primary tumor which filled up most of the right side of her neck extended all along her collarbone and into her chest a little bit. It was a stage II with no spreading and favorable histology AMEN!!!!! Now if only surgery could be done to remove it, nope wrong again!! It was time for a Hickman Cath and Chemo. Ashley amazed us all. She had 4 rounds of chemo and after the second one she had another scan and the tumor was so small it could not be measured. But we were to continue and do the last 2 rounds of chemo. Ashley never once got sick. She bounced off the walls while getting her chemo. She had everyone stopping by her room and looking in to see what all the happiness was about. It was nothing short of amazing and a miracle. So we started chemo at the end of July 2002 and in remission November 7th 2002.