Tuesday 31 May 2011

Clinic Update May 2011

Silly Miss Millie had clinic last Thursday and she had to get a Lumbar Puncture. I hate LP days! Her doctor removes a syringe full of spinal fluid and replaces it with a chemotherapy drug called Methotrexate. If they are off at all then she is in a lot of pain. Thankfully Millie has only had a bad experience once before. It was horrific and she couldn't walk for days. Everything went perfectly this go-round and she was running around like a crazy lady once we got home and her anesthesia wore off. This girl won't let anything get in her way, not even high doses of chemotherapy. She really is my hero. I have learned so much from her.

Amelia also received her monthly dose of Vincristine through her port. She never complains when they access her port, she'd say, "I didn't even make a peep". She does hate the way the cleaner smells that her nurses uses to scrub and sanitized her skin, she always makes a disgusted face and plugs her nose.
The lighting isn't very good, but if you look close you can see the needle they use to access her port. It kind of looks like a a giant thumbtack.

Then Dr. Barnette, her Oncologist, came in to check her out and answer my questions. Millie is always seen by 2 different docs and a nurse. It's comforting for me to know so many people are checking her out.


I want to give a little shout out to Dr. Barnette, because we love him. I always have a lot of questions and he is so wonderful to sit there with me and go over everything. I adore him and I am grateful for everything he does for Amelia. He was the 1st Oncologist we had seen in the ER when Millie was first diagnosed and he has been there for us through this entire process.

Millie's Nana got to come with us this time. Mill was so excited to have her there reading her stories while we waited for the anesthesiologist to get there.



And For Millie's Hair...


Austin wanted to join the party.


Clinic Stats for 5/26/2011:


Height: 107.5 cm


Weight: 17.9 kg


ANC: 1.8


We survived another week of steroids as well. Millie was emotional and hungry as usually, but I am always impressed by the way she handles herself. When she does throw fits or knows she is sad for no reason she tries very hard to control herself.

Saturday 28 May 2011

Preschool Grad

A few weeks ago Amelia's preschool class had an art show. They had being working really hard on all their projects and Millie was really excited to show them all to us.

They also did a little program and it was wonderful. I love to watch Millie sing, she is always very animated. I just think that little girl is hilarious.


Earlier this week Millie's class went on a field trip to Wheeler Farm. They all had so much fun and I was glad I got to go with them.


The little man got to come too.




On To Graduation...

I can not believe my baby girl is finished with preschool and ready for kindergarten. It's so strange to think that from this point on she will go to school every single day for a very long time. She is so smart and we are very proud of our Silly Miss Millie.

Congratulations Bug!
Millie's best friend at school is Melody. She adores her and talks about her all the time. Braxton on the other hand is Millie's 1st crush. She won't admit to liking him, but she is defiantly smitten. She tells us all the time how Braxton likes her, and thinks she has the BEST laugh (I have to agree!).

I wanted to take a picture with Melody and Millie and so I told her to put her arm around Melody. She did, and then she looked at me with her eyes bulging and tilted her head towards Braxton. It was very obvious that she wanted me to tell him to put his arm around her. I did, and the she burst out into the best giggle I have ever heard. It was so funny!



I don't know where to even begin when it comes to Mrs Patti. We ALL adore her. She was an amazing teacher when I had her has a little girl and she has been a huge support to Millie throughout out her cancer. Patti will always be someone I am grateful for knowing. She made sure that school was a safe place for Millie to be and I cannot begin to say how wonderful I think Patti is. I am so happy that Millie was able to be apart of Mrs Patti's last class before retiring after 25 years of teaching.


The Gang
Cami (cancer buddy), Brady, Me, Millie, Aunt Lindsay, Jager, Cousin Sherry



Love you Mill!

Monday 23 May 2011

Sunday 22 May 2011

Thank You!



Brady and I wanted to make a little slide show of Amelia from the time she was born until now. We are so thankful for the love that we have been shown and the generosity from our family, our friends, and from the strangers who have donated towards Operation Millie. The majority of our donation have come from people that didn't know we even existed until now. I am astounded at the support our family as been given. There are no words to express exactly how I feel. We have been incredibly overwhelmed by your love. I want to say THANK YOU and let you experience a small blip as to how amazing Miss Millie really is. The last 2 weeks have been something I will never forget. We have truly been in awe has to what the UteFan website has been able to accomplish. Thank you a million times over.

Monday 16 May 2011

happy anniversary

It's an hour early, but....










LOVE YOU BABE!

Friday 13 May 2011

Maniac Millie



Oh how she makes me laugh.

Tuesday 10 May 2011

Overwhelmingly Blessed

I have gone back and forth about whether or not to share this particular story with you that follow us on our blog because you have done so much for us already and we don't want you to feel like you in anyway need to do more. We have had meals brought to us by you, letters from across the world poured in for Millie because of you, gifts to brighten our day, prayers have been offered, my house cleaned, or something as simple as sending a text to see how we are. I would never take for granted the blessing we have seen come to our family the past couple years from our support system. We did however have the most amazing thing happen to us and I want everyone to know about it and know that I have a whole group of complete strangers supporting Amelia and my family right now in a different way.



We were asked by a mom from my sister Lindsay's preschool if her husband, who is a web designer, could put together a site for Millie. At first I was a little confused because we already have a blog where I update on the family and keep people posted about Millie but when I learned more about what they wanted to do I was overwhelmed with gratitude.




Her husband, Brian, works for a company called RealCove and he asked me to write Millie's story so he could share it with the Ute Fan website. At this point in Millie's treatment we have not asked for help financially because we decided we would focus our efforts towards the charities that we love and have done so much for us. Although we have been overwhelmed it just never felt right having a fundraiser for ourselves. In the meantime Brady and I have been very stressed about the never ending bills that keep coming our way. We have had to put off a lot of our plans for the future because nothing is more important to us then our children. Brady even developed a heart condition from the stress of everything and blackout hitting his face when he was on a business trip in Denver.

Isn't he pretty





Brian set up a link for the UteFans, where he wrote what I have copied down below. You can also read our story in my words and see Millie's new website here, along with more written by RealCove, the creators of "Meet Millie". We are so grateful for the help we have received at this point and overwhelmed at the response that Millie's page has already had. Thank you so much to everyone for your love and your support. My sister said it best, "We get to see the blessings that tragedy brings." It is so true. Our little family has faced a lot the past while, but we have also seen amazing things happen because of the love that surrounds us

In the words of Brian (some of the pictures are different then the ones he had because they wouldn't load properly):


This is Millie. She is one of my heroes. She and her family are also diehard Ute Fans (as are most heroes).



In 2009 Millie's mom had to have an emergency C-section, her new little brother spent a month in NICU.
After 31 extremely stressful days Austin was sent home on oxygen, but what the family didn't know was that Millie was actually very sick. She wasn't herself, she tried to be happy, but she just couldn't be. She was whiny and complained that her legs hurt, and often asked to be carried.

A worried mom fought through doctors that insisted that this was just normal child behavior. She finally insisted that she have a blood test. In December of 2009, Millie was diagnosed with Leukemia.

This is Millie on her diagnosis day
Millie began a valiant fight, and she is very brave, but it hasn't been easy. The steroids made her body bloated and too much for her little legs to carry.

And she needs chemo treatments through 2012.

The first thing Amanda, Millie's mom, said to me when we first talked about this was that she didn't quite know what to do, they hadn't ever asked for help like this before. The truth of the matter is, these are exactly the type of people you want to help. They haven't focused on themselves, but if you read their blog you'll find they are supporting others, and other causes to fight cancer.

But the truth is, in addition to the hardships that Millie is fighting through, there is a toll on the family both physically, mentally and emotionally. There is also a toll that can last much longer than the effects of this terrible disease, and that is the financial burden.

They are lucky enough to have insurance, but despite it there are still growing bills and they need help to ensure that Millie gets her treatments through 2012. Having had my best friend go through this, I can say that approaching lifetime max's, on top of copays, coinsurance and treatments that are simply not covered by insurance, the bills are overwhelming.

Treatments are going well, she just needs to be able to cross that finish line.
I know that this board (http://www.utefans.net/) is capable of doing great things together, we've done it before. We've raised lots of money for deserving people and families before, and WebMonkey and I agree that while there are many deserving people out there, the Flamms are certainly one of them we should get behind as a community.

The whole story can be found at a site we put together for them here. You can donate money there. 100% of the proceeds will go to the Flamm family. If you can help them out, it will make all the difference. If you are tight on funds, skip a meal, or a Starbucks, and consider what it would mean to you if you were in their shoes.

Take a minute to check out the site, the photos alone will break your heart and also help you see what an amazing and resilient person Millie is. You know me, I hate everyone and this little girl has won my heart over.

Let's do something great this summer, dig deep and make a miracle happen for such an inspirational person. I declare Operation Millie!

*This is Amanda again; Operation Millie has been very successful and is still going strong. There are no words to express my gratitude. I am in shock as to what has come about because one person decided to create a website. I whole community has stepped up to support us, along with their friends and family from other states. Thank from the bottom of my heart.


Meet Millie.....

Friday 6 May 2011

Clinic April 2011

I am so behind on my blogging. Millie had her monthly clinic visit on Thursday April, 28th. She is looking really good. Her blood counts and liver enzymes are still stable so they went ahead and upped her to a 75% dose of her daily chemo. As much as I hate chemo and the side effects it brings I love it for keeping Millie's cancer away, so I am glad we are up and running again. They will check her in about another week to see if she can handle the full 100% dose without her liver going haywire again. We also scheduled a lumbar puncture for next month. Hate those days. :(

I forgot my camera so there are no pictures of clinic this month, but here is Millie's hair in all it's glory.



*Blogger does not want to upload my pictures at the moment. Please check back later for Millie's hair pics.




Clinic Stats


ANC: 2,200


Height: 106.5 cm


Weight: 18.1 kg