April 12th: Planned Surgery

Morning to all.

I will just send a quick update while Charlotte is resting on her daddies shoulder.

We had the MRI scan last night around 7:00, Charlotte needed to go under general anaesthesia to keep her still long enough. She came out of that screaming mad, but things were ok. The scan showed no growth and no changes. It showed very clearly where the tumour is, thankfully its right on the top of her brain, a very easy spot to get at. Unfortunately it goes quite deep. Fortunately it has a large cyst around most of it, this should make it easier to remove. In cranbrook we had the idea that it was about the size of a golf ball or bit bigger.... but its bigger than that.

As of last night our surgery was booked for tuesday morning at 8:00. Based on the CAT scan our doctor initially said that it could take 2 or more hours. We talked to the surgeon this morning, and he told us to expect more along the lines of a 4 to 6 hour surgery. This is a very long time for someone this little. She will need a blood transfusion. Since there is not time for Rob or I to supply blood please pray that a match is found easily.

Charlotte is quite a bit stiller today than she has been. There is talk about even bumping her surgery to today. Because it will be such a long one they are hesitant to start anything later than noon. We have been told not to let her eat or drink, just in case. We should know within the next hour. Please pray that whether today or tomorrow, the right decision will be made.

The Doctor gave us a few hypotheses of what type of tumour it is, he said it seems to be very slow growing. Most of the names he gave us have the term benign with them, it does not sound aggressive at any rate. Although the only way to know for sure will be to take samples once its out. But because it is so big we were told that they might not be able to get it all at once. She is so little that there is only so much her body can handle, a second surgery might be needed. Please pray that this will not be the case, it will be cleared out in one go.

We are believing in God for a total recovery, please keep us in your prayers especially today and tomorrow as we prepare for this surgery.

Love to all of you, Allison and Robert


Psalm 27:3,5,13-14
Though an army may encamp against me, My heart shall not fear; Though war may rise against me, In this I will be confident. For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion; In the secret place of His tabernacle He shall hide me; He shall set me high upon a rock. I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait on the LORD; Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the LORD!

April 12... part 2
Just wanted to let you know, surgery is still on for tomorrow 8am.
This will be good as it will give Yolanda a chance to get up here and see her sister beforehand. Hopefully seeing Yolanda will perk Charlotte up a bit. She missed her so much yesterday, looking out the window and asking for her.

Thank you all so much for all the encouraging emails. Keep them comming.
Allison

April 12... part 3
Thank you all for you continued prayer and support.

They will start prepping her for surgery at 7:40.

If you read this tonight we would appreciate a prayer for a solid nights sleep for all of us. She was really riled up after her MRI last night and tired herself out... so she was quite drowsy and sleepy all day, I hope that this will not interfere with a good nights sleep. Please pray that she stays stable throughout the night as well, her little heart and all systems are strong.

Allison and Rob

April 11th: First news from the Alberta Childrens Hospital

Thank you all so much for your love, prayers and support. We really appreciate all the outpouring of offers for help and promises of prayer.

At this time there is nothing we can really do but wait and pray.

We made up to the children's hospital in good time yesterday and got settled in here. We still don't know much more than we did back in Cranbrook. An MRI is scheduled for sometime later this afternoon, so that will give us a clearer picture of whats going on. Then surgery for removal will be tuesday or wednesday, they are still shifting around the schedules for us. Once it is out we will know what kind of tumour it is and what the next steps might be.

We have a wonderful Doctor taking care of us. Unfortunatly she said that as far as tumours in children go this is a fairly large one. It is on the left side of her brain and pushing it towards the right. Charlotte is getting a bit of steroids to help with the swelling, but it seems to be upsetting her tummy a bit. The nurses are great, although are having a hard time trying to get an IV in her. Apparently red heads have very tough veins to hit and she has bandaids on both arms to prove it. Fortunately another attribute to redheads it that they are stubborn and tenacious, we have seen this in Charlotte and know that this will be an asset in the days to come.

Charlotte still tends to be the cheeriest in the room, we are so very glad that she is blissfully unaware of what is going on. There is a beautiful fish tank here at the hospital that she loves to watch. We are so glad for this facility.

Your prayers are very much appreciated.
Love the Amsings

April 9th: The first email sent out.

Friday April 9th
This will be a hard email to write and read... and it will not be the last I'm sure.

As some of you know Charlotte has had some trouble walking lately, it started about two weeks ago. Her right leg was all wonky, her knee locking and she kept falling over. It got worse to the point where one night she just sat down and crawled; it seemed to get better and then worse and then better. We had her in to the doctor who thought it looked odd as there was nothing that looked wrong. So we were referred to a paediatrician... but that was booked for the end of the month. Other than that she has been completely healthy and happy, and not in any pain.

A few days ago we noticed she was not using her right hand well either. So I got her in to see the Doctor again (Today) with this new development it was more obvious that something was wrong-worse than growing pains. By the end of our check-up he referred us right up to emergency to see the paediatrician who was on call. Charlotte was a great little patient, making everyone laugh at her antics.

To get a better idea of what could be going on they gave her a cat-scan. The anaesthetic wore off before the scan was finished and our little redhead started taking all the monitoring equipment off and waving it around "somebody looking for this?" A second dose kept her groggy for a bit. We were put in a room while the anaesthetic wore off. Then the tone of our appointment changed. The Doctors came in very sombre and told us that Charlotte has a tumour on her brain. They were very surprised at how happy she has been because for a head that little it is quite a big one. The pressure from the tumour is what has been causing her limbs the trouble.

What now? In the morning will be on our way up to the Childrens Hospital in Calgary. There will be a neurosurgeon waiting to see us. They will do an MRI scan to see what else they can learn. Then there will have to be a tissue sample taken. The doctors here warned us that "it will be a long hard road."

We would really appreciate all your prayers, for safe travels on the roads, for quick diagnostics, and for the strength to make it through these next couple of weeks, and months. We are especially praying that they will find this tumour to be benign and not malignant.

I guess my first step will be just to pack for tomorrow... and take this road one step at a time.

Allison and Rob