The after affects

The cancer may be gone but the after affects are just appearing. In 2009 I was having severe neck pain and this went on for a couple of weeks. My mom took me to the doctor and they ran a bunch of tests, I had a MRI done and a bunch of blood work taken. I had spinal tap done that showed my bone marrow did not look right. My doctors had thought my cancer had come back. While all this was going on i was missing a lot of school. I ended up missing close to three and a half weeks of school. One of my doctors eventually sent me to a physical thearpist that did a ultrasound on my neck and found that something was very wrong. Thats when we found out my neck was broken. I had physical thearpy and wore a neck brace for two weeks. I was sent to a neurologist at phoenix childrens hospital and he was the one who said i needed a neck brace. My mom feels bad for the guy at the hanger place because it had been a long day and i was not in a good mood I did not want to cooperate and was just upset. I wore the neck brace 24/7 for two weeks and only took it off to take a shower. To this day i still have problems with my neck. I get really bad stiff necks and I can not really perform in physical activity in school, to make sure that I do not break my neck again. I recently went to the doctor and we found out that i am one day going to have arthritus in my neck and the c2 vertabrea and c3 vertabrea will eventually be fused together. I get massages every three weeks to help relax my muscles in my neck. Everyday I still have pain in my neck but i keep on going and do my best :)

In the Beginning

When my parents heard the news that i had cancer, they were in utter disbelief. They could not believe their 3 year old daughter had cancer. To make this time even more stressfull my little sister was a year old. The day I was dignosed my mom took me to my pediatricians because i had been not acting right, had not been eating and had many bruises. The doctor took blood and sent it too the lab. My mom got a call on the way home after leaving the doctors, it was my padiatrician telling my mom to get me to UMC asap. My mom was shocked because she was not expecting a phone call like this. She immedtely called my dad and told him the news. She went home real quick grab some things and we were off to the hospital. My family was all there grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins. The doctors tan many tests and took many blood samples. The hardest thing for my mom was waiting for the results of all the blood work and tests. My mom told me that she will neer forget that moment when the doctor told her i had cancer. The next day i was in surgery having a port put in. After the port was put in then the chemo started and it went on for 2.5 years. I lost most of my hair but it was nice i didn't have to worry about the way i looked because i was so young. I took the cancer day by day and now today i am a survivor! :)

Scar stories

Most people have scars, wether it be from falling or getting a cut. Most people have a story to go with their scars. My scar stories are just a little different. I have scars on my neck, my arms, and my chest, from the pokes and surgeries. The one on my chest is my largest scar. This scar is the one I am most uncomfortable with, it is big and if I wear a lower cut shirt you can see it, this does not make it easy for a fourteen almost fifteen year old girl whos in highschool, to pick out clothes. People always ask me what happened (if i got burned, or if i got cut, etc.) Depending on my mood, depends if I tell them or not. Its not that im not proud of my cancer and being a survivor, its just it takes long to explain. If I don't feel like explaining i just say I fell off my bike. If I do explain to people what happened they usually end up crying or are on the verge of tears:). When I look at my scars i feel honored to have these scars on me. I mean how many people get asked about their scars and can tell people that they survived cancer? :)

New to this

Hi My name is gabbi i am fourteen and was dignosed with Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia (ALL) when i was three years old. I am in remission now and have been for 11 years. I was a lucky one and was put into remission only a few months after being dignosed. I still had to go through two and a half years of chemo therapy. I created this blog to help teens my age, older or younger going through cancer, parents who have kids my age going through treatment, kids/ teens that are already in remission and kids/ teens that are just going into remission, know what to expect after they go into remission. Things like what its like at school and what long term side affects are. Different topics everyday:) If you have any questions go ahead and ask :)