Monday, September 21, 2009

First Little Bird House Concert




Hey, this weekend I went to my mom's first ever little bird house concert.
It was soooooooooo cool I had the best time EVER!!!! We raised $905 of donation money!!!
I also got to sing my part in my moms song that she wrote for me called Off and Running
and my aunt came up with us and sang a set also which was exiting too!! My moms next house concert will be next week and I am looking forward to it!!
school is tomorrow unfortunately but I love my teachers they are so nice and luckily I got all my homework done on Friday so I am all set. I am also taking Spanish and over the weekend I saw my Spanish teacher at a local bagel shop she is really nice so I said hi
well that's all for now I'll blog again soon
Luv,
Julia


Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Make A Wish Foundation





Hi everyone, it's Julia! School started yesterday and i really like my teacher, Mrs. K. we already had homework on the first day! But it wasn't so bad, just math and writing and I really like both of those subjects. I was so happy to find out that she likes the Twilight Books because so do I - i already read them twice!
Summer was really fun. I hung out with my friends, played Lacrosse, went to the beach and I did A LOT of stuff with Make A Wish! First, I went to a Rock Cats baseball game and met the owner of the team, and Rocky (he's the mascot) signed my shirt and I was able to sit behind the catcher's mound to watch the game - it was so cool!
Then Make a Wish had a beach party and i got to speak! - I said, "Thank you to Make A Wish and thank you for making kid's wishes come true!" it was so much fun.
THEN Make A Wish invited me to the Yankees game last week! I got to go to the new stadium and take a tour of the stadium, then the catching, pitching and batting coaches worked with us and we practiced on the field!! Then we stayed and watched the game. I love baseball!!
I can't believe how much Make a Wish does for kids. My dad is a Make a Wish ambassador so he gets to takes me to these activities, and my mom gives money to them when she sells her cds. I am very grateful to everyone at Make a Wish because they really take care of kids.

I had to go to the hospital a couple of weeks ago. This time it was for a bone scan and blood work and x-rays. I would like to start my treatments soon for growth hormones but I can't because I haven't grown enough. i don't really understand what's going on so I try not to think about it much. My mom said not to worry and that everything will be ok, but sometimes I worry anyway.

I'm really excited about this school year. I think it's going to be fun and it's my last year before I start middle school so I'm going to work really hard. I decided I want to be a lawyer so I need to start planning now. I'm also going to be recording a song with my mom soon too. And, she wants me to sing with her at some concerts she is doing to raise money for cancer research. So my mom and dad are keeping me really busy too! But that's good. I like to be busy.
Ok, well that's about it for now and I'll write again soon. Check out my pictures from the Make A Wish events!!
Stay strong and stay beautiful,
Love Julia

Friday, July 10, 2009

My Story

It all started when I was 7 years old. I was having stomach aches and I was tired all the time so my mom took me to the doctor. We thought I was lactose intolerant or that I had appendicitis. When it turned out that it wasnʼt those things, my Mom suggested we do an MRI and it turned out that I had a tumor in my right ovary. I went in for surgery on June 29th, 2005. That night the doctors found out that not only were there tumors in my right ovary, they were in my left one too and they had spread. I had cancer. They took out my ovaries.

Dr. Hagstrom, my oncologist, said I needed chemotherapy. He told me about the side effects and I was afraid at first. But then I realized that it was the best choice for me - because if I hadnʼt gotten the chemo there would have been a 75% chance of me not living. I was really afraid of losing my hair. I remember one time when I was in the shower I was washing my hair and when I pulled on my hair to get the excess water out, a clump of it came out and I started crying. I lost all my hair and the chemo also made me feel very sick all the time. The drugs that they were giving me made my teeth turn brown, and had to chew on these chalky mouth drops and it was HORRIBLE! My mom also had to give me shots everyday and I hated it - I cried every time. I remember when I would get CAT scans and ultra sounds I had to drink a lot of this lemonade medicine that made me glow! (It tasted awful too). I remember going into the hospital for my first treatment of chemotherapy after surgery and looking out of the window and seeing a Dunkin Donuts. Now, when I go to the hospital for after care and I see that Dunkin Donuts I know weʼre getting closer! I donʼt like going to the hospital every six months but I know that itʼs important to get CAT scans and checkups.

There are some ok memories though too. When I was on the 8th floor (the cancer ward at the Connecticut Childrenʼs Medical Center, the CCMC) recovering after my surgery and getting treatments, the nurses painted my nails and played lots of games with me. There also was a playroom that I could play in which had plastic toy trucks that you could ride around the hallways in! I remember all the books that I would look at with the nurses. The nurses and doctors were really nice and took very good care of me. They always explained everything to me and played with a doll to show me what my treatments would be like. I had a port in my chest for my chemotherapy and they showed me how it worked. I will never forget that.

Now I am 10 years old and three years into recovery and I am feeling very well. I am in the fifth grade and I love my teacher! My best friends are in my class and the future looks very bright for me. As I said, I still have to go in for treatments every six months and soon Iʼll start taking hormones to develop into a woman. My hair did grow back, and Iʼll probably only cut an inch off every time I get a hair cut - FOREVER!

I want to give thanks to all my doctors, nurses, my Mom and Dad and friends and strangers who supported me through these tough times. You have all been such a great help and wonderful to me during these years and I thank you so very much for that. And for all the girls out there who have ovarian cancer, and who are undergoing chemotherapy, stay strong and believe in yourself and believe in the future. You can be a survivor too.

Love,
Julia Davis