Cassidy likes to have visitors. She's most conscious during 11:00 am - 2:00 pm period. She is joyful especially to see her friends.
Nevertheless, please try letting Carmen knows, via emails, SMS, Messengers etc, before you go visit so as to make sure they are not away for treatment, examinations, etc. Thank you. :)
The doctors are very concerned about Cassidy and want to keep her for the weekend. The tumour in her mouth has gotten visibly larger, so they want to to see if the tumours on her back are growing as well. The doctors will do biopsy on her mouth tumour and an MRI for both her mouth and her back tomorrow. If the doctors think there is an emergency, they will start the radiation on the weekend; if not, they will start the radiation next Tuesday.
Prayer meeting at Church tonight. We are with you, Caca, Aaron, Carmen and Andy.
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| Prayer meeting at Church |
Please pray fervently for the effectiveness of Chemo during these 5 days so as not to get worse in the physical condition! Caca needs your prayer support! We will have prayer meeting, at Church, tonight at 8pm. Come and join us.
The doctor indicated that the plan, after these 5 days, would be to start the next treatment cycle on August 18 provided that there're sufficient blood counts. Side effects could show more during the following 2 weeks at home. Pray that side effects are minimal.
Please, God, please help Caca with Your mighty healing hand! Improvement and control of the tumours, not to get worse. Your will be done!
It's a day with overwhelming information.
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| Caca and Phoebe Je Je |
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| Fell into sleep |
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| Friendship & love |
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| This one probably speaks for Caca's "Quality of Life" |
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| Papa Andy praying with Caca |
Cassidy's prognosis is not good, as there are more lesions found in Caca's Bone scan. On top of the one in her month and on t spine, there are One in sacrum, one in ilium, and many tiny one throughout the spine. Doctor recommended her to start Chemo ASAP to control the tumor growth. We don't know if the chemo will work or not, she might need other treatments if chemo doesn't.
Caca's treatment goal has changed from curative to palliation approach meaning all treatments will be for local control only. She will have a support group from palliation team to ensure her quality of life is achieved.
It is devastating to be told by the doctor that even if Chemo works this time, the cancer will come back again, Caca might have a cancer free period between 6-12 months. There are still many unknowns at this point and the doctor cannot give us many answers as Caca's case is very unique to them. We can only take things one step at a time and hope Caca can fight through this just like she did 7 years ago.
Prayers items:
1. Thank God for having Papa Andy to lead the family with God's word and sharing as well as the unity of the family in praying together fervently.
2. Thank God for the prayer support of you all.
3. Please continue to pray for the grace and mercy of God in leading the physicians in looking after Caca.
4. Pray that God's peace and comfort be with the family especially Caca at this different time.
5. Pray that God to grant them strength in facing such a situation, and that with God's will to lead the way of Caca and the family.
6. Pray that the pain of Caca is minimal.
Today is July 28, 2014.
Mama Carmen said Cassidy would be at Sickkids at 1:00 pm. They will meet with the oncologist, Dr. Baruchel of Cassidy's case before the start of chemotherapy.
Please continue to pray for God's grace and mercy!
July 26, 2014.
I am in deep sorrow and pain, not knowing where to find peace though I
know I should be able to find in Christ. I can't see the future.
Doctors
believe that chemotherapy is what should be done at this point of time
to avoid the tumors from growing. Cassidy will start the cycle of
chemotherapy on Monday, for 5 consecutive days. Not knowing the duration
and effectiveness of chemo, however, this is the suggested treatment,
with all that we know, that should be done ASAP. She will have a port
(or portacath) installed beneath her skin. That is something she really
doesn't like, but there's no choice and she has to accept it.
Oral cavity and spinal surgeries are very difficult and harmful to Cassidy, they are not the best options for now.
This
will be the most horrible and hardest battle that Cassidy is gonna to
fight. We pray, we share Bible messages and we cry out for God's mercy.
However, we can't find peace in facing such a big challenge. I can feel
that Cassidy simply has no choice but to accept and face her conditions.
She cried and was in tears when the oncology team was explaining to her
about her situation. She has never cried as hard as me, and she has
never expressed her feeling in front of us.
Please continue to
pray for Cassidy and our family. May God heal her with His gracious and
merciful hand, and lessen her pain physically and mentally!
我真的好心痛好傷心！我不知道如何能找着平安！日子變得好黑暗!
醫
生認為Cassidy 要立刻作化療以防止她的腫瘤継續長大。Cassidy
會在下星期一接受化療, 一連五日。其功效及會做多久卻不明確，但認該是目前應盡早做的方法！將有一裝置 (port or port-a-cath)放在她皮下.那是她很不喜歡的裝置，但無奈要接受。
口腔及脊骨的手術很困難而且對Cassidy
會做成另一種傷害，暫時不是有利的方法！這將會是Cassidy至今最可怕及最困難的一場仗。我們
同心禱告，分享神的話語，我們向神呼求祂的憐憫，但我們找不著平安。我們如何能用平安的心去面對？我感覺到Cassidy很無奈地接受和面對她的病況!
當腫瘤科組員向她解釋她的情況時，她哭了，眼淚流滿面。但她從來沒有像我哭得那麼利害，也沒有向我們表達她內心的感受。
請你們為Cassidy及我們一家禱告！求神的醫治 及減輕她的痛苦！我真的很難受很難過！
July 25, 2014.
Cassidy is in a critical health issue. There're two new tumors found in
Cass's spine as well as oral cavity yesterday. The prognosis isn't very
good as these lesions are non-resectable. The doctors were considering
remove the tumor on her spine, then chemotherapy
after. However, it's a very critical and difficult spot to preform the
surgery, and the chemo won't kill the cancer. It may only be able to
control the growth of the tumors! My heart is heavy and my hands are
shaking to continue on......I really don't know
how/what to pray...I did ask "點解" & "點算". Would you please continue
to pray for Cassidy and my family, please?
July 24, 2014.
Cass is still in pain every morning she wakes up! She feels that pain is
from inside of her back! We are going to Sickkids soon for CT scan this
morning! She has some strange thing in her mouth too! She's been seeing
doctors and physio since she went back home! Pls pls continue to pray for
her! Pls!
June 16, 2014.
Spent a wonderful weekend with our friends in Rochester Cass will see
the surgeon and do her 1st major check up and scans after the surgery
tomorrow.
Praying that everything will be ok and that she can go back to school and swimming right afterward
Today
I was finally able to go back to swimming, I was so happy I started
crying
. I hope that it won't take long for me to get back to my normal
sort of training . I was wearing my new water leg today, it's great for
walking on pool decks so I don't slip as much. Thank you all so much
again for all your prayers and support
It was a big surprise to receive the Rising Star Scholarship when I
attended the Variety Village athlete banquet last Thursday. This
scholarship will really help my training fee. Thank you!
June 6, 2014.
We received the report from Dr. Baruchel (Oncologist) yesterday.
Having heard to his explanation to Cass's pathology report and her
situation, the first thing I said to Cass was: "You really need to pray
and leave everything to God for your daily life". My feeling is
complicated and I still think it's too hard for Cass's life. We have
mixed news, but we thank God anyhow for what we believe is still a good
situation.
Cassidy is currently
tumour-free. As far as the doctors are concerned, all the osteosarcoma
cells have been removed (in good margin). Cassidy will be classified
under "constant observation" for the time being to ensure she is
completely clean. Both cancer cells previously detected were indeed
“osteosarcoma”. Since those cancer cells found in Cass's two turmors did
not respond to the chemo drugs, there would be no effective chemo drugs
which could effectively deal with these bad cells. Hence, the hospital
had decided to remove them with surgery rather than applying chemo
drugs. During such time, I was scared when I heard from the oncologist
that surgery was required instead......There's no precaution, no chemo
drugs, no study for Cass's case of her late relapse in soft tissue. Now I
understand why we call it "絶症" in Chinese.
Cassidy's
case is a medical anomaly to the doctors at Sickkids. They have never
had a patient whose late relapse of cancerous lesions or tumours have
grown in soft tissue. Cassidy has been declared to have a 40-50% chance
of another relapse (although it will be like this relapse) that could
possibly have more tumours returning in the soft tissue of her body.
However, the hospital would plan to remove any tumours that could ever
be found in Cass again in the future by surgery. From now on we will
need to see the oncology team more often. Besides this, will go for the
physical check up and X-Ray or CT scan every three months. There will be
two meetings to follow up with Cass’s case: first with a surgeon and
afterwards with a genetics doctor. They will update us on Cassidy's
return to swimming and the possibility of finding out more about Cass's
cancer and her relapse in the future, respectively.
If
I could rephrase what I talked to Cass after the meeting with the
doctors, I would have said: "Give it everything you’ve got, and trust
God for the outcome...to hope, to love, to serve. Live one day at a
time."
Please continue to pray for
Cass. This is the battle she is called to fight for. "Right now we can’t
see a cure for cancer, not literally in front of us. But the vision is
there, and countless teams of individuals — doctors and nurses,
scientists and researchers — are living the vision. They see a day in
the not-so-distant future when we will live in a cancer-free world."
May 28, 2014.
We are going to see the doctors tomorrow. Here's the update of Cass.
Cass
is recovering so well at home. She exercises her arms and practises her
breathing everyday. We are going to meet the oncology for the pathology
result tomorrow at 10:30am (Thursday). Please continue to pray for her
recovering and her health issue.
We feel peace and joy for all the love God has
surrounded us with: family's great love, prayers and support from
friends all over the places.
May 14, 2014.
Today is the 3rd day since the surgery (May 14, 2014). Cass is fighting hard to recover!
Cass is still in the constant observation room. She's been sleeping
most of the time like yesterday, but she doesn't feel as much pain (her
pain level is dropped from 7 to 2 now). She's been given morphine orally
and from the IV on top of the epidural since the epidural does not seem
to be working as well as expected. She can hardly move & breath
deeply because of the pain. However, she was able to sit up a bit for 30
mins with the help of the physio. She had a fever yesterday so she was
given antibiotics for the infection.
Thanks for friends &
family's support & prayers! I am giving her hugs for all of you and
I'll tell her one by one when she is more awake. Please continue to pray
for her recovery from the surgery."
Cassidy has been moved to a room in the evening but she's been complaining the nausea after the moving.
May 13, 2014.
May 12, 2014.
May 6, 2014.
