A Thanksgiving message from my daughter Kelli Barfield the mother of my grandaughter Abby Grace Barfield. Abbys story ♡♥♡ On this day 3 years ago about this same time, I took my then soon to be 1 yr old baby girl to the Dr for a regularly scheduled check up. She was just starting to pull up on things and I had noticed a bump over her eye. I really thought nothing of it, kids get bumps right? But since it had been there over a week and didnt seem to be getting better, I thought well, I will just ask. the Pediatrician looked at it and she was concerned. She said Kelli, I want her to have a CT. I said ok doc, but can it wait until Monday? I mean it is the day before Thanksgiving, I have a turkey to get in the oven and a bunch of people to feed. Surely it is just a bump. She said it may be, but I will feel better if it is checked out today. She said go ahead and go do your errands, I will set it up and I will call you to tell you where to go. So, I proceeded on with my day and was shoppjng at Walmart with Kenna Proffitt when I got the call that she could not find anywhere to give an infant a CT and that I was to go to Sacred Heart Er and they were expecting us. Still feeling a little annoyed that this was cutting into my prep time(because surely it was just a bump) I made my way to the ER. We got there around 4pm anf still at 10pm we had heard nothing. Abby was asleep, they had given her anesthesia so that they could do the tests. I walked into the hall to see if I could find a drink machine and I look up and I see one of Abbys pediatricians. This struck me as odd because she had told me hours before that she had plans to go out of town with her family. I asked her what she was doing and I thought she would be on her way to vacation. She said I will catch up with them later, has anyone talked with you. I told her no, we had been here for hours and know nothing. She said well, I am here because what everyone is thinking and no ine wants to say to you is, they have found a porous mass that is what is making her eye bulge, we are not 100% but it is probably cancer, we dont know what kind or how big or how bad. But you are going to be admitted and dont make any plans because she will likely be here for a while. I was in shock. When we got to a room we met with an oncologist. He told us what the options were and that we would be having a biopsy in the next day or so and that they would cut open her skull and take a sample and then we would better know what we were dealing with. We had the biopsy, they cut from the top of her head to bottom of her ear. The surgeon came out and said that she was certain it was cancer, they did not know what tupe but thay it filled her entire nasal cavity, and the orbit of her eye and that the optic nerves were heavily entwined. She said that she got as much as they could out and that they would be checking to see if it was anywhere else in the body. After what seemed an eternity, we were told that it was neuroblastoma cancer and that it had originated on her adrenal gland and that it had metastasized and spread to her nasal cavity, between the right and left side of her brain, begind her lung and down her spine and that there was activitu in her legs. The prognosis was 50/50.. this specific type of cancer, if caught before the child is 1 is fairly easy to treat, if after thr 1st year it is extremely hard to treat and beat it. We caught it just days before Abby turned 1. The doctor said that they would follow their protocol since she had not yet turned one and we proceeded immediately with very agreasive chemo. We didnt leave the hospital for 5 weeks. She had her first birthday in the hospital and we were released the day before Christmas just so that we could have her home and then we returned to the hospital the day after. After many many months of Chemo and scans amd countless hospitalizations, I am so thonkful to say that we will be celebrating Abby Graces 4 th Birthday this Saturday!!!! She is happy and full of life and personality. We are still fighting through the after effects she was left blind in one eye and the strong doses of chemo and where the tumors were placed have caused some emotional and behaviorial issues but we are working through them and we are now over 1 yr with no active sogn of disease. Will still have regular scans and we are in the hospital for a week at a time and we travel to see an ophthalmologist every 3 months. It is an ongoing fight but I can honestly say that I am so very blessed that she has come out the other side as well as she has! A long the way we have met some truly special people and I would like to thank them now, Dr. Theresa Mahaffey, Dr. CeCe, Dr. Jeffery Schwartz, Dr. Evangeline Brown and Dr. Sarah Waite. We have ablsoultely adopted some of the BEST nurses and consider them family, (Megs) Megan McDaniel, (TT) Tara Nolan, ( ash a lee) Ashley Holladay, Kayla Stuart, Katie Weaver, Mallory Niemann, Marissa Walley, Anna Westerman to ae just a few. I would like to thank so many people for their prayers and support and the people who organized fundraisers for her, Amanda Bledsoe, Carly Enfinger, the community of Jay, Pensacola Police Dept, the student Government at PJC, everyone at the Dept of Corrections, Brandon Mcmackin. And the many churches amd individuals that donated. I am so thankful for some very special friends Kenna Proffitt, Shannon Amato, Leigh Anne Bell, and Amanda White. I do not know how I would have made it through with out you. Thank you to Brad ans Shauna Fisher for being so understanding and flexible with me. I really appreciate uou so much. And of course thank you to all my family and friends! There are too many of us all to name here but I love you all so much and am so grateful for your support and love!
Posted on: Thu, 28 Nov 2013 21:25:25 +0000