I have shared Ariella’s story through the end of her treatment. But as you all know, the story doesn’t end there. Ariella finished treatment in December 2017, rang the bell, had her central line removed in January 2018 and returned to school. It was a bit of an adjustment at first but she settled in. We had a lot to look forward to, a trip to LA in April, a weekend in Ocean City in April, a trip to Myrtle Beach, our wish trip to Disney, 3 weeks at sleepover camp, and then later on another trip to LA and a week in Ocean City. We had 3 months where we could just focus on the now but it was hard to get excited for anything knowing that the upcoming scans would dictate what we would and would not be doing. Her first set of off-treatment scans was in March and they were clear. We knew we would be able to go to LA and Ocean City. Ariella returned to the dance studio even with the ex-fix on her leg and began working on her dance skills. We went to LA with Dancers against Cancer and then went to Ocean City with Believe in Tomorrow. Ariella went to her dance company’s competitions, had sleepovers with friends, and was winding down the school year. We still had a lot to look forward to but it was hard to get excited again knowing scans were once again looming. Ariella was preparing to dance a small part in her dance recital. Leading up to recital she rehearsed with her friends. The day of recital was also the day of her chest X-ray.
On June 1, 2018 in the morning she had her x-ray and by 11:00 we got the news that the x-ray showed a 2 cm lesion on her lung. She had been dropped off at school after the x-ray and we had to then pick her back up and take her for a CT scan to get further information. At the time we just told her that the doctor needed more info. While waiting for CT results we took her back to school and waited for the phone call. It came not long after with the dreaded news that she had multiple lesions on each lung that appeared to be cancer. I don’t remember much about that phone call, I just remember screaming and crying and dropping to the floor. How? How could this be happening, again? We barely had 6 months of “normalcy”. How were we going to do it all again? We just went through hell and were still recovering. Our world was shattered again. How were we going to tell Ariella? Telling Ariella the cancer came back was more awful that you can imagine. She cried for a while but then said she still wanted to dance in the recital. She danced that night and twice the next day. She slept over a friend’s house. Even though I wanted her with me she needed her friend.
The next couple of weeks were again filled with more scans and biopsies. She did manage to finish the school year (5th grade had their closing ceremony a week prior to the actual end of school). We met with our doctor to discuss treatment plan. We looked at trials and studies and consulted with a renowned doctor in Cleveland. On June 6, 2018 Ariella had her fixator removed and a full leg cast placed. On June 13, 2018 (one year to the day she had her tumor removed) Ariella had a biopsy on her lung (once again requiring her to have a chest tube) and had her port placed. The port was new for Ariella. Previously she had the Hickman catheter, but the port made more sense for this treatment protocol. So no weekly dressing changes, but being poked every time she needs to be accessed. She handled port placement and chest tube like a champ and was out of the hospital after a couple days, in time to throw out the first pitch in a Bowie Baysox game that Sunday. And then we began gearing up to start the battle once again.