Juliana was diagnosed wil ALL on Dec 30th, 2021. She had 2 random fevers between Nov – Dec. unknown causes, was tested for everything. It was just “viral” and needed to run its course. The second fever she had was extremely high fever. After that, we noticed she didn’t want to walk. She had leg pains (which we assumed was growing pains). Then she wasn’t eating much, she was very pale, low energy, and sleeping a lot. I felt like something was way off. I talked to our pediatrician and asked for blood work. We had an appointment for the following week. I couldn’t wait. I was able to get her in the next day. I finally got her results through mychart and knew it was cancer by just looking at her bloodwork.

At the beginning she didn’t want to walk. She hated the IVs and would refuse to move her arms. During treatment she lost a lot of her balancing skills and strength and was very shaky. Certain chemos caused that. She was on a clinical trial for 2 -1 month infusions. She was connected to a bag for 28 days each time. That infusion would make her arms and hands very unstable. She’s currently in jazz and able to keep up. Last year when she joined, it was a struggle.

Her treatment plan is about 2.5 yrs long. She’s had 17 procedures so far. She has one more left in late December to remove her port. About half have been through anesthesia, 3 have been half awake with meds, and the rest were with laughing gas. I’ve lost track of how much chemo she’s gotten. It’s been so much, and she also takes a night chemo pill. 

Juliana was diagnosed right in the middle of covid. We were very much isolated. No visitors allowed in the hospital. At home we only did long distance visits. There were a couple of gatherings where everyone was masked and took covid tests. 

Our struggles have been mostly mental health related. It’s hard, mentally. Lots of stress. Lots of ER trips and unexpected hospital stays.

Cancer changes everything. My husband has luckily been able to work from home the whole time. Juliana lost most of her childhood due to cancer. She’s missed out on a lot. We all have a family. We were in survival mode and still are. Juliana is the strongest kid I know! 

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