Nadia's Journey

Donation Information

2007-02-01T09:08:00.000-08:00

For those who would like to daonate to Nadia & her family.

Banl of Montreal

7201-253

Thank you

Nadia's Surgery last week

2007-01-22T07:09:00.000-08:00

Monday, January,22nd 2007 @11:15 am

On Thurs. Jan. 18th/07, Nadia had a few procedures done in the OR. Nadia had a spinal tap done for a test the doctors are doing...her right eye( which is the eye with the most damage from the chemical burns that occured during her brain surgery) was worked on by the opthamologist and Nadia had all of her baby teeth removed... there can be some complications with the chemo that can cause serious complications with her baby teeth so they remove them to avoid any chance for infections. It will take a couple of years for the adult teeth to grow in....Nadia has been enjoying eating a range of popsicle colours over the week end..red, blue,orange...
On Fri. Jan. 19th/07, Nadia had to go back into the OR to have a line/catheder put into her chest(into the heart) so she doesnt have to endure repeated needles and IV's during her treatments. Her veins are so tiny and weak and it is so painful to be stuck daily. Nadia also had a G Tube put into the side of her stomache...so she can receive constant nutrition and calories she so badly needs....to gain weight and be strong to endure her treatments and fight her monster...the cancer.
That eveving Claude and the kids arrived for their week end visit....they stayed at the Ronald MacDonald House right near the hospital. From what I have heard from Gina....it is very nice and fun for the other 3 children.
Nadia was in so much pain that evening after the surgery..much more than usual...at first they thought there might be a complication from the surgery...she was in too much pain....it took a while for them to realize that maybe she was allergic to the pain medicine they were giving her. Morphine was the same medicine she had after her brain surgery 3 weeks ago and now explains why she had so much difficulty recovering...after they changed the pain medicine...her pain was controlled and she was doing so much better.
I called the hospital last night around 10:00pm and Nadia answered...Gina had just stepped out of the room....I had a wonderful chat with her...she is still just as sweet as she was prior to all of this nightmare she and her family have endured.
I am going to the bank today to finally open the account so I can post it on this site...I will also email the info to as many friends and family that I have email addresses for. If anyone has any questions or comments please feel free to email me at
samandpaul@rogers.com

Signed From a family friend,

Sam
I have been given some feedback about this site...for people who want to leave a comment for Gina or Claude and Nadia....you can scroll down to the bottom and click on

Nadia's Journey: Nadia's Journey

2007-01-20T00:53:00.000-08:00

Nadia's Journey:
samandpaul@rogers.com

emmagina@hotmail.com

brendawhite123456789@hotmail.com

lyneroy51@hotmail.com
rener@hotmail.com

taking a nap

2007-01-19T19:47:00.000-08:00

This picture was taken at the first hospital....

what a beautiful little girl...even when sleeping.

Sleep over Party

2007-01-19T16:27:00.000-08:00

Wednesday,January 17th,2007.

This update is written by Samantha(a family friend)

I got a call from Gina on Wednesday asking me if I knew of any hair salon close to the hospital or if my friend Brenda might be able to take her to get all of her hair cut off in support of Nadia...who had the remainder of her long brown hair except for the back where it is all shaved off from the surgery. I came up with a great idea to call a very well known spa/salon in Halifax and Dartmouth called The Interlude Spa and Salon. I actually had been there before on my wedding day for all the bridal party to get hair and nails done back in 1997. After talking with several staff explainig what we were looking to do and telling them a bit about Nadia and whats happened to their family back in NewBrunswick...I got a phone call back afew min. later from the manager named Nicole in Halifax.
She told me to come on down we would be glad to helpout and do the complimentary cut(which would only take 15 min to do).
So off I went on Wednesday night...I arrived with my overnight bag a pizza and a big smile at 10:30pm...Nadia has been having a difficult time falling asleep early. We had our little sleepover.I got to take tons of new picturess with my digital and my 35mm in all black in white. I will be posting a few new pictures from my visit this week. Both Gina and Nadia look so different....it had been over a week since I had visited with them last.
The next morning Nadia had to go down to the OR to have a spinal tap done and approx. 6 baby teeth removed and even the eye doctor was scrubbing in to do a procedure with her right eye(which is the eye that is injured the most).
As soon as they took her in to be put to sleep we raced to the parking lot to drive over to the spa/salon. It was a big seceret,she didnt want the kids or Claude to know until they saw her in person tonight(Friday,January 19th,2007) The kids and Claude drove down this morning and they have booked two nights to stay at the Ronald MacDonald house...I've heard that it is so nice inside...
With out going into all the details....Gina had all her hair cut, it took not even 15 min. When we tried to leave they said that we had to pay for the cut...neither of us had that money to do so...Apparently what happened is, that the manager in Halifax at the other location set this all up and didnt check with the owner...Brent is the owner and just happened to walk in while we were trying to leave. I was so embarassed that something I tried to arrange was going so wrong... Gina took her debit card out and said that she would pay....and then we asked how much? $42.18 is what we were ordered to pay.If we had known it would cost that much we could have gone to one of twenty salons in the city and paid 20.00 dollars instead. I didnt have the money with me for that...and I refused to let her pay for this, so I had to go out to the car and get the ziploc bag with the money we raised shovelling driveways last week. I put the little bag on the counter and loudly explained to everyone there here you go 40.00 out of our charity money...now we are 40.00 short. If we had time after the cut we were going to the bank to open the account so Gina would also be signed on it to access. So many people have been asking for the account #...I had hoped to go today but the snow storm changed that. I hope I will have it by no later than Monday. When were trying to leave the owner came around the counter and actually shook Gina's hand and explained to us that even though we gave him a copy of the newsletter with Nadia's picture and her story and the web site info...he still sad "I cant just have people walk in her and claim they have a sick child and expect free hair cuts I hope you understand that."
"And that I can give you a charitable donation I do it all the time,but you will pay fro the cut and you gave me only $40.00, you are short $2.18....I told him to take it out of the 5 dollars I left for the girl who cut Gina's hair...he said no thats her tip...we walked out and when we got in the car I broke down...I fet so bad for what was supposedto be a nice experience and an awesome thing what Gina was doing with her hair....for Nadia.
Everything went well with the procedures that were done yesterday morning.
Nadia was back in the OR today for 3 hours to have a G- tube put in her tummy. A G- tube is a tube that is connected into her tummy so she can receive nutrition.
She also had a line/catheder into her chest/heart so she does not have to be poked every time she has blood taken...or IV's and for her treatments for the cancer.I spoke with Gina a little while ago ( approx. 10:00pm,Friday Jan.19th)
She said that Nadia is in a ton of pain and is needing pain medicine again mainly for the pain where the G- tube was put in. She's been sleeping mostly and is not laughing and giggling like she has been all week. I know its so hard for Gina to see her in pain...Claude and the kids made it there safely...I am sure they will have a fun time.
I guess thats it for today with the updates...I will beposting a few new pictures also...I am emailing them to Gina in Halifax so she can see them.
If the weather gets better I will be going to the bank on Saturday s oI can finally post it on this site.
For anyone who is looking at the site please feel free to click on comments and follow the steps and leave a message...Gina and family are able to see them from the hospital and at their home computer when they are home.
Thank you so much to all the many people....friends,family and people who have never met Nadia and her family...it is so greatly appreciated.
A few people have gone on the internet and punched in the name Interlude Spa and Salon....and their web site pops up...it has a comment box for customers to give feedback....anyyone feel free to do the same. Its a shame that they are not concerned about bad PR...what happened yesterday at their Spa was awful...how anyone could suggest that we were making the story up about a sick child just to get a free hair cut....its sick to me.
Just to remind people...that this email has been written by Samantha (a family friend) I will write more news/updates as soon as I get them from Gina and Claude. Now that Gina has found a computer that she can use...I will give her all the info/passwords so she can do editing and writting the updates also.

Signed by,
Samnatha
On Friday January 19th,2007 @ 11:49pm
my email address is samandpaul@rogers.com if anyone would like to get in touch with me...in regards to the bank account or any questions.

2007-01-15T11:31:00.000-08:00

resting with friends....

2007-01-15T11:22:00.000-08:00

Help and Support

2007-01-15T09:17:00.000-08:00

Day 1

On Saturday December 30th 2006 Nadia was taken to the hospital due to a very bad headache...that wouldn't go away....after a cat scan it was determined that Nadia had a large tumor at the back of her brain. That same evening Gina and Claude met with the neuro surgeon that would perform her operation. They were told many details that night....the tumor was about the size of an egg...they couldn't tell at that time if it was cancer or not. Nadia was admitted to the city hospital and on Monday January 1st,2007 at around 10:00am her surgery started. It took about 5 hours to remove ...Claude and Gina were able to see Nadia in the recovery room before she went up to the ICU. They noticed a pinkish liquid pooled in both of her eyes and asked the staff it was blood??? It was not blood it was the cleaning solution used in the operating room to prep patients for surgery. While Nadia laid on her stomache the nurses prepared the back of her head and neck and poured this solution of mainly 70% pure alcohol onto her skin...unfortunately, they failed to stop the liquid from rolling down her face and into both of her eyes.The staff should have followed the emergency procedures on the packaging and flushed her eyes out...but they didn't, Nadia was left with severe chemical burns and a deep corneal abrasion on her right eye. Nadia has been in enormous amounts of pain as a result of her eye injury.....as if she wasn't in enough pain with the removal of her brain tumor!
It took a week to get the test results back on what type of tumor Nadia had....everyone was hoping and praying that it was not cancer.....After a long week of painful recovery Gina and Claude's worst nightmare came true.....it is cancer. Nadia is going to need months of chemo and radiation.
Last week Nadia was transfered out of province to a large childrens hospital...where she will start her treatments.
Being away from there home base and the kids is adding further trauma to the family....
This site is being set up for the family and all of the many extended family members and friends to read updates on Nadia's health and to communicate with eachother. With only one phone to use in the small room they are in....it can be difficult to talk with everyone and to place long distance calls.
For security reasons....it is important not to write any personal information...like last names and addresses....For anyone who would like to phone the hospital the # is 1888-470-5888....I wont give the room # ....if you call just ask for the full name and the dipatcher can put you through to the room.
Thank you.

This post is not written by Nadia or her parents....it has been written by a family friend named Samantha.