Once arriving at the airport we drove the hour or so home to Baumholder/Strassburg Kaserne, Germany. Once home we tried to find a way to start our new life. Jordyn was in a new place, new time zone, and around a new person who's only recongiztion to her was his voice. She explored our apartment but never ventured far from me. The next day was Halloween and she was "An Angel"...how little we knew that a year and some odd months later she REALLY would be an angel. We didn't take Jordyn out trick or treating, we handed out candy instead. Jordyn loved it! She loved seeing all the kids dressed up in their costumes and handing out the candy.
As the weeks went by Jordyn fell in love with her daddy and loved playing with him and cuddlling with him. She looked forward to his return everyday from work. Jordyn and I were learning a new life in Germany. We went on daily walks when it wasn't raining, or more realistic, after it quit raining! (It rained A LOT!!) We played with toys and I began teaching her colors and numbers and ABC's. We began meeting people and Jordyn had a few playmates. Her favorite friends were Kayla and Clarissa Sosa. They were older than Jordyn and she loved older kids!!
Things were going on great, we celebrated our first Thanksgiving together as a family and my first one away from my parents. We had dinner out our place and had friends and a few single soldiers over to eat with us. I probably called back home 10 times!! Next was Christmas and we were so excited to see her open her presents. Of course Jordyn could care less about opening presents until the very last gift was left to open, which was one for Chad and then she tore into it!!! We celebrated the New Year with Chad having duty, so about 10 minutes to midnight, I grabbed Jordyn up and we went down to see the New Year in with Daddy. We went home and called back to the states to wish them Happy 1999!!! We never could have guessed what the new year was about to bring us.
Jordyn turned 9 months old and was began walking! We were busy and always on the go. I began taking classes to have a daycare in my home in Febuary. Things were going well. After all my tests I began watching a child on a regular part-time basis. She was 18 months old and her and Jordyn played well together. Jordyn was great at sharing her toys and we really had a lot of fun. Jordyn was learning more and more everyday. In Febuary Jordyn had came down with the flu. She had vommited so much that I was worried she was going to get dehydrated so we took her to the nearest hospital, which was a German hospital. They drew blood and kept her over night. They gave her an iv with fluids. By the next morning she was back to her happy normal self so we discharged her. We told them that if she got sick again we would take her to Landstuhl Army Hospital. The dr gave us a piece of paper sealed in an evelope and told us to give it to the dr if we took her. We had no idea what was on the paper. Jordyn recovered well and things were going fine.
March came and we were getting ready for her 1st birthday. Invitations for her birthday party had been sent and given out and I was so excited for this day! I took her in for her 1 year well baby check up on March 23. They drew blood to check her iron and the dr told me that Jordyn had Croup. She gave me a piece of paper on things to do for her to help her get over it and the last thing she told me (and I will NEVER forget this) is, "Don't worry she can't die from it". How far from the truth she was. The next day, March 24, Jordyn seemed to get worse. She slept a lot and I held her most of the day with her sleeping on my chest. I steamed the bathroom and took her outside to try and loosen everything up, but she seemed to only be getting worse. Her breathing was labored and I went and got Chad from the gym and we took her to Landstuhl to the ER.
We got to Landstuhl around 8 or 9 pm and as soon as I walked up to the desk the nurse heard Jordyn and immediately took us back to a room and they began listening and trying to start an iv to get blood. They kept telling me that she could have died and why didn't I get her in sooner? I was crying and told them what the dr said to me, "Don't worry she can't die". They all stopped what they were doing and the nurse grabbed me and told me she was sorry, that the dr lied to me and that Jordyn was only getting 15% oxygen, her windpipes were swelled closed 75%! They had to give her a steriod to open up her windpipes. They did this and after many tries finally got an iv started. They had an oxygen mask over her face and Jordyn seemed to be doing a little better finally. They did X-Rays to check for fluid on her lungs, to see if she had developed pnemonia, at that point they said she hadn't...so that was good news. They called the pediatrician that was on-call, Dr (Cpt) Fuller. He arrived and talked to us for a few, told us we would definately be staying the night so they could observe her and that once everything was arranged they would come and take her upstairs. A while later we could hear the dr and nurse talking outside of Jordyn's room. We couldn't make out what they were saying but it didn't sound good. The nurse came in and told us that Dr. Fuller would be coming to talk to us they had found something. We asked her what and she said it was better if he told us, we told her, "no you tell us". She said it looks like Jordyn has leukemia. LEUKEMIA? How could our beautiful little girl have a disease that other people's children get? Not our Jordyn. Soon after Dr. Fuller came in and told us that there was 2 types of leukemia Jordyn could have, A.L.L (Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia), or A.M.L, (Acute Myelogenious Leukemia). He told us to PRAY for ALL, that it was more common in children and survival was higher and it was easier to treat. He told us that they would be taking Jordyn upstairs to I.C.U (Intensive Care Unit) and that in the morning we would be flying to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. Chad and I were numb, crying, and confused. We got upstairs and everyone up there was just wonderful to us and Jordyn. We were able to call our families and try to explain to them that our percect little girl could possibly die and that we would be "home" the next day. That night we kept oxygen on Jordyn and held her all night long taking turns sleeping. The next morning, Dr. Fuller came in and said there was a change in plans, Jordyn would not be going to Walter Reed yet, that it wasn't safe for her to fly, instead they would be sending us to a German Hospital, Homburg University Clinc. About an hour later it was time to go. We were still in a haze and trying to digest the fact that our baby had cancer and we didn't know what was ahead of us. |
