The more, the merrier!

Melody is now 15 years old. She is still being followed at the IWK Children's Hospital in Nova Scotia. Melody has been very strong through all this and we are very proud of her. Below is the original write up for Melody's story and the concept for this blog.



Melody is just 6 years old and has recently been diagnosed with Juvenile Dermatomyositis; a rare disease that only 1 to 3 children per million a year are diagnosed with. She is currently undergoing a great deal of testing at a children's hospital to determine the extent of the disease and how it will be treated. This disease comes with plenty of pain and limits Melody's ability to do a lot of the things children her age enjoy.



Seeing that this disease cannot be cured, only treated, Melody has a long road ahead of her. Her family would give anything to make this road a little brighter for their special girl. This is where you come in! We all know how exciting it is to get a handwritten letter or card in the mailbox, so we thought it would be fun for Melody to look forward to getting some mail of her own. She has a map of the world on her wall and puts a little sticker on every place she receives a letter from.







If you'd like to send along some sunshine, please send it to the following address:







Mail for Melody



57 Chaleur Drive



Belledune, NB



E8G 1Z3



Canada







Thank you so much for taking the time to participate. Your thoughtfulness is deeply appreciated! We will continue to update this blog with Melody's progress, so feel free to come back anytime.







How many letters has Melody received so far?


7/16/09

Unexpected Trip Back to the IWK

Melody was feeling pretty bad a couple of weeks ago. She could barely stand and her face was swollen really bad, especially around the eyes. We decided to call the IWK. We were told to have her there first thing in the morning. So we basically hung up the phone, packed quickly and left. So on July 2nd we were back in the doctor's office with Melody. It turns out that Melody was having what is called a flare up from the disease. They thought of admitting her but decided in the end to let her go home. So after an adjustment to her medication and a date to return we were able to leave.
On July 13th we were back at the IWK once again. This time it was a planned visit. These visits are so hard on Melody. Staying quiet during exams, listening to "grown up" talk, waiting, and usually going through tests of some kind. However the great thing about the IWK is that Buddy is always there to make her feel better. Buddy is a wonderful clown who always finds time to make Melody smile and giggle when we go there. Jenn from Child Life is another person who makes things less scary for Melody. She goes with her to do the tests and makes sure Melody goes through them without being too scared or stressed. So a big thank you to Buddy and Jenn for helping Melody through all this. As for this past visit... For once we left without any big concerns. It was nice to drive home and not be in a panic about something. The doctor's only big concern was that Melody's white blood cells are pretty high. We will be going back to the IWK on July 28th and they will do more tests then and decide what will need to be done. Rob and I hope everything will be fine.

4 comments:

melody's grammy [annie] said...

oh buddy, you are so cute and what is more important is that melody thinks, you are great..she tells me stories of you when she comes home and thinks i should come down and meet you..our baby girl has had to grow up a lot in the past month, so its really nice to have people there who is caring and understanding..thanks a bunch

Susan McGregor said...

I love your blog this is great. You are doing a great job with all this ordeal. I have a little one 15 months old, we also visit IWK regularly, it is a beautiful place they always make the visits so much easier. We don't ever wish our kids to be sick but thank God for places like IWK.. take care our thoughts are with you.

susam McGregor

Anonymous said...

Dear Lord, Please always be there for little Melody, Please don`t let her suffer more than she has to !!!
& I pray that this july 28th.visit is filled with Good news!!!!
Thanks to IWK & people like Buddy !!!
God Bless

Anonymous said...

Hi Melody,
Today my kitty cat whispered in my ear and said that you will feel better real soon so hang in there hon, i know your a tough little girl because my kitty cat told me so!!!

God Bless you Sweetie
Sandy & Kitty Cat are sending you lots of hugs !!