ReachOutGiving

April 12th 2011 to April 15th 2011

we started with an appointment with our family Dr. Steven had been telling me he was getting winded while longboarding down the road a block caused him to run out of breath so i took him in. our dr said Steven you seem to have walking pneumonia. I was stunned to say the least, Steven was cracking a joke earlier in the week that he could have walking Pneumonia ( not funny),our Dr sent us immediately to get an x ray done. the next morning our Dr. called us to come in to meet with him he had an urgency in his tone that I later found out the reason for. once we arrived he told us that it seemed to him that there was more going on with Steven then he expected. his next questions were about cancer and he informed us that Steven might have lymphoma and that was causing the shortness of breath and fluid in his lung. he then ordered a ct scan asap so we went for the ct wednesday morning this confirmed his suspicion and we were later that day briefed by a surgeon at st Joe's in Tacoma WA. he informed us what he felt was lymphoma Stevens lung was 75% filled with fluid and his heart was beginning to shift due to the fluid the ct scan also showed his chest to have a 9 cm mass compressing his airway causing Stevens shortness of breath we did  the pre opt on wednesday as well. Thursday surgery to drain his lung and place a port as a biopsy was done to confirm the lymphoma . well to say the least all was happening so quickly I felt no time to think. after Stevens surgery we made an appointment to the oncology dept at our local hospital within an hour we were sent, we got there the meeting was brief and direct the Dr. explained to us that even though they did not have all of the facts yet, as there are many types of lymphoma, in children cancer grows at a much more rapid rate than in adults she then said she can not treat youth here and to get into the car and go to Seattle childrens  so we went.

we live 35 to 40 miles away 45 min with good traffic 2 hrs in rush hour we got here and started treatment right away more tests were done to pinpoint the type of cancer they would be treating bone marrow and spinal fluids were tested and they came back to non Hodgkin's t-cell lymphoblastic  lymphoma. so I don't really know what this means right so I ask my questions and it come down to an extensive treatment plan for 8 months and a total of 2 years to treat with chemotherapy.

June 3 2011

well here we are 1 1/2 months later lots of blood tests lots of fluids we are staying in Seattle for treatment as all of the rest of the family awaits our return we have made a few trips home but are at a phase of the treatment that causes Steven to feel crummy and have little appetite so well on monday he got his first transfusion which lasted 4 hrs and on Tuesday he started a chemo drug that required him to be hydrated that was a 6 hr app. and a daily drug for 4 days in a row so we are still in Seattle until further notice it seems every time we think we can go home they seem to change their minds it is for the best though I am sure I would hate to be stuck in traffic trying to get Steven hospital care.