Chris and I (Katherine) have started this CaringBridge site while trusting that God is good all the time and he loves Thomas more than we ever could, but also with frail, human hearts who are begging for your prayers. Our darling son Thomas, four years old--but counting down to his fifth birthday in six weeks!--was diagnosed last night with an 11-centimetre tumor on his right kidney.
This all began about five days prior when Thomas was snuggling and playing on my lap and I began rubbing his belly, only to discover that I felt a large lump in the upper right quadrant. I did not know what it was, but it caused him no pain, so I checked on it for a few more days before I called our family doctor on Wednesday afternoon to make an appointment, which was given to me for Thursday at 9:00 a.m.
During that appointment, I've never seen our family doctor examine a child for so long. He was quiet and said he wanted to schedule a "stat/urgent" ultrasound for that day at 4:30, which was barely enough time for Thomas to fast all day (from food and water) in order to get a clear view of and through the intestines. The doctor also had three vials of blood drawn, which was a first for Thomas who amazed the nurses and me with how he just lay there calmly with nary a peep.
I went home and cleared the calendar of all tasks and stress in order to focus on making the day very fun and distracting for Thomas who, heretofore, has never been one to miss even a single snack! We went on a fun morning walk and explored the creek, then John (13) took him on a Big Brother Trek Through the Woods to hunt for treasures in order to get Thomas out of the house while we ate lunch. Thomas came back showing his wonderful treasures (five dirty balls from the woods!). Then Thomas (who has long dropped his nap) laid down like a lamb for a three-and-a-half hour nap, which wonderfully took up the whole afternoon when he would have felt hungry. That sweet child did not even ask for food once.
At the 4:30 ultrasound appointment, the radiologist was trained to work with pediatric patients and had a wonderful bedside manner. My heart was sinking as I watched her take about 100 images, carefully labeling every one, and taking many measurements on the screen. Then she used her best, but still forced, casual voice to inquire how the doctor could get in touch with me that night, adding, "Normally it takes two to three days for these to be read, but your doctor will be calling you tonight."
I hid my tears and cheerfully took Thomas to my promised mommy-son dinner date. As one of six children, and still in the "little kid group," he told me how excited he was and that, "I've never been to dinner alone with you, Mama!" (Cue more mama tears.) We ate at a restaurant and enjoyed a cookie afterward on a bench and I knew even then I was enjoying the last hours innocent of the distressing knowledge of what was going on.
Very soon back at home, our family doctor called us with the news: an 11-centimetre tumor on the kidney and maybe on the adrenal glands. After a good twenty-minute walk, we hung up, got out a ruler, and promptly called him back: "Did you say 11 millimetres or centimetres?" Indeed, centimetres, which is about 4.5 inches. How does one little four-year-old body hide something so large?
We have told our oldest three children (13, 11, and 9) what is going on and there were many tears shed that night. At bedtime check, one child was missing and we searched the house until we found that child asleep in Thomas' bed. Joseph (7) and Thomas know only that "the doctors found a little thingy growing in Tom's tummy that shouldn't be there, so he gets to have another picture taken with a Very Fancy Camera." At this point, Thomas and Joseph have no fear or concern at all.
The family doctor's staff got on the task the next morning immediately upon opening and then called us to say they were praying for us (something one hears in the South!). We were called by the pediatric urologist at the children's cancer center and asked to come in at 11:00 a.m. I called our beloved babysitters' parents weeping and they came over to help us within minutes.
I pulled myself together and put on my cheeriest Mama smile so Thomas and I could pack up his Fireman Sam backpack with a few board books, two Matchbox cars, and his favorite Duplo man. He was so excited!
Psychology is a strange and powerful thing and even as we walked through the giant glass doors with CANCER CENTER written on them, I thought that maybe this was all an error, maybe I hadn't felt the lump all week, there might have been a mix-up with the ultrasounds.
We met with the pediatric urologist (who will be the surgeon) and sat tight while various forays were made to discuss with the radiology and oncology departments.
The surgeon suspects, based on the ultrasound and statistics, that this will prove to be a Wilms tumor, also called nephroblastoma, which "is the most common kind of kidney cancer in children. It makes up about 95 percent of all childhood kidney cancers and 6 percent of all childhood cancers. About 500 children in the United States are diagnosed with Wilms’ tumor each year, and most of them can be cured."
We will know much more after the CT scan, but we are told that likely Thomas will experience a complete removal of his kidney followed by chemotherapy or radiation, depending on his stage of cancer. According to the articles below, I see that the chemo or radiation duration is typically 18 weeks to 24 months.
Two websites which I have found calm, clinical, and helpful are as follows:
https://www.mskcc.org/pediatrics/cancer-care/types/wilms-tumor
https://emedicine.medscape.com/article/453076-overview
The latest update in this whirlwind of just over 24 hours is that this weekend we are free of medical events. Thomas feels good and can have fun. We have a CT scan scheduled for Monday morning at 8:00 a.m. and we can expect to hear from both the ugologist and the oncologist team that day. We are told that the surgery will be scheduled very soon thereafter, and we will not be surprised if it is the next day or two after the CT surgery.
Some of our loved ones know that amidst all this we had a surgery scheduled for John (13) to have a calcified stone removed from his salivary duct. The initial attempt at surgery done locally was not successfully back in February, so we are now scheduled to go to the national expert in this rare surgery on June 16 (which means them traveling for about five days total). Obviously, now that surgery will need to be rescheduled because it will but right into Thomas' surgery or recovery.
We would be so grateful for your prayers. St. Benedict is the patron saint of kidney problems. St. Peregrine is the patron saint of those with cancer. If any readers know of other patron saints we should avail ourselves us, please do let us know. Initial prayer requests would be that Thomas' cancer has not spread, that the surgical removal will be easy and simple, and that our family will grow in holiness through this experience.
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