Update - Thomas

The doctor is finding conflicting symptoms with the information that is coming back – so they are not entirely sure what is going on.

They took blood this afternoon and there was something in his blood chemistry that they were looking for – whatever it was (I can't remember something to to with his liver) came back with good results. The white blood count is not back yet. They were still testing when we left.

The doctor did a physical examination of Thomas and said that his lymph nodes in his groin area are entirely too big and that something is definitely not right. He said that the good sign is they were not "hard" but they are firm. He told us that if this comes back as cancer he believes it will be one of two types – Leukemia or Lymphoma. He says if it turns out to be Leukemia the success rate at beating it is between 95-96%. If it turns out to be Lymphoma and it is isolated to the groin area only the success rate at beating it is about 95%. Those numbers sound good - I know - but there is no "success rate good enough when you are a mommy.

The MRI from yesterday showed that none of the glands in his stomach are swollen – this is VERY GOOD NEWS. They did a chest X-ray to check for any mass around his lungs. We still don't know any results from that.

We have a consultation appointment next Wednesday and for surgery to get a biopsy. It is planned for the 21st. Because we can't get a biopsy done until next week he (doctor) chose to do a Fluid Aspiration of the glands in his groin. They were able to get some fluid and a small amount of tissue. It was very painful for Thomas and it makes you sick to your stomach to watch you child go through that kind of pain. They basically inserted a needle into his groin area and poked in and out to suck up fluid. I cry now as I write this. He was just looking at me with those big blues eyes screaming Mommy. It was awful. Frank and I stood there holding his hands and hovering over him to try to offer him comfort. I have never felt so helpless in my life.
The fluid that was drawn was “cloudy” which they (the two pathologist) said was a good sign because it can indicate that it is an infection and possibly not cancer. They have sent the tissue off for testing. If the results are show bad cells we will be admitted to the hospital immediately for bone marrow testing . If the results are good we will still go through with the biopsy to confirm there is no cancer next week.
The Oncologist has put Thomas on anit-biotics for the next 14 days in case it is a an infection. If the swelling goes down and all the test results come back with no sign of cancer, we may not have to do the biopsy surgery.

We are very, very scared. It is time to lean on God - I am trying to lean on him. But the Mommy in me just wants it fixed - NOW! Thomas is scared too but he doesn't fully understand what is going on. We have chosen not to tell Thomas too much until we know for sure what we are dealing with. There is no need to scare him more. I told him today that the doctors need to figure out why his 'knots' (that is what he calls them) are there. I told him there might me something in there that could make him sick and we need to make sure there isn't. That seemed to satisfy him for now. I told my other two boys that we had to take Thomas to a "fancy" doctor. They need to look at his knots.

THANK YOU so much for praying for my baby.

Please continue to keep our entire family in your prayers. When I get more results I will post ASAP.

God can heal my child no matter what it is. Please, please pray for healing.

Thanks to you All,

Tracey