Kagan, our 15 year old son, had complained of a swollen lymph node on his neck a few months ago. While we were concerned, we were not over reacting because our younger son had something similar when he was three years old. Just sometimes when you get sick, this is what happens.
A call to the pediatrician was made and very little worry or concern was expressed. After setting out an appointment for a few weeks, we noticed the neck was swelling more and more. Also, he had just began to sleep constantly. Cat naps, long naps after school, and early bed times. Things just did not feel right.
On April 30, 2012 we were at the pediatricians office having Kagan tested for a variety of things that could be wrong again. At about 6 am that morning, I searched over WebMd and noticed a variety of illness associated with this kind of swelling. I went from being overly scared and panic filled to more assured after we met with the doctor at 8 am. She decided to run some test and determined that Kagan's extreme fatigue and swollen lymph nodes were due to a recent "mono" illness. I even joked on my facebook post that morning that you should never read WebMd before a trip to the doctor because you would be scared to death.
We were very relieved to say the least with the diagnosis. Mono was something Kagan could handle. Something that would just run it's illness and he would be back to normal soon. Since there is no cure for mono, there was nothing Kagan could take except some steroids to help the swelling of the lymph nodes to go down.
I had missed work, which I rarely ever do, so as in my nature I rushed into the office and let Kagan go home to sleep and rest.
Over the next few days, his symptoms just seem to be more concerning. The doctor had said that sometimes lymph nodes could swell and never go down but his were growing. Then they had some pain associated with the growth that he had never had before.
I called the doctor and we started the blood work to see what else was going on. The doctor did not seem overly concerned about his illness but wanted to take every precaution needed. As blood work was ordered and beginning to come back there still was nothing overly alarming about the results. They ordered some antibiotics just in case there was an infection they could not see.
Days went by and I called the nurse and told her, I was not sure what it was but something just was not right. All the test were stating he should be getting better but he wasn't. To check on Kagan (and appease a mom), they ordered more blood work.
Then with some suspicious, yet still not alarming, information we were to get an ultra sound completed. Results were indicative of mono and made a slight mention of other possibilities --- recommending x-rays.
So, we went back to the doctor for labs, off to get xrays, and to an ENT to doctor to see what was wrong with Kagan's neck. I was fully expecting to having some sort of procedure to aspirate the swelling or the treat the swelling but what come next was NEVER what I imagined.
The ENT doctor saw us that afternoon around 3:30 PM. By the time we reached his office he looked at Kagan for less than 30 seconds and then wheeled his chair over to me with a fax from my pediatricians office. The xray diagnostics were back and the word "possible lymphoma" was glaring at me from the papers he showed me.
He quickly left to make calls to get us into THAT DAY (within the next 10 minutes to be exact) to a pediatric oncologist.........The words, the fear, the gut wrenching feeling when everything started to happen at warp speed.
At 4:00, the day before a holiday weekend, the oncologist agreed to see us. We went to the office and he sat down with us and started a discussion that just was fully never expected --- a tidal wave of emotions were coming forth.
By 4:45 we were admitted to St. Joseph's Children's Hospital. This is where our journey has began. In a hospital with possibilities of "WHAT" was wrong, that "cancer word" hanging over our heads and then came the process.
- Blood work
- More Xrays
- Cat Scan
- Neck Biopsy
- Bone Marrow/Bone Biopsy
- Echo Cardiograms
- Pulmonary Function Test
- Pic Line
- More Blood Work
- More XRays
- More Cat Scans
- Pet Scans
- Waiting, Waiting, Waiting, Waiting.
HODGKIN'S LYMPHOMA
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