Way back a long time ago, the eye surgeon who performed Reid's tumor resection told us that if Reid ever had any pain in the area where he eye was removed, that could be an indication of tumor growing again. Reid's tumor grew REALLY fast, and it was very aggressive. Several doctors gathered us in a room back in 2012 to tell us that we had one shot to get this cancer. They told us that the cancer had a 90% cure rate with the surgery, chemo and radiation.
Last Monday, February 10, Reid woke up and told me that his eye hurt. He was referring to the left eye that was removed, but we still all called it his eye. These words struck fear into my heart, but just as quickly as he said it, he went right on about his morning playing, getting ready for school and going to school for the day. He was fine the rest of the day and evening.
Tuesday, February 11, he woke up with the same complaint. I had jury duty that day, so Lance was in charge of getting him ready and to school. He went to school and had a great day. He never complained about it again.
Same thing on Wednesday, February 12 which also happened to be our anniversary. I was on the jury again, and Lance was in charge of Reid. When I finally go home at 5:00 on Wednesday night, I could tell that Lance was concerned. Reid had fallen asleep on the couch and woken up complaining of pain again. So, I emailed our St. Jude oncologist. I told him that Reid had been recovering from a very bad cold, but that Lance and I were worried because of what the eye surgeon had told us about pain in that area. He emailed back telling us that he thought it could be sinus issues causing the pain. Both Dr. Hatley (our oncologist) and Dr. Wilson (our eye surgeon) called Lance that night. I felt very reassured about it all after that. Our St. Jude oncologist wanted me to take Reid to the pediatrician on Thursday just to get checked out. Lo and behold, Reid had strep throat. So, I was glad thinking that it somehow was all intertwined.
The weekend was long. It seemed like the pain was getting worse, but then on Sunday, Reid had a great afternoon. He played outside for a long time, and our friends even came over to hang out so that Reid could play with their boys. Monday started off bumpy again, but Reid seemed to perk up again mid afternoon. We even went to Walmart.
Tuesday I took him back to the pediatrician because he seemed very lethargic and slept a lot of the day. She thought he was dehydrated, and she wanted us to bring him to the ER for fluids. So we did.
We drove to Memphis yesterday afternoon. My boy who never shuts up talking did not say 2 words for the whole 6 hour trip. And he never smiled. He is the biggest smiler. So, our concern was growing as was Reid's pain.
Today his MRI started at about 10:00. Last night Grizzles House was overbooked, so we spent the night in the Crown Plaza hotel which is just around the corner. After his MRI, we moved our stuff back to the Grizzlies House. We had a 1:45 appointment with Dr. Wilson, the eye surgeon. When you are in the cancer world, every single thing means something. One lady walked by and asked us to move to a bigger room, and I had a feeling something bad was coming. I saw a lady bug this morning, and I still had a feeling something bad was coming. I packed extra clothes for this trip. I usually never pack extra clothes.God has given me this weird "sense" about things. All week I keep getting glimpses of things that I thought were signs that something good was not coming. The biggest sign was Reid's pain level. It was/is very, very bad. He is on pain killers of the narcotic variety for the pain.
So, they moved us to the bigger room (the same big room as 2012), and Dr. Wilson, Dr. Hatley and a few other people walked in. That's when you know for sure it's not good news. Reid's cancer is back. There really is no other way to put it. It came back in the same exact spot that it started. I asked the doctors what about they 90%? They explained how they came up with it, and what it all boils down to is that Reid's cancer is very rare and very aggressive. All that we know at this point is that he will be having surgery on Monday morning. Our biggest concern now is to get him out of pain. So, the surgery will alleviate the pain. Beyond that, we don't know. We have a meeting in the morning with the doctors again. The first round of this fight used all of the big chemos. Our oncologist is researching options.
So many of you have asked me how I am able to put this posts on Facebook while we were going through this the first time. It's because you are all family to us. You all have prayed for us like crazy. You all love our son. And it is easier to write it out once so that everyone has the same information.
We covet your prayers. We have no idea what the future holds. We just know that we have to get Reid out of this excruciating pain that he has been in. As we get more information, I will let you know.
Thank you as always for loving us. And especially for loving Reid.
