August 11, 2007

It has been a long two days.

We made it to the Eye Center at about 8:30am yesterday, and began the LLLLLOOOOONNNNNNNNGGGGGGGG process of checking in, dressing, medicating, and tagging David for his exam. They finally came to take him at about 10:45am. He did very very well during this whole process. He was cheerful or asleep the whole time. We were greatful for that since he had not been able to eat since about 4am. The procedure lasted a little more than an hour.

The doctor said that there was indeed a large tumor in David's right eye. No surprise there. He found his left eye to be clear and healthy, so that was positive. From the size, placement, etc. of the tumor, we have only two options. 1.) We can remove the eye and the tumor with it. This would pretty much get rid of the cancer as we see it now. There is no guarantee that David will not develop more tumors in his other eye or other places in the body, but it would get rid of this current tumor and likely be the end of it. 2.) We can do a 6 month round of chemotherapy with the goal of getting rid of the tumor or killing it (we aren't really sure what that means). If this works, David would get to keep his eye and the limited sight that it would provide. 20/400 or worse is what the doctor predicts.

We went from that meeting with the doctor over to have a CT scan done. The scan didn't show any spread of the tumor into the brain, so that was good.

Then we had to wait around for several hours in a recovery room until a hospital room became available in the main building. It was a long and uncomfortable process. Food was scarce since we weren't able to get to the cafeteria until after they had removed all the lunch selection. We did finally get a room. It was tiny and loud and uncomfortable, but all the nurses and staff were very kind and friendly and helpful. I didn't get much sleep last night, but when we got home today, all three of us were able to take a nice long nap.

We have a meeting on Monday with the Pediatric Oncologists to discuss the chemotherapy treatment in more depth so that we can make a more informed choice about David's treatment. We do know that before each round of chemo, David would have to go through the same process that he did yesterday in order to track the tumor's progress. They would implant a port in his chest to deliver the chemo so that they don't have to stick him with needles every time. We are also hoping to get a clearer picture of the financial end of all of this at that time too.

Rob and I are tired. This has been a very long two weeks, and the road ahead promises to be just as difficult. At times this all seems very real, and at times we can't believe it. As we try to see our way, it feels like we have 20/400 vision or worse. We do know that God has us in the palm of His hand, and that He is taking care of things that we won't ever know about.

So, now we are down to choices. At this point, we flip flop in between the two.

-Kim