Waiting was hard as it always is to wait. Hard for all of us. Hard on Aubrey (Elijah's Father) Hard on Nimbus (my partner), Adan, and Tristan (my other two children, the youngest going to be 4 soon.) Adan my oldest going to be starting community college.

I was glad that Adan could watch the youngest so that Nim could still work. Elijah was determined that he would be able to go home from the hospital soon. He really wanted to be there for Tristan's Birthday. Elijah worked hard and showed that he could get around. He really was healing pretty fast from the surgery.

The Doctor came in and told Aubrey that he had the results. Aubrey and I wanted to have the doctor tell us first.  I was at work for the day, got off as quickly as I could. Met with the Doc and he told Aubrey and I the news. "Your son has Cancer. The type is called Neuroendocrine Cancer. It is very rare to be in children. I've sent all the results up to a colleague in Portland." After he talked to us, I thought it would be good not to use the "C" word to Elijah. I asked the doctor what would you say to your child if he or she had Cancer? He understood. We went back into the room with Elijah and the Doctor went over what he found. That there was more treatment needed to be done to help him.

Aubrey is a very sensitive soul. Well yea any Parent would be in that situation. I was sad somewhat, I hadn't really let it sink in. Eventually I did have several good cries after that day.

I started to research all that I could on this type of cancer. How it had metastasized. Neuroendocrine cells have traits similar to nerve cells and to hormone-producing cells. Neuroendocrine tumors are rare and can occur anywhere in the body. Most neuroendocrine tumors occur in the lungs, appendix, small intestine, rectum and pancreas.  Almost all people diagnosed with the disease are over age 50.  Somehow still felt like things would be ok.

Day 4 in the hospital, surgery.

 The plan was to remove the tumor and have it sent off for testing. It took three days in a hospital with all kinds of scans, blood work. Having and IV, not sleeping in an uncomfortable bed. Is hard. Not much sleep for anyone. The surgeon was great, we really liked him. He went over what all was going to happen. A possibly a port.  A port is a small plastic devise that is installed beneath the skin, a tube that is connects the port to a vein. A catheter was put in to help make healing easier.

After surgery the doctor came and talked with us about what had happened. He said surgery went pretty smoothly. He had removed a softball size tumor that was attached to his small intestine. Which he had to remove 4 inches of his intestine. He informed us that it had metastasized which meant it had spread. I was strangely not worried. Or maybe it hadn't hit me yet.

With in four to seven days we would have our answer about what they had found. Since it had spread that should of clued me in. I just wanted to have hope I guess.

Not a normal day

Well it all started, I thought back in September. Elijah was in the second week into freshmen year. He was playing soccer on the JV team. He was super excited about being in High School.

One morning Elijah told me he had a stomach ache. Being a mom, I was trying to figure out if he had the makings of the flu or ate something strange. I wondered if something was going around. I had him to drink herbal teas, to take things that I knew would help him.

This went on for four days. It was always better in the morning and got worse as the day went by. Day four was Monday, school. He went and took a Math test and wanted to finish it (he was in Pain) I shortly received a phone call from him at school. It was about lunch time. I went to pick him up. I tried to get an appointment with his primary care doctor. Atlas no appointments available till two weeks in the future.

I took him into the walk in clinic in town. They said that we would be better off if we went to the Emergency Room. So I stopped for gas. I changed the meter on miles that day not sure why. (Some later Post)

We got to the ER and he throw up in a garbage can a few times before we where seen. They took and Ultrasound, and also made sure it wasn't a hernia. We then where told we had to go to Riverbend (the other Hospital) and that he had a Tumor. I managed to remain calm and grounded. We arrived at Riverbend and now it was a little after 9pm. I had messaged his father and informed him about what was going on. His father arrived and went to find us some food. Not much open on a Monday night in Springfield Oregon. He finally found Chipotle was open and got some burritos. Elijah only had a few bites. He wanted to get to sleep. Little did we know every two hours the nurses would come in and do there thing. The next morning we where told he would have to have some more tests done.