I've Had My Five Emotional Minutes; Now it's Time to be a Gangster.

Monday, October 16—Elise noticed a small, fluid knot/bump thing under her neck. Right side. It was soft, malleable, and raised slightly. I could see it under her skin by Thursday.  (She hasn’t been feeling well or “right” for a couple of months. We figured it was changing weather, senior year blues, and maybe a little old-fashioned depression thrown in for good measure.) I called Patel and made an appointment for Friday, October 20. He believed the first course of action was to treat it like an infection and prescribed Bactrim and a follow-up visit for November 6 after the cycle of medicine was completed.

I kept a close check on the knot/swollen area, checking it every day to see if it had gone down any. If anything, it got bigger. I called and moved her appointment up to the day after she took the last Bactrim pill on Wednesday, November 1.  The lump was not only larger, but it hurt—she said that pain radiated out from the area into her jaw and up into her ear. 

While we were at that visit, I also showed him some places on her legs that we thought were infected bug bites from an outdoor wedding early in October. They weren’t healing properly and just looked sort of odd to me. I told him about some other symptoms we’d been having at the house like night sweats, itchy skin (where we thought she had bug bites), lethargy, feeling sick or “unwell” a lot. Her skin has also been an off color—not like her usual skin tone (something maybe only a mom would notice). She’s also had no energy at all--like being abnormally tired all of the time. I casually mentioned that my mother had been diagnosed with and beaten non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (I recognized some of the symptoms because of my mother’s situation).  Patel ordered bloodwork immediately (done in his office) and a CT scan.

We went to Shelby Imaging Friday, November 3 at 8:15 for the CT scan of her neck. We were told someone should be in touch with us by Tuesday, November 7 with results. We rolled back home where I packed up and loaded the car ready to roll to the basketball tournament to see Carter and the Patriot’s tear it up in Ozark. I left Elise at the house and went on into school to finish the day.

Patel’s office called my husband at work at 11:00 and asked Steve and I to be in his office to discuss the test results at 12:30. (Not going to lie here, when Steve called me and told me he’d pick me up from the school and we’d go to Patel’s together my entire stomach hit the floor.) In all of the medical emergencies our family has ever experienced, “We need you to come into the office two hours after a CT scan to discuss results for your child” has never come out of anyone’s mouth. I don’t wish that panic on anyone—friend or enemy.

Dr. Patel was direct, to the point, and clear on the results. I will never be able to thank him enough for not beating around the bush or trying to sugar coat the situation. He and the radiologist at Shelby agreed that the lymph nodes in question are some kind of lymphoma. He has referred Elise’s case to Dr. Kimberly Whelan—a hematology/oncology pediatric physician with hospital privileges at Children's and UAB. She specializes in pediatric blood cancers (lymphoma specifically in children). She will be our first appointment this week. We will schedule surgery to remove what can be taken out of her neck and then determine the course of treatment based on the type of lymphoma Elise has.

We went back home from the doctor’s office and told the family, all except Carter who had already left with the basketball team to Ozark for the tournament. We had a family vote and decided unanimously to keep the info quiet until Carter finished the weekend. It wouldn’t help him or the team—no sense buying trouble or worrying over things you can’t change. Carter’s team made it to the championship game and lost by a hair. He also made the all-tournament team. He stepped up and had an excellent weekend with his team. I’m so thankful Elise was selfless and that we waited to tell him. See, Carter is her best friend on the planet. Not having his comfort and concern was a difficult sacrifice. She put someone else’s needs above her own, which makes me beyond proud of her character.

Elise’s biggest concern is not the actual cancer—it’s that she doesn’t want everyone freaking out all of the time or acting like she’s dying. She’s not. She’s got tons of things that indicate a positive outcome—it’s curable. She’s young and healthy. Her blood count is good. Her attitude is good. We believe we have caught it very early. We have many solid reasons to believe she will be treated, healed, and simply roll on with the rest of her life. We choose to be more hopeful than afraid

We covet your prayers. We serve a mighty God who knows everything before it happens. I trust in His plan and believe to the bottom of my very being He wants the best for His children. We just have to pray, participate, and praise no matter what.

Now we go forth and conquer. Or to quote my brilliant daughter, “I’ve had my five emotional minutes; now it’s time to be a gangster."

Love,
Charlotte
and the entire Fun Bus