Surgery day

Nap time here at the hospital.  He's been eating applesauce and then has graduated to goldfish which disappeared like nobodies business. We've been playing, laughing, and have watched Toy Story 3 a second time in two days. Visits by both Maddox and Emmett (2 year old cousins) and their parents have been wonderful and helped Melissa and I as much as Isaac. Thanks guys!

I still haven't given a full run down of yesterday as the page crashed last night, so here it goes.

We woke up Isaac up at 4:25 Tuesday morning. He bolted upright and said, "Are we going to the hospital now?" Mind you, this was in his excited voice. All Monday we'd been trying to get him pumped about the hospital and not worried. The things that clicked the best with his little brain? "Eating this many (holding up six fingers) wraps in bed and watching movies and not having to move at all!" Oh the faith and trust of a child. As we opened up the garage door we noticed a bunch of signs lining out driveway  Thank you for the tears you unknown angel/devil. Haha! The whole ride up Isaac was chatting away. The most common topics of conversation were about the sunrise that was coming and the new superheroes he made up the night before. 5 new Star Wars superheroes are out there, although we've only heard about one. Jerry Lucas has nothing on us! Can Luke Skywalker pass through walls or shoot laser beams? Does he have a jet-pack to fly? Isaac 1, Jerry 0.

We arrived at Randall Children's Hospital (RCH) at 5:15 (no traffic is really nice!) and patiently waited to go down to get checked in. Vitals, height/weight, and playing took the next 90 minutes and before we knew it we were ready to roll. Just a heads up, having a tumor doesn't change a certain particular kid's disdain of getting wet. He was given some Versed orally (nurse originally told us it tasted sour and after Isaac took it she told us it tasted like a mixture of yogurt and dirt) and then we wheeled off to the staging area for surgery. Isaac got goofy then drowsy, but not so much that he wanted to give up Spiderman, so Spiderman went to surgery! We watched Isaac get rolled through the double-doors and then had to wait.

And wait.

And wait.

And wait.

And wait.

And wait some more.

It got to be 12:30 and still no buzz from the operating room that Isaac was 30 minutes from being stitched back up and that the doctor would come out. I checked in with the attendant in the waiting room and she confirmed we still had at least half an hour. I went up to grab a bite to eat to break my fast and as I'm waiting in line I get two texts and a phone call. The doctor was waiting for me to be there and was ready to tell us how it all went. Watched pot never boils or something. Dad and I raced to the elevator. The door was open and we asked the lady in there if it was going up or down  She responded  "Down," so we hopped on and started lurching up. We rolled our eyes at each other at the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th floors before we plummeted to the basement.

Dr. Jafri (surgeon) gave us GREAT news. The surgery went by the books and they didn't find any sign of the cancer spreading. The tumor was entirely encapsulated, the nearby veins were soft and pliable, and the lymph nodes were completely clear according to his physical and visual inspection. HALLELUJAH! Stage 1 or 2 cancer that very much looked like a Wilm's Tumor. We learned the tumor would be sent to a central lab that sees all the Wilm's Tumors in North America (550-600 a year) for pathology from where we'd get final confirmation as to what it was. This is done so that they can have experts look at it and prescribe the right treatment, as well as help the medical community learn as much as they possibly can.

Dr. Jafri was followed by Dr. Farris (unrelated and anesthesiologist) who reported Isaac's epidural was doing great and the kiddo was waking up. Melissa followed him back while we all packed up and sent the kids to get lunch  I followed her shortly after only to see a very confused and whiny kid. He was in a little pain so we got his epidural bumped up a bit and soon we were wheeled up to the room.

Honestly, the rest of the day was super uneventful in Isaac's world. He laid in bed and watched movies the entire day (no wraps yet). He's got quite a few tubes and lines but I've heard plenty of "Thank you's" and only a few grumpy comments. This kid is a warrior.

I will be making a separate post about some of the medical craziness that is Isaac. It will get a little technical but I highly encourage you to read whatever I write as that whole side of the story more clearly shows how we are in God's hands more than anything else. A short teaser--the two case studies that are related to Isaac's case that our endocrinologist has read and given to us were written in 1982 in Spain and in 2008 in China. The 2008 China article states "... paraneoplastic Cushing's Syndrome is rare, with only 6 cases reported in English literature."

Many of you know that my brother started a Gofundme page for us. I will always disclaimer that with a statement that we have been so blessed by all of you who have taken time to read, write, pray, fast, weep, and love with us and on us. We serve a big God and you all have shown us His mercies. I'll be updating our "Needs" page with specific and general prayer requests and have added the Gofundme link there.

Thank you all so very much.