Cancer

There is such a bad omen around the word,Cancer. No one ever wants to hear it. No one wants to face it. When you do hear the word your whole world cause crashing down around you. No mater how strong of a person you are you will break down in tears. Claire was diagnosed on September 17th 2011. Yes, just like so many other people out there I will remember that day for the rest of my life.

I never in a million years thought this could happen to my little 10 month old daughter. She was a normal little girl, healthy as can be. She had one cold in May. That was it. No other indication that something so life threatening would happen to her.

Claire's story starts out on September 16th at around 7:00pm when my mother noticed, while changing Claire's diaper, that her right thigh was swollen. Since as it was after regular business hours I called the answering service at her pediatrician's office and waited for the call back. Claire had been moving on her leg fine but further exploration showed that when I moved it a certain way she would cry, I made mention of all these factors to the doctor when he finally called back and he suggested I should take her into Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh's emergency room. So my friend Sarah and I took her down to the ER and this is when the weekend of waiting began.

We were checked in and then were finally taken back to the triage room. Claire then had her first x-ray and we waited to hear from the doctors. The ER doctor came in to show us a copy of the X-ray and how there was a concerning massive in her right femur. We were told we were being admitted and were just waiting for a room on the floor to open up but until then we were moved to a regular room in the ER and then the IV team came to place an IV in Claire's little arm. The next day was the day before Claire turned ten months old and was filled with multiple tests including a full body MRI and a soft tissue biopsy.

That day we had the attending doctor of the floor we were on come in and tell us what they thought it was. Up until now everyone was thinking is was an infection of the bone. Though that is not the news this doctor had. Cancer. She has Ewing's Sarcoma cancer in her right femur is what he told us and the news hit us like a rock that would weigh heavy on our hearts forever. The next day we were finally able to speak with the oncologist whom would be taking Claire's case from then on. We were then told that yes it does look like that but they could not say for sure until the pathology report was final. That first hospital stay is now just a blur of tests. Claire had a chest CT, a full body bone scan, a echo cardiogram, bone marrow biopsy, and a central line placed. Tuesday, September 20th we started the chemotherapy and then were discharged on Wednesday. 

Claire has already under gone 10 chemotherapy treatments and surgery in which she had a free vascular graft of the fibula to the femur and femur was removed. She now has 4 more rounds of chemo and is in a spica cast for at least 4 more weeks.