IT

The rumors have been flying. The questions have been coming. The looks have not gone unnoticed. So, I have decided to get the "facts" out there on the situation that is occurring at our house. We have an "it" at our house. The "it" at this point has no name and is unfortunately attached to my daughter's arm. For some of you, this is the first time you have heard of "it". For others, you have "heard it through the grapevine", however do not know exactly the entire story. And for others, this is a little bit of a shocker, but after reading this will have the knowledge that we have at this time.
About three months ago, I noticed a "lump" on Kady's forearm. It was about the size of a small pebble and very hard. (The "it" is located about an inch above her elbow on the outside of her forearm) We had not noticed that she had injured the arm previously and she said the "bump" did not hurt. So - we just kept an eye on it and continued with life as usual. At the beginning of June, we decided that we needed to take Kady to the Dr. to just have it looked at. At that point, the "it" was not growing too much that we could tell and the Dr. checked it and advised that it could be a few different things, but he did not see that it was an issue at that time. So, in July, Kady had strep throat and she still had the lump. While we were visiting her normal pediatrician, I talked to her about the lump. She felt around on it and felt that according to the previous doctors examination, it had grown some. So - she ordered an xray to verify there was nothing in the bone. The xray did not show anything in the bone and basically just showed some sort of soft-tissue damage, lump, mass, etc. So - her pediatrician ordered some blood tests. The blood tests came back a little concerning. Kady's LDH levels were high. The LDH level basically shows if cells are being rapidly produced or destroyed in the body. (I think that is right) So - the Dr recommended we see an oncologist to do further testing, etc. This was on Friday.
Well - on Saturday night, Kady's forearm swelled up over this "lump". Her arm was extremely swollen, tender and even turned red and warm by the middle of the evening. The swelling did go down on it's own by Sunday evening, however I still contacted he pediatrician to explain the situation. I was not too concerned since the swelling had gone down - but wanted her Dr to be aware of the situation. Well - about 10:30 am Monday morning - Kady's pediatrician called and told me we had a choice to either see the oncologist Monday afternoon or Tuesday morning - we were not waiting any more time. Well - that kind of threw me for a loop. I was not expecting that response. I just expected her to tell me that we had an appt scheduled for a week or so and we would have time to deal with the issue, come up with our questions, and mentally prepare for this appointment.
We hurriedly rushed around and went down to Children's Hospital in St. Louis Monday afternoon. The doctor saw Kady - did an examination and we did more blood work and another set of xrays. They confirmed that the "mass" or "it" was not in her bone, which we already knew but was glad to here this was still the case. However, they did not have the results of any blood work so they sent us home with some "could be this, could be that" we just don't know without more information. Let's just say, Monday night was a restless evening for Chris and I. For Kady, she had no clue. Her visit was on party day, so she got a balloon, a gift bag, a cupcake and a juice pouch. If you ask her about the visit - that is what she will fill you in on! Which - we are glad for and are hoping that others will be sensitive when asking us questions in front of her. She is five years old, and for now all she needs to know is there is a bump on her arm and she just has to let us know if it hurts her. Other than that - life should be normal for her and she should not be aware of anything else.
Moving on - on Tuesday morning, the Dr called. Now, no offense to this Dr., but he is difficult to understand IN the office, so you can imagine how difficult it was to understand him over the phone. The good news is - Kady's blood cell counts and her LDH are normal at this time. They still have a few more tests they are running for viral infections, syndromes, etc. and if any of those are abnormal they will contact us. Otherwise, we are to just keep an eye on the "it" and let them know of any changes, growth, swelling, tenderness, etc. We will follow up with this Dr. again in a few weeks. The doctor did tell me that there is a "mass" of some sort, but they do not at this time know what it is. However, since the blood count levels are "normal" it is most likely benign. So, we are trusting the blood tests at this time, but are going to be diligent about keeping an eye on the growth of the mass. The doctors did tell us that steady growth is something we need to be aware of, so I have come up with an "amateur" way of measuring "it" at this time.
So - in answer to many questions, no we do not have a biopsy scheduled. No Kady does not have cancer. Kady has not had surgery. Kady is not going for chemo. She is a healthy little girl with a "it" attached to her forearm and until we know any different, we are hoping that the "mass" or "it" is just a mass that we will be able to take care of in due time. So - we appreciate the prayers and don't mind the questions. But - we do not have many answers at this time. When we have a few more answers or if anything changes - we will let others know as needed. We are just trusting that God will give us guidance in our pursuit of answers. But for now, we are just pressing forward trying to live as normal as a life as possible and looking forward to a family vacation "away from it all" that is coming soon.