I'm not much of a writer and my mind has been all over the map in the past 24 hours. Yesterday was the hardest day of our lives, to date. One cannot be prepared to sit in a doctors office and be told their child has Cancer. Our child? Our sweet spunky 15 month old has cancer? The pit in my stomach is real? Can you start over? I'm suffocating, we're suffocating. Oh please, God. But there's medicine, and chemotherapy, and really intelligent well practiced physicians. And there was a lot more said and only a little retained. Yesterday was a really really hard and long day.
Sloane was diagnosed with bilateral retinoblastomas, also known as cancerous tumors in both eyes. She will be having an MRI under anesthesia on Friday morning to rule out a tumor in her brain. She will then have surgery to get a port placed in her chest for 6-8 months of systemic chemotherapy. Surgery will follow the chemo and her eyes will be followed closely. We became a part of the Riley Family yesterday and are ever grateful to Dr. Plager for seeing us so quickly and the oncologist, Dr. Shih, who then worked us in to get this process of treatment started.
Austin and I feel loved, we feel very sad and disoriented but we do feel so loved. I truly believe that certain people have been placed very carefully into our lives to get us through this period of life. I believe in our community, I am in awe of the prayers. Austin and I both feel wrapped in prayer and cannot thank everyone enough for that. We know this road is long and we know there will be things we need that we won't know how to ask for. I know there are many questions people will have and we'll try to answer them to the best of our capability.
For now we have a short list of specific prayers. Please pray for Sloane's MRI, that the cancer has not spread to her pineal gland. Please pray for Austin and I, that we cling to each other's strength. Please pray for Audrey, her big sister role just took a drastic change. And please pray for the medical team taking care of our Sloane, that God guides their hands and minds to keep our Sloaney girl safe.
From a fellow cancer warrior, my heart breaks for your little one and your family. You and your husband will be in my prayers for strength and serenity, and your little one will be in my prayers for healing and endless fighting spirit. These have helped me the most over the last 3 years. Give everything to God, your pain and fear, He will carry you.
ReplyDelete2 Corinthians 1:3-7 "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For as we share in Christ's sufferings, through Christ we share in his comfort. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort."
Psalm 34:18 "The Lord is close to the broken-hearted, and saves those who are crushed in spirit."
Exodus 14:14 "The Lord will fight for you, you need only to be still."
John 16:33 "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have sorrow. But take heart! I have overcome the world."
Sending all the prayers i have for your family❤️❤️
ReplyDeleteCancer has hit my family hard in the past few years, hearing your story brings me to tears. I ache at the thought of a child with such a nasty, nasty, disease in their sweet little bodies. I will pray hard for you all and that your sweet girl gets better soon, the two of you stay strong and rely on the strength of one another (and friends and family) and that her big sister is her biggest and baddest supporter who stays fighting by her side. So much love to you and your family and your sweet baby girl! Tell her to kick ass and be brave!!
ReplyDeleteMy heart breaks for your whole family. We understand all the feelings of fear, despair and anxiety you must be feeling. You see, our family was faced with a devastating diagnosis for our grandson on June 5th of this year. He was diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor on that day, and our world came to a crashing halt. Two days later he had a 5 1/2 hour brain surgery to remove the tumor. Two days after that, he celebrated his 4th Birthday in his hospital room at Riley. 3 rounds of chemo, another 2 hr brain surgery, a mega dose of chemo then stem cell transplant, here we are. It's been a blur, but our grandson Aiden came thru it like a champ with his sweet smile and spirit still intact. I tell you all of this to give you hope and let you know that your precious child is in the best possible place for treatment. It will be tough at times and im sure you will ask God why did your child have to endure this. But the amazing thing about children is their resilience and innocence during the whole journey. Our grandson loves Riley so much, that the night before they were to leave home to go back for another 3 wk stay, he cried wanting to return to riley that night instead of the following morning. When his mommy questioned why he wanted to go so bad, he said "I like it cause i get a new bedroom every time I go there." So instead of being upset about having to return, he actually looked forward to it. I said that says alot about Riley and their wonderful staff as well as the innocence of a child. I will be praying for your sweet child. The Lord will carry you through this. God Bless you all. ❤
ReplyDeleteSending your family and all those who take care of your baby continuos prayers!
ReplyDeleteMy name is Keegan Lenker. I just read your story. Our son has walked in the same shoes. He's 3rd generation retinoblastoma in our family. My dad and myself are both survivors. I'm a pastor now in Gig Harbor, WA. I know you don't need another thing to do as you fight for Sloane, but if ever you have questions about chemos, protocols, blood draws, blood blasts, etc. We've lived this. My son was diagnosed at 13 days old in 2006. He's now 11. God has been so good us. We commit to pray for Sloane by name. Feel free to reach out at keegan.lenker@gmail.com anytime.
ReplyDeleteKeegan, I would like to speak with you. My son is a RB survivor. I will email you when I get a chance. I am headed to work now.
DeleteMay the Lord bring your child healing and a calming spirit to you and your family in this difficult time. I will pray for little Sloane and your family.
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