Ella’s family update…the last 2 months have been interesting, to say the least. Ella’s baby brother was born last month (almost 6 weeks old and doing so well!), Sarah was diagnosed with thyroid cancer, and had her thyroid removed. Surgery and recovery for Sarah was a bit rough. Sarah had her thyroid removed, was discharged from the hospital only to be readmitted through the ER within 12 hours. Since her low calcium was stabilized, she has been feeling much better. Follow-up blood work showed that her calcium has come up, but she still randomly has tingling and has to take extra calcium supplements. Can’t wait for that to stop! Sarah had a CT scan of her head and neck and it came back clear! There are no signs of metastatic disease (other than the known lymph nodes). That is a relief! Initial blood work showed elevated thyroid cancer levels after surgery, but that was redrawn and has dramatically come down! Sarah will meet with the endocrinologist next week to determine course of treatment for the thyroid cancer (her lymph nodes showed microscopic cancer cells, so the cancer was starting to spread). Preliminary thoughts are that she will have to take radioactive iodine and then be done. The problem with the treatment is that Sarah will be radioactive for a few days and cannot be near baby Joey. (More time for me to bond with my boy!) I guess it’s a small price to pay if the cancer goes away. What’s a few days for a lifetime?!? So, the big kicker that Sarah and I were dealing with lately….the day after Ella’s baby brother was born, I received a phone call from Ella’s oncologist. I though it was odd, but thought maybe he was calling to congratulate us on the new addition to the family. Not…so…much. He had heard about Sarah’s diagnosis and was calling to tell us that he was concerned that baby Joey may be at risk for cancer as well. Apparently Sarah’s thyroid cancer diagnosis paired with Ella’s medulloblastoma gave him reason to fear that Sarah and I may have a gene mutation that could potentially put Joey at risk for cancer as well. Well, that’s just what you want to hear within 24 hours of your son’s birth, right? So, Sarah and I have secretly been freaking out about this. Of course, when one of your children is diagnosed with cancer, it’s seems logical (to us) to wonder about the health of the rest. Though we didn’t appreciate the phone call from Ella’s oncologist, he has always had our family and Ella’s best interest in mind. We never wanted to hear the things that he had to say, but I’m sure that we would have thought about it at some point. When Ella was born, we didn’t think that she’d ever be diagnosed with cancer and ultimately die. What parent really thinks that? It’s our worst nightmare; one that you never wake up from and continue to live every day. In the end, Ella’s oncologist recommended that Sarah and I be genetically tested for a specific gene mutation. Well, we received word today that it was NEGATIVE!!! We can now sigh and know that Joey is healthy and that Ella’s path was just a plan of God’s (I want to ask Him about it when we meet in the next life).
God continues to bless us every day. I don’t know why Ella went through what she went through and why we have to live with her loss. It still sucks. We still go to the cemetery almost daily and tears still stream down our faces. We laugh with the memories of Ella, but it hurts not getting to watch her grow up and be the best big sister ever. We are so sure that she’d be so caring and protective of her little brother. When Joey is sleeping, there are times that he smiles in his sleep and we believe that Ella is giving him kisses. Though we live with the physical loss of Ella, God continues to be so awesome! Why did Sarah get diagnosed with cancer? Dunno, but I just know that she’ll be cancer free soon. It could have been worse. God blessed us with Joey. He’s beautiful and so much fun. I believe that Ella and Joey saved Sarah’s life. Ella asked for a sibling for her birthday, which helped us heal and try to give her that. Not long after, we learned that Sarah was pregnant. During the pregnancy, we learned that Sarah had cancer and that her hormones from the pregnancy may have exacerbated the cancer and made her thyroid larger, faster. Sarah caught her cancer early because of the rapid growth. Long story short, our kids saved Sarah. God has blessed us with the best kids and in turn has saved Sarah and I in so many ways. People say that kids are a blessing and it’s true, but it’s God blessing us through them.
Every day, Sarah and I hope that God feels that we’ve had our fill. This past 2 years has been absolutely the hardest and we don’t feel that we can handle much more. We want to know what normal feels like for a family, because we don’t really know. No more hospitals or doctor visits. Please just give us trips to the playground, grilled cheese sandwiches, and snuggling on the couch watching that same movie again for the 51st time. I’ve said it a few times, but when you look at our lives….you just can’t make this stuff up.
Sorry for the rambling.
Thank you to everyone for the kind thoughts, prayers, gifts, etc. Truly….thank you for everything! Please continue to pray for those fighting and those that fought valiantly as the person is never too weak, but the cancer may have been just stronger than the medicine. Please keep their families in your thoughts and prayers too. God bless. Saint Ella, pray for us.
Positively Ella 