Christmas shopping: December 17th 1999 Friday
Mom, Dad, Jen, Holly, Annie and Nick were all Christmas shopping on Friday afternoon. We decided to stop by Arby's for a late lunch. Annie has been gagging on her hands and knees on the floor. I thought that she was throwing her little fit for the day. So I asked her what she wanted to eat. She was gagging for the second day in a row. She only did it a few times during the day. She only drank her pop and ate a few fries. Dad had to work that night so we decided to make it an early day. We went home and I put Annie to bed. Dad went to work at 7 pm. The girls bedroom light was out so I had my friends husband come look at it. I changed Annie's diaper and it would not go on. I checked it to make sure that it wasn't Nick's. It wasn't. I poked her belly and it was hard. There was no give at all. I finally got her diaper to fit. I asked Stewart to feel her belly and he said it didn't feel normal. My brother lives upstairs, Mike. I asked him to feel her belly. He said it was huge. I asked him to sit with the kids until my brother in law Donnie got there while I took her to emergency. The ER was packed!!! The wait was unbelievable...
We arrived at Mercy hospital of Council Bluffs, Iowa, at about 8:30 pm. The Dr. finally came in and checked her belly. He said that her thought that she might be constipated. I thought that was weird because she pooped almost every day, and I told him that. He said that there may be a blockage of stool in her intestine. So they did an x-ray. There was indeed stool in there. They did an enema. Retook her x-ray. Did another enema. I called Donnie because it was 10:30 pm. I called my husband (Jesse) at work. I told him what was going on and that if I needed him that I would call. Donnie said that he needed to go home to get some sleep soon because he had to work at 5 am.
11:15 they decided to admit her for the night. They gave her another enema before they took her to a room. Then I called Jesse to come on home to let Donnie go home. She finally drifted off to sleep at 2:30 am. While Annie snoozed on the bed beside me I stroked her tummy. Noticing that the enemas were not doing no good. Her right side was hard . . . . . Weird, I thought. We woke up the next morning in a playful mood. They wanted to do a ct scan that morning. She did very well. The pediatrician came in at about 10:00 am to tell me the news.......
The diagnosis...... December 18th 1999 Saturday
Dr. Bomgarrs came in and sat down across from us. I looked at him and said this isn't good is it? He said no. I asked him to be truthful and tell me what was wrong with Annie. He said that they were not for sure, but that they are looking at a mass in her abdomen. It could be cancer. But he reassured me right away that cancer in children is very curable and treatable. So I didn't cry then. I just listened. He told me that they were looking for a Wilms Tumor or a lymphoma of some sort. He wanted her transferred to Children's Hospital of Omaha Nebraska immediately. He stayed with me for a long time to answer all my questions. When he left I started to cry.
The nurse happened to be a male, so Annie didn't want anything to do with him, he came in to ask if I needed anything. I told him . . . . I don't really know what to say . . . I needed everything. He did try to keep it light, jokingly asking, "Vodka, cigarette, beer?" I said no thanks. Unfortunately I don't drink or smoke. So he left. I called Jesse, I didn't want to tell him the news on the phone so I tried to tell him to come up. He demanded to hear it. So I told him. He was stunned. How in the world did she get that? He wanted to know.
After I hung up the phone, the nurse came in with a 16 ounce pepsi. I just started crying right then. That was the most thoughtful thing to do for my right then. Jesse had to make arrangements for the kids to be watched and to pick up my mom at her work. She wanted to be with us. Annie was only 2 1/2 so she didn't know what was going on. She was coloring and having a ball in the playroom. At noon Jesse came in with my mom and our regular pediatrician came in with x- rays of Annie's tummy. He showed us the pictures. It looked like Wilms tumor to him. So he told us all about Wilms. He said that it is 90% curable. So we got ready for the transfer to Children's in Omaha. She got released from the hospital to go by car. We arrived at the Children's hospital in Omaha at about 3:00 pm. Luckily for Annie there was a gift shop for her to raid while I get her registered for admission. Dad had to buy her the Franklin doll she took off the shelf and demanded dad to buy. It was funny.
They set her up in a double room. She had no roommate. She saw the tv right away. I turned it on the disney station. She sat right down and watched it. They wanted to do another ct scan of the abdomen that afternoon. They brought in some medicine for her to drink called hydrochloride. To make her sleep. She didn't have anything to eat or drink since the day before, so she was pretty scared. She would not drink the stuff for anyone. They had it in a syringe, that failed. They tried to plug her nose. Nope. She would not do it!! I had to leave the room because of the screaming. So did dad. That lead to the battle of her taking her Bactrim. It took her almost 4 months to take her medication willingly!! So when she got a ct scan she got a shot in the leg!
That evening we met with one of the surgeons. He wants to go to surgery on the 19th. Sunday. At 10:00 am. So we settled in for the night. Annie slept good. She was always a good little girl.