Sunday July 15th 2007

I am writing this first entry, knowing and remembering wonderful thoughts about my Mother-in-law who sadly passed away this day two years ago. Oh if only she could be here with David and I now to help us through this awful disease our Son (her Grandson) has.
Reid, is now six and has completed two blocks of chemotherapy to help him fight Ewings Sarcoma in his right Tibia.
Our little boy is a very busy little man who often met me at the fron tgate at school dragging his school port head down saying"I'm sorry Mum but I got two Time Outs today...I didn't mean to talk when Mrs Coman was talking, I just didn't hear her", or "I didnt mean to spit water on the girls at Lunch time" etc etc. Occasionally he would be limping and sometimes mention to me that his leg hurt. It wasn't till Mum took the kids and I to Sydney during the easter Holidays this year that Reid was hit with his first major pain in his right leg. The pain travelled down his leg to the arch in his foot. I rubbed and rocked and prayed that the pain would go away. It did. This pain only resurfaced occasionally and not as dramatically and it seemed to swap limbs so I wrote it off to be "Growing Pains". Reid is a very tall and skinny kid with plenty of energy, and it was thought that this type of pain is quite common among boys his age. It wasn't until Reid ran his Fun Run at school on Thursday 17th May that david and I were a little alarmed that he limped the entire 300m around the oval. After checking his shoes at the end of the race and emptying the contents, (rocks, bark, and dirt) I was sure was the cause of the limping. He did say his leg was sore, and when I checked it looked ok. That afternoon he was running again. Saturday 19th Reid spent the day riding his bike but complained of a sore leg most of the day. I finally looked at the leg 7pm that night after a day of running to Nettball and birthday parties, doing the groceries etc. His leg looked considerably larger than his left leg. David and I thought we would sleep on it and if it was still swollen in the morning we would take Reid straight up to St Vincents Emergency.
Basically this was the start of this Roller coaster ride. We had an x-ray and the Doctor treating Reid was alarmed to say the least. He admitted us into hospital and called the Orthopedic surgeon on call to come and reveiw Reid's x-ray. He was alarmed also and told us that Reid would need an MRI in the morning. The MRI showed a malignant growth on the right Tibia and was definatley some form of cancer. We were sent to Royal Childrens Hospital in Brisbane immediately. We had time to go home pack and say good bye to Alexandra, organise someone to pick her up and drive to Brisbane. We were to meet Dr Tim Hassal in the Oncology Outpatients ward.
The following week Reid was scanned and rescanned, poked and bi-opsied. On Friday May 25th we were told the outcomes of all these tests. Reid has a 8cm Ewings Sarcoma on his Right leg. This type of cancer effects the bone and tissues and metatisies quickly. There is also a small spot on Reids Lower Left Lung and he will need this removed and checked.
After another 10 days in and out of hospital we were told that The spot on Reid's lung was not cancer and his Bone Marrow is not infected with cancers. This is very good news, however our oncologist made it very clear that this did not clear the lung, as the spot had to be something and he would be watching Reid's lungs very closely. I was very happy to hear this. This meant to me that Dr Tim was not going to look under every stone but he was going to look twice or even more.
Reid commenced his first chemo Friday 8th May. This made him very sick and he did not eat for the five days in hospital. Being a skinny kid, eating is a priority to keep up his strength. He asked Mum for a Steak early morning of day 6. Each block of chemo is 21 days long and Reid is to have six blocks before surgery.
Which brings us to today. I have condensed the past eight weeks to fill you in. Reid turned 7 on the 14th June (the day we got out of hospital after a lung biopsy and his first lot of chemo). There is a lot of other gorry stuff that our poor little man had to go through but he is doing well and looking at the site of the tumour I can see a difference. The swelling has reduced and Reid is putting on weight. On Monday 16th July we will have (amongst other tests) "Disease Evaluation". Reid will have an MRI and the scans will be compared. David and I are anxious to see these results because we are so certain that the tumour is reducing. But until then we are back to being normal parents. Refereeing his fights with his big sister, cooking steak and chips (very important for Reids weight increase), washing, ironing etc etc..... to be continued