Hallelujah! Praise the Lord! We received some great news today, but before that I will tell the whole story.
Just after Easter weekend Conor our oldest came to me about 7pm and asked me what the lumps on his chests were. He had two small lumps near his clavicle region. I knew right away that these were lymph nodes and that they weren't in a spot that they should be. So we headed off to the hospital for a quick look with Ultrasound to see what they looked like. One node looked like a typically node but the other was round and dark and with my experience looked like a cancerous node. So that night I got no sleep, all kinds of worries flooded my mind. I cried for a long time. My husband couldn't figure out why I was getting so upset about two little bumps on Conor. The next day we got him in right away to see his Pediatrician. And it was obvious that he too was concerned. He had just examined Conor two weeks prior to this for a sports physical and these nodes weren't there. So he ordered blood work and an X-ray. The blood work came back good but the X-ray was showing suggestions of maybe another node in the chest. So then he ordered a TB test to be performed. We left the office that day with no new answers and set up an appointment two days later with the surgeon. The day we seen the surgeon Conor's TB test was showing signs that it was probably going to be positive. A lump had formed and the redness had increased to about 1 cm in size. The surgeon suggested that we wait and watch the nodes to see if they changed in size, if not we were to check back in a month for surgery.
So the next day we came back and had the TB read. It was positive and now the doctor was even more puzzled. He ordered for our whole family to get the TB tests done. Everyone but Parker were with us that day and received their TB test. Steve took Parker in the next day after soccer. On Sunday we went back to get ours read, Zoe's was positive but that was to be expected since she had had her TB vaccine in China. So that day Zoe received an X-ray just to make sure. The next day Parker's was checked and came back positive also. So he too had an X-ray. At that point after consulting a TB specialist Doctor in Portland the Doctor ordered for Echo our foreign exchange student to get an X-ray and quantoferon test. Conor and Parker also received this blood test.
It took a week for these test to come back and they were all negative. So at this point TB was thrown out.
We then made an appointment for the surgery to be a week from then. We wanted this nightmare to be over and to finally have some answers. So Monday Conor underwent surgery to have the two nodes removed. That brings me to today and the great news that we received. The nodes were not cancerous and were reactive nodes most likely due to a shot he received the day of his physical.
We still don't answers to why he had a positive reaction to the TB test but at this point we are not worried about it any longer.
During these last three weeks I have never prayed so hard in my life. I prayed as I was waking up, as I was taking a shower, while I was driving to work and home. After the first appointment all I could do was cry, at this point we were thinking it could be Lymphoma. My husband said to me that night, why don't you use your Faith to help you through this. It's like the light bulb went on and I started praying from then on. I didn't shed another tear after that point, I had a calmness that only could have come from God. Somehow everything didn't look so scary, I knew he was in control and he would take care of Conor no matter what the outcome was. I looked at my kids and loved ones differently, I told my kids I LOVE YOU so many times one day they asked me what was wrong. I wasn't going to take anything for granted anymore. During those deep prayers with God I made some promises. Promises that I will do anything and everything he has in store for me, whether it be hard or difficult. I feel that this has been test to see it we could handle what he has in store for us and the paths he has for us to take. I've felt for a long time that he's wanted me to step out of my comfort zone and take chances.
So today I am thanking God for this experience even though it has been tough it has forever changed us.
