The Quick Factual Journey to Cooper's Diagnosis

*Ok I lied, I don't think I can make anything "quick" but I will try my best ;)

August 2024-

Tucking Cooper in one night I noticed him playing with his neck. I asked, "what are you doing bud?". He replied, "playing with my bump, doesn't everyone have this?" I feel his neck and sure enough there is a lump that feels about one inch long. "It all starts with a lump..."

1st- Primary Doc Visit- Sure enough it's an enlarged lymph node. Everything else is completely normal, he's not sick and our doctor can't find any reason why his lymph node would be this big.

2nd- Blood Draw- Everything comes back completely normal

3rd- Antibiotics- Cooper gets put on a round of antibiotics... nothing changes.

4th- Children's ENT Referral- 1st availability isn't until November.

September- November 2024-

5th- Natural Remedies- During that time I got Cooper to the chiropractor several times and we got him a lymphatic massage (everyone thinking his lymph node is just clogged).

Side story: Ever since Cooper was born I've always said he doesn't breathe right. I would call him my little pug. His breathing through his nose always seemed so short. When he was around 4 years old I took him to 3 different ENT's (one of them being at children's!) trying to figure out how to help him. All of them said the same thing, "his tonsils are small and not an issue, typically tonsils and adenoids are the same size, he's just a big kid for his age and his airways are smaller. The bigger he gets the bigger his airways will be so just let him grow". So I believed them (kinda). However, now that we are headed to an ENT again, I wasn't going to waste this opportunity. Maybe THIS doctor will believe me.

6th- ENT Appt- 11/11/24- We get into the ENT at Children's. Doc does a scope up his nose to check his adenoids and finds that they are blocking almost 100% of his airway. (I freakin told those docs!! I feel so justified as a mom at this moment, I KNEW it!). Rant over... Orders a ultrasound of his lymph node on his neck as well.

7th- Ultrasound Results- About a week later the doc calls us with results. His lymph node looks healthy, good blood flow, normal looking but it's bigger than he would like to see it. He said that if Cooper didn't need to get his adenoids out anyway his recommendation would be to wait 3 months and then get another ultrasound to see if it has changed in size. However, since he needs his adenoids out anyway he wanted to remove the lymph node and get it biopsied to be safe. And he wanted it done before Christmas...

8th- Surgery Day- Thursday, 12/12/24- They got us in for his surgery just two weeks after that call. My biggest worry was the anesthesia. We get him in for his surgery and the doc says everything went absolutely perfectly. His adenoids indeed were VERY large and the lymph node was easy to access and remove. He said the lymph node was big but looked normal, nothing of concern to him. His guess would be that it was just a reactive lymph node that got stuck that big. They ended up also taking a full blood panel as a base line. Recovery should be fairly mild, he'd have a sore throat and a little pain but could be back to school by Monday or Tuesday. Of course, Cooper handled recovery like a champ. He was eating chicken nuggets and steak by the next day. The appetite on that kid has always been impressive :)

9th- Recovery- Friday 12/13/24- I woke up oh so happy, light and celebrating. My boy came through surgery with flying colors and was home recovering so well. Literally felt the relief of a big deep exhale. His blood panel automatically populated in his portal and so I was comparing all the numbers to his bloodwork back in August. From my very unprofessional and limited knowledge everything looked great! Still looked normal! Now just need the biopsy results but according to everything up to this point we are good to go!

I'm not worried one bit about it...

10th- The "Call" that shattered our hearts and flipped our world upside down-

Friday the 13th at 5:47pm- I get a call and it's Cooper's ENT doc. Thinking to myself, "oh how nice he's checking in on how Cooper's recovering from surgery", which I proudly shared how exceptional he was doing. I could tell his voice was off. Then my world completely shattered.

There were some doctor terms he was saying, I started shaking and grabbed David. I had to clarify, "Wait, does that mean cancer?" and the biggest gut punch I have ever received was given in one word, "Yes."

Proceeded by, "Since his bloodwork came back normal and he is not having any symptoms at this point you do not need to head to the ER tonight. However, Monday morning expect a call and lots of appointments next week and for things to move really quickly."

This weekend has been so tormenting. David and I talking in circles about all the possibilities and ranges. Trying to figure out what types of cancer he could possibly have, what stage is he in? Is it curable? What does the treatment plan look like?

It's Monday morning 12/16/24 at 6:41am right now. I've been up since 5. I turned the ringer up on my phone. If I don't hear from them by 9am, I am going to start calling. We are ready for some clarity. We are terrified of what we are going to be told this week but we know the only way to the other side of all of this is through it. So here we go...

REQUEST: Please pray big mighty brave prayers for us this week! Pray for a massive miracle for our Coop. He's so freaking amazing, this world needs Cooper.

God Moment-

Going into his surgery I was thinking,

"Wow, God provided this big lymph node so that we could go back to an ENT and find out about his adenoids. If not for this lymph node I wouldn't have brought him in to get checked out again (I already did that 3 times when he was younger and everyone told me he was just fine!). Now he will be able to breathe SO much better! Imagine how much more he will grow when he's getting full oxygen (this is a joke because he is a BIG kid already, :) ) ha!"

Now I know,

"God protected us from finding out about his adenoids when he was 4 because he knew that we needed those very big adenoids at this very moment so that the doc would schedule him for surgery in two weeks instead of waiting another 3 months to schedule something."

I am praying oh so hard that means we caught it early.