Journal

My name is Victoria and I am writing this journal about my son. I am a mom of 5 children and have been married for 21 years to a wonderful man who has always been there for me and our kids. This journal is about the trials and tribulations my husband and I have gone through in a 1 year span.It all happened last year when my 13 year old son was diagnosed with Osteosarcoma. It all started when my son Joey came to me in September of last year telling me he was in pain with his leg. My son played football so I though he had injured his left leg playing the sport he loves so much.

     I took my son to the hospital to have his leg looked at. He was in alot of pain and he had this lump on his leg and I thought he had injured it playing a game he just had that past Saturday. He was unable to walk so I decided to have it looked at. When we got to the hospital, my son had his leg x-rayed. After being wheeled back, he looked at me and he told me the radiologist had told him it was serious. This made me very nervous. Finally the doctor had come in and asked me to step out of the room. To my surprise, she had told me it looked like bone cancer.I was in complete and total shock! I had a multitude of things roaming in my head but the one thing that scared me the most was thinking my son was going to die. I immediately called my husband and he came down to the hospital. After talking with the ER doctor, my son was transported to All Childrens Hospital by ambulance. My son was admitted and the next day, he had so many tests taken on him. I was scared and horrified to think I would lose one of my children. After all the tests had been done, the doctor had told us both that it was Osteosarcoma, bone cancer. My world was shattered! I felt so helpless. I have never felt like this before in my life. After we were told, a cancer surgeon was called in to do a biopsy on him. This surgeon was very upfront with us on exactly what he was going to do. My son went in for the biopsy and it seemed like it took forever. Finally the surgeon came out and sat down with us. The tumor was malignant. What was going to happen to our son now???? I had to stay strong for my son. He needed us now more than ever. We were told about his malignant tumor 3 days before he was to turn 14. He spent his birthday in the hospital to do more tests and to start his chemotherapy. They put him on a standard protocol to get the tumor to reduce in size before surgery. 3 different types of chemos. Cysplatin,Doxirubicin, and Methotrexate. He had to have this chemo for 10 weeks before he was to have his surgery to remove the tumor and replace his knee and part of his leg with a titanium rod and knee. The weeks leading up to his surgery was heartbreaking to see this child of mine have to endure getting sick and losing his hair and feeling just miserable. During these 10 weeks there was so much support from his football team and from friends and family. There were fund raisers for him and the outpouring of support and prayers was so overwhelming! I do not know what I could have done without all of the people who were ther for us and our son. Finally the 10 weeks had come and gone. Surgery was next. This was going to be the hardest thing for me to ever have to go through was to watch my son go in the OR and have this surgery. I was nervous and scared and there was not a thing I could do. The sense of helplessness was really getting the best of me and I finally broke down and cried.

      We met with the surgeon in the morning before our sons surgery and they got him prepped and ready to go. We also met with the anesthesiologist and the OR nurse. All I could do was to ask them to please take really good care our son. The time came when we had to part ways and watch him go into the OR. I will never forget the look on his face. He was crying but yet had this determination on his face that he was going to beat this with everything he had. I have never cried like this in my life. Was he going to be ok?? Was the doctor going to come out and tell us there was complications??? So much ran through our minds. My husband and I went outside and went to sit in the parking lot for a few minutes. I have also never seen my husband break down and lose it before. There was no consoling him for a good 10 minutes. The hours went by and we kept asking for updates. the nurse had come out a few times but she couldnt really tell us anything. Finally after waiting 5 hours, the surgeon came out. He sat us down and told us how everything went. We were relieved when he told us that the surgery went better than he expected. What a relief! I wanted to get to see my son as soon as possible. He stayed in recovery for about an hour then they wheeled him out and brought him upstairs to his room. He was still groggy but awake enough to say hi. After getting him to his room, I wanted to see how his leg had looked but he had it completely wrapped and in a brace. He also had an epidural during surgery and stayed inplace for 12 hours after surgery. He also had a pump in his leg to drain excess blood from his leg so the leg would not get to swollen. My baby made it through surgery.I was so proud of him! The next couple of days got a little better and he was awake and starting to eat again.The epidural was taken out and but he was still on a morphine drip for pain.

  A few days after surgery, he wanted to get out of bed. We started slowly with him at least sitting up and haning his feet over the side of the bed. I didnt want him to do too much too fast. After all, he just had surgery!I must say, the determination he had walking into surgery was still with him days after. He was sitting in a chair 4 days after and was up on crutches as well. I was amazed!!!! Was this really happening? I knew he was going to be ok but to see him up and on his crutches was simply a miracle. The same kid who was told not to put any weight on this leg was up!A true miracle. He has since is still getting his chemo and has 7 more treatments left to go. He had his surgery on Feb 3rd,2009 and here it is May 17th and he is now walking again with no help of crutches or a cane. I have my son back and I cannot thank enough all of those who have helped oour son through this journey in his life. From everyone who has been there from day 1, we are forever in their debt. I never thought I would ever see a child go through this and think that he could be cured from this terrible disease. He has always though positive and has never ever given up hope. Yes, he did have his bad days but that was to be expected. God has truely blessed this child and he truely is a miracle. Never give up hope when you think that life has let you down. There is awlays a light at the end of the tunnel and his light will shine on him very shortly! Joey, you truely are my hero! I love you baby! One more note, Joey is now 100% cancer free. The chemo he had before surgery was killed 100%. No more cancer!!!!