Well its official. Hunter now has a single lumen Hickman catheter protruding from his chest. He had surgery on Thursday to place the Hickman and had bone marrow samples taken and a spinal tap as well while he was under. He was very sore after the surgery and wanted to stay the night at the hospital so he could lie still and not move. When he moved he cried out in pain. I believe you can say that any time an little boy wants to stay in a hospital where there are needles and smelly things in every drawer rather than going home to a nice comfy bed he must have been in pain. I was able to get him into the car as he cried out in pain but there was no other way to do it. He threw up on the way home which must have been a reaction to the anesthesia. Poor little man. We got home and placed him on the couch where he stayed all night. The next day he felt a little better and today he is feeling much better, so much so that we were able to venture out to pet smart for some fish to fill the fish tank the neighbor loaned us.

Time passes and he seems to be doing well all things considering. He stills acts like a little boy and wants to play but the surgeries have really zapped the energy out of him. He is tired more and more refined in his interactions with his sister. We are waiting on the doc now to make the final determination on when the chemo will start. The lymphoma is a stage 2 since it was found in the abdomen. All the scans came back with no further cancer seen so that means we caught it the early stages which bodes well for treatment and hopefully a cure. All fingers crossed. His mother and I are taking it day by day and look forward to the post chemo party.

the waiting

We are waiting for the results and the doctor to call us back. Hunter had all his tests done last week with little troubles. The only real problem was the drink he had to gag down for the CT exam. To be honest the gastrografin is tastes terrible and he did well to get down what he could.

Jessica called the docs office today four time with no response from the doctor. I don't know about you but when I call the doctor or my friend I expect a call back. We are not talking about a tee time here, we are talking about the health of our son which, by the way, if you looked at him you could not tell there was anything wrong with him. He is still recovering from his bowel surgery and has not regained all his strength back but he can somehow manage to gather enough strength to fight with his sister from time to time.

We were given a fish tank by the neighbor who was trying to clean out his attic, thanks Craig. The kids have had fun preparing the tank for the the sharks they want to get. It is funny but the interaction between the kids in relation to hunters cancer just cracks me up. Hunter was scooping out the bottom rocks feverishly and placing them in a bucket while the others were talking about Kaitlins illness. Really she did not have a illness, she had gone to water country, over did it, and her head hurt. The topic came up quickly about Hunter having an illness. He said without skipping a beat "Yea... cancer" all the while scooping out rocks from the tank. I guess kids really have no grasp on what cancer is and the power it can have on lives. I relate that to the way kids view money. They think it grows on trees or just at the bank and when you need more you just "go to the bank and ask the lady for more money". Any how the tank is up and running. I am trying to get the water stabilized in preparation for jaws.

We will know something hopefully tomorrow if I have to go down the doctors office and collar him myself although Jessica will probably beat me to the punch. Keep up the prayers and well wishes. We really do hear them.

All is well today. Hunters belly button is healing just fine. I guess the augmentin really does the trick although he must still be in a little bit of pain or discomfort because he walks all hunched over like an old man. Jessica and I always smile and sometimes make light at his behalf as he walks by. He can not wait to get better so he can go fishing on Pops boat or hunting with Grandpa. To tell you the truth we can not wait for that day either.

Tomorrow he will have the first of three tests to determine the stage and aggressiveness of the malignancy. He will have a PET scan tomorrow then a CT on Thursday and to round out the week will be a bone scan. I am curious why they want to do a CT and bone scan when the PET scan is a combination of CT and nuc med but I reckon that is why I am not a doctor. It is a terrible feeling to know that the well being of your child is in the hands of someone that is constantly practicing what they do. We are hoping that we will get some news as to the stage after the PET scan. By then the pathology test results should be in and the results should be enough to make the determination. The waiting is agonizing. All the what if's fly through your head, all the anxiety that is associated with those what if's do not go away. I wake every morning hoping it was all just a dream.

The beginning

This is the start of what I hope will be a short blog with a very happy ending. My name is Joe Guth and my son (well technically he is my step-son but I have known him since before he was born so I consider him my son) has lymphoma. That was a hard word to say at first and to be honest it is still difficult but I am getting use to it.


I remember the first time I heard it. I was on the way home from Charlottesville after working a little late. I was in a hurry because our son, Hunter was in the hospital after small bowel surgery and I wanted to get there to spend some time with him and my wife. She has been keeping vigil since he had surgery on Saturday. Anyway we were awaiting results of a pathology test on a section of bowel the surgeon cut out that he felt looked a little odd. My wife was agonizing about the results but I had no worries. I mean, after all, bad things happen to everyone else in the world, certainly not you or you family, right? Well apparently my family is not immune to that which affects all others. Buzz-killer. My wife called to inform me in between sobbing that the results came back… " lymphoma, our son has cancer" . Gulp...

I was not able to speak, I was terrified, sad, scared, nervous, anxious, lost, mad, and a multitude of other emotions all at once. It is not every day you learn that your seven year old son has cancer. Did I mention that the next day was his eighth birthday? Anyway the rest of the trip from Charlottesville was a blur filled with memories of Hunter like a picture montage of our time together, playing in my head while I cried the whole way back to the office.

The next couple of days were a journey that seemed like something out of a nightmare. We had to meet with the pediatric oncologist, tell our family and friends, and most of all try to explain to Hunter what was wrong with him and what would be happening in the next couple months. Have you ever tried to explain to an eight year old that he has cancer? Well we have. It was surprisingly easy for him. He knows not what the word cancer means. He does not realize that cancer can kill him. He can not comprehend what death is. My wife and I can and that is what’s terrifying. Not having him around scares the hell out of me so that is simply not an option for me or my wife. We have made it our journey to get our son well again. Hunters’ journey starts now.

Thank you all for the warm wishes and prayers as we start this part of our lives. I will try to keep you all updated on all that is happening with Hunter with regards to his chemotherapy treatments, wellbeing, hospital visits, and all around progress to a full recovery. I will also try to offer some insight on my thoughts and emotions as well as those of my wife. I would suspect that my wife, Jessica may post from time to time and I hope she will.


8/15/2010

Hunter is doing fine. His bellybutton incision has become infected and he is on antibiotic. His grandparents are here visiting and we are taking it easy watching Diary of a Wimpy Kid. He knows that next week will be the beginning with a PET scan, blood work, port-a-cath insertion as well as bone marrow biopsy obtained. We will find out this week the grade and aggressiveness of the malignancy and what course of chemotherapy action will be necessary to get our little boy back to normal. Normal… I am not sure what that word means anymore.