Never in a million years did I think I would have to create a CaringBridge site for one of my children. Hazley has a long road ahead of her but with the support and encouragement from everyone around her she will be back to our sassy little girl in no time!
The evening of Thursday March 19th after supper. Hazley's dad, Adam, picked her up that night and immediately noticed a rock hard lump on the side on her abdomen. We continued to monitor it all evening and I became more paranoid about it so I ended up messaging our primary Dr. to see if this would warrant for a visit in the clinic. I couldnt stop thinking about it on Friday morning so once I dropped her off at daycare I tried calling the clinic to make sure my message went through. The nurse assured me they recieved the message and Dr. Lindholm will give me a call. The day couldnt go any slower! I finally got a call around 4:30pm and he asked a couple questions. Since this wasnt painful, she was eating, pooping and peeing fine he felt good to wait until Tuesday to schedule a visit. About 15 minutes later he called back and said he changed his mind and wanted to meet us at the clinic on Saturday morning at 8am to be able to feel the lump himself and order labwork and an ultrasound. Adam and I started to worry right after I got off the phone with him but still tried to remain calm. We met with Dr. Lindholm on Saturday March 21st and he was able to feel the lump himself. He stated it was smooth to the touch and felt about the size of an egg from the outside. We were able to get a urine test on Saturday and that came back perfect. An ultrasound and labs were scheduled for Monday at 11am. Adam and I both tried to attend the appointment but with all the COVID restrictions they would only allow one of us. While the ultrasound tech was taking the pictures I was watching the screen and alls I saw was this huge solid gray circle on the screen. I know the techs cant say anything so I just continued to watch and saw her measuring every inch of that gray cirlcle. The tech excused herself to go and talk to the radiologist (that's when I knew something was up) then she came back into the room and said she needed to get images of the other side. When we left the clinic that day I was sick to my stomach. I knew something wasnt right with those photos. Dr. Lindholm called me at about 12:45pm with the results. He started by saying her lab work is great but the ultrasound unfortunately showed a 8.1cm mass growing on her right kidney. I was at work when I got this news and had to try so hard to fight back the tears. He said he was in contact with Children's already and they want to see her as soon as possible. Based on the images, Childrens informed Lindholm it looks like it was a Wilms Tumor, which is a cancer on the kidneys that is more common in children. The minute I heard tumor I lost it and my mind starts wondering into a thousand places. I had to leave work for a while to process everything that was said to me over the phone. A couple hours later Childrens called and they wanted to see Hazley on Tuesday March 24th and they said plan to be admitted to the hospital with surgery the following day. This was so much to process in just a couple of days and I had so many thoughts running through my head. This is where Hazleys journey began.
