Well, here we are, together, in a place we never wanted to be. Yet, this isn't our story, our walk, our pain... this is Ethan's story, his journey, his cancer, but as he is doing the actual work, I will do my best to present his story at this time in my own words and I hope I am able to represent him in way that does his work justice. Over the course of several days, several random symptoms that Ethan had mentioned in the past few weeks (occasional lightheadedness, lethargy, loss of appetite, and the like) culminated into a moment of Ethan passing out in the shower, hitting his eye and the back of his head, which bought him a trip to the ER at Toledo Childrens Hospital and thank God, he was taken there by his father. While in the ER, they ran bloodwork to explore the possibilities for the fainting and the other symptoms. It was then that the doctors said the word that no parent wants to hear... leukemia.
Cancer?? In my son, our son, our Ethan? It had to be wrong! It wasn't. To our dismay, shock and absolutely out of left field, our son was admitted to the pediatric cancer wing in this beautiful, progressive children's hospital. Our son, our 16-year-old boy. Whose birthday was literally only days away! Instead of turning 17 on Valentines Day out in the real world where we all reside every day, Ethan would be spending it in the hospital with an allowed admittance list of 4 family members. The love and anguish that poured out of my soul, out of my eyes, down my face, the tears I wept... yet...Ethan remains so strong. There is a resilience to his core that normal people will envy. The fact that in addition that he is spending the next month or so of his young and vibrant life stuck to an IV pole and machines that beep and nurses that care and check in as often as they need to, in addition to these facts, Ethan was also diagnosed with AML (acute myeloid leukemia) which is one the most aggressive forms of this wretched and unwanted disease. But my son, he is strong. If anyone can, he can. If anyone will, he will. If anyone deserves it, he deserves it. I love him, his father loves him. His sister loves him. Grandparents. Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, friends, parents of friends, employers.... the absolute out-pouring of love that he will feel from all of us...that is what we can do right now in this very moment. For him, take a moment, close your eyes, and send a prayer to the one you call God. In this moment, as his mother, that is all I know what to ask you to do.
As things unfold and the days and months move towards healing and recovery, the goal here is to keep everyone who loves him and cares for him, updated as best as we can. There will be good days and bad days but with the right medications, the right people around him, the right support, our boy will pull through with a smile and a kick ass story to tell his kids someday.
Send him your love and thank you for taking the time to check in on him, we all appreciate it...
Leave him a message of support! He will be able to see them all!
Going pretty good so far. Today is his fourth of 5 days of chemo. Fortunately, the only side effect has been he feels nauseous all the time. He is on meds for that, but when it gets real bad, he asks for Benadryl. He’s been sleeping well and his appetite hasn’t decreased too much. All good news to this point. I’m curious to see how he does the first 5 days of recovery.
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