The day after

      Sunday June 28, 2015

     The day after we found out the news about Sydnei was a very slow day. We still had no clue what the plan was. If you know me I am the type of person who wants to know what is going on, when, why, where, and how. I am a very prepared person. So not knowing what the plan was or if she was going to have surgery first or chemo it was hard waiting. Sydnei was still in really good spirits. She was still in her bed for the morning. It amazes me that she never complained once about having to lay in the bed so much. Around lunch time they came in to take out her catheter . She was still so terrified because she thought it was going to hurt. She screamed, but she realized it did not hurt when they took it out. They also had to draw blood to find out what blood type she is. They ended up having to draw it from her foot. After they got their blood they let her get up out of bed. This was the first time since we were in the hospital that she got to get up and not be hooked to anything. Sydnei was so happy. She was so ready to play.She got to see the big fish and run around the halls. They were getting us ready to be moved over to the cancer floor later that day. 

These were on sat night after we found out about her tumor. 

She loved to snuggle with daddy.                                            Being silly with mommy.  

                                                                    This girl is so silly.











             












Before she got her catheter out.                                She made her own extra long straw to drink her drink.

When she finally got to see her fish. 

     Later that day they came in to tell us that the plan was that they were going to do surgery the next day (Monday).  They felt that they could get all of the tumor and lymph nodes out. So they decided on surgery and then she would start chemo and radiation after she had healed from the surgery.  I was so terrified. When I had surgery to have my thyroid taken out it was rough for me. So I was so nervous for her. Surgery is a big deal. They said that the surgery would take up to 5 hours. I could not wrap my brain around that my 3 year old little baby girl was going to have to be cut open. It was so scary to even think of. 

   Now that we knew somewhat of the plan they moved us over to the cancer floor. This floor was so much fun for Sydnei. When we got moved over there Sydnei, Kevin, Lucas, and the nurses raced each other up and down the halls on cars. They had so much fun. We let Sydnei eat basically what she wanted for the rest of the day too. She could not eat anything after 12 that night. So we tried our best to make the day so much fun for her. 

Everyone racing down the halls. 

What is a Wilms Tumor?

So what is a Wilms tumor???

     So we knew a little about what a Wilms tumor was. My niece Emma (my brother's daughter) had the same exact tumor and the same exact kidney. She was only 18 months old when they found hers. They found hers because her stomach was so bloated all the time. She looked like a little pregnant baby. They had to do surgery on her. When they did her surgery they told my brother that is was a stage 3 tumor and that they would have to put in a port for her to do chemo. When Emma got out of surgery I remember the doctors coming in to tell my brother and his wife that they got the tumor out and also had to take her right kidney as well. They said that the tumor was the size of a grapefruit. They said that Emma's kidney more than likely never worked since she was born. They left the room to go put in Emma's port when another doctor came rushing in saying that they examined the tumor and it was NOT cancer. She was not going to have to do any chemo. The Lord healed Emma. I remember my brother falling to his knees to pray and thank God. I also remember my mother about passed out. We all call my sweet niece Emma a miracle baby. She is now a happy healthy 6 year old. 

                                 When Emma was in the hospital and had her surgery. 

                                                             Emma Now!




















      So when we found out about Sydnei's having a Wilms tumor we turned to my brother for guidance. He was so helpful and supportive.

    So what is a Wilms tumor? It is a tumor that is in the kidneys. It occurs mostly in children from 3 to 4 and under 5. Most of the time it happens in just one kidney. But sometimes it can also be found in both. Thankfully it was just one kidney for Sydnei. About 9 out of 10 of the tumors found in children are Wilms tumors. There are usually about 500 cases a year diagnosed in the U.S. each year. It occurs in about 1 in 25 thousand children. It most commonly happens in females. 

Here are some pictures of a Wilms tumor. 

    It is crazy to think that both Emma and Sydnei had a Wilms tumor. Since Emma had a tumor and so did Sydnei they said they will do some kind of genetic testing to see if there is something that makes our family have them. 

The day my faith was tested!

      Saturday June 27, 2015

  Sydnei had a pretty good night the first night in the hospital. We met the Dr. Chandler when we woke up that morning. He came in to explain that she had something on her kidney. They were going to do a CT scan on Sydnei. Kevin went down with her while they did the CT scan. He said she was such a brave little girl when they did it. We waited and waited for the results to come back on what they had found. My mother, dad, our preacher, and associate preacher was there when they came back in the room and asked Kevin and I to step out of the room. I knew right then and there that something wasn't right. I immediately felt myself start to cry but I held it back. We went into another room where there was a computer for Dr. Chandler to show us what they had found. The doctor explained what we were looking at. Sydnei had a huge mass inside her right kidney. Kevin and I both started to cry. He told us that the mass was so big that it had busted through her kidney. There were also some lymph nodes that looked like they were affected also. The mass was a Wilms tumor. They were afraid that the tumor had spread into Sydnei's IVC and her aorta. Those are the tubes that leads up to her heart. They said that it might had made its way to her heart. They wanted to do an ecocardiogram on her to make sure that her heart and her lungs were not affected. They said that the Wilms tumor was more than likely cancer. 
    Kevin and I did not know what to do. We just sat there for a while and cried. We asked what the possibilities were and what we could do. They were not sure at first. There were two options: One they could take the tumor out and do chemo and radiation or Two they could do chemo first to shrink it and then later on take out the tumor and then resume chemo. 
   We went back in the room with Sydnei, my mom, and our pastors. Kevin had walked out to talk to our pastor while our associate pastor stayed in the room. He was entertaining Sydnei. I could not control the tears. They just kept flowing. Sydnei seen that I was crying and she asked me, "Mommy why are you crying?" I broke down even more because this precious little girl had no clue what was about to happen to her. All I could manage to say was, "baby mommy just gets upset sometimes." We ended up going out with our pastor to talk to him and to pray. I have to say when I found out that Sydnei had a tumor and that she more than likely had cancer I started to question God. God why would you do this to this precious little girl? What have I done for this to happen? Am I a good mother to not even know that this was growing inside of my daughter? Did I do everything possible to protect her? There were so many questions that I could not answer. All I could do is pray. I knew that God had a plan for our family and for Sydnei. I knew that he was doing this for his glory. I did not understand why but I knew that he would always be here for my family.
    They then did an ecocardiogram on Sydnei. She did an awesome job as usual. During her exam she started to sing like she always does. But this time it was different. 

 

Sydnei singing Proverbs 21:1

They also did another ultrasound on her kidneys. The tumor was pushing on her IVC. Sydnei was in such good spirits the entire time. We waited on the test results to see if there was any of the tumor that had spread to her heart and her lungs. The doctor came back and told us that there was not any sign of the tumor that had spread to her heart and lungs. We were to thankful that it had not spread. The cancer doctors also came in and talked to us about when they did surgery they would put in her port. A port is where they would give her chemo and radiation. For the rest of the day we had lots of visitors and told everyone what was going on. There was nothing else we could do so we just spent time with our sweet baby girl. We did not know what the plan was and we did not know what God had in store for us.                                                                           

                                                        Sydnei and her uncle Brent!!