Blessings Poured Out Upon Us

Under the Knife

As most of you know, Archer went in for surgery on November 13. Though we tried to keep everyone updated on Facebook throughout that week, I will give a brief summary of how it went. He was away from us for a little more than six hours, and the surgery lasted a little over four. The surgery went well and his surgeon, Rebecca Meyers, was confident that she removed any and all cancerous tissue from his liver. The tumor was isolated to the right lobe of his liver so they removed the entire right lobe (right hemihepatectomy). The piece that they removed was roughly the size of a small cantaloupe, while the tumor itself was about the size of an orange. Archer was in the ICU for monitoring for the first day after surgery and then moved up to the cancer ward, which is basically his second home now. Archer spent most of the first couple of days sleeping and on morphine. When he was awake, he was very uncomfortable and irritable. I was able to spend the first four days with him while Aubrey was home with Kaesia. While it very difficult to see him like that, I loved every minute of being there with him. 

It took several days before Archer wasn't in any pain but he was only on morphine for the first two days. After day two, he survived on Tylenol with an occasional dose of Oxycodone when the pain got really bad. He is an amazingly tough little guy and is such a spectacular example of how to face adversity. I don't know how Aubrey and I got so lucky to have such amazing kids, but I am certainly not going to complain. Finally, after almost a week in the hospital, Archer was able to come home on November 19.

A Week of Amazing News

The week of Thanksgiving, we took Archer back up to PCH for a follow up to his surgery and were given the results of the pathology report. The borders of the specimen that they removed did not contain any cancerous cells. That, along with the clean scans we got before the surgery, render Archer cancer free from a medical standpoint! Shortly after we got home, we received a call from the Geneticist's office with the results of Archer's genetics test. He was tested for a mutated APC gene, which is common among children with Hepatoblastoma. If the gene were mutated, it would mean that Archer had a 100% chance of getting colon cancer, provided that he lived long enough. It would also mean that our entire extended family had the possibility of the mutated gene. Okay, okay. On to the results. As you probably guessed by the heading of this paragraph, the results showed that the gene was not mutated! 

An Abundance of Gratitude

We can't even begin to describe how grateful we are for the blessings that we have received throughout this whole ordeal. You have all been so supportive in so many different ways. We could not have gone through this without you all holding us up and carrying us through. We are also immensely grateful to God and His bountiful blessings of health, strength and helping us stay positive. I am also extremely grateful to Aubrey, Archer and Kaesia. Aubrey has been the epitome of patience and has stayed so strong. She stayed in the hospital with Archer every week for the three or four days that he was up there and never once complained. Archer has been the most pleasant kid I have ever seen, not even considering all that he is going through. His positivity and sweet, tender attitude are no doubt what helped him recover so quickly. He is a miraculous young man and a poster child for battling cancer. Kaesia has been so sweet and so helpful to all of us. She can see when one of us is having a rough day and she comes up and gives us a hug and asks, "What's the matter?" She has such an empathetic heart and is always so eager to help. She also has an excellent sense of humor, which has definitely come in handy.

I honestly feel like no matter how much I express my gratitude to each and every one of you, it will never be enough. You all have your own challenges in life, yet you help us. You have other people that seek your help and attention, yet you help us. I know that many of you are limited on time, resources or both, and yet you help us. It is humbling to us to know that so many people care so much about us. I know that I am not deserving of the love that we have received so I guess it's good that I am surrounded by three amazing people who are. Thank you all so much!