Poor Lauren. . .

As most of you know out lives were changed forever yesterday. Lauren was just diagnosed with cancer. She had been complaining intermittently about a tummy ache but just had her well-child visit about 3-4 weeks ago, so I decided to palpate her stomach and I discovered a mass. I took her in to the Pediatrician and after his exam and an xray of her abdomen we were sent up to Primary Children's for what I feared, but knew was likely the case. She had some additional tests; an Ultrasound and CT of her chest, abdomen and pelvis to look for metastases. It has been a very quick, overwhelming experience, but we are blessed to have such an amazing hospital so close to out home. We are unsure the exact type of cancer she has, other then it appears to originate in her kidney; likely a very large Wilm's tumor with lymph enlargement - our hope is for Wilm's at this time over the other types of cancer they are considering since it has a higher cure rate/better prognosis then the others. She is having more testing done first thing this morning followed by surgery to remove the mass, her L kidney, ureter, and possibly her adrenal gland, and placement of a porta cath for chemotherapy. We just pray that they are able to proceed with surgery and remove all they need to today, since the mass is quite large (10 x 12 cm) and very close to important blood vessels and organs. I just thought you all might want to know what was going on. We will be at the hospital all day most likely and at least 5-6 days after her surgery just recovering. Chemotherapy generally start a week after surgery and can go on for about 18 weeks in most cases but we won't know what comes next, until after her surgery, since staging of her cancer takes place then. Since my mom is helping watch Brady and Courtney today, we will be touching base with her letting her know the updates as we can.