Make A Child Smile

David's Story
written by mom Kristi

David was child #4! A surprise baby; and very loved. His brother and sister would fight over who got to hold him. He was a pretty healthy baby. He usually got a cold and ear infections in the winter, but that is because where we live it is cold and snows in the Winter. When he was 17-months old he broke his left arm. That didn't slow him down any though!

In September of 2007, he started to complain that his knee hurt. We thought it was just a growing pain. Then his knee started to swell. His dad took him to Urgent Care and they told him that it was probably a minor sprain and to ice it, wrap it and take Aleve for pain; and if didn't get better in two weeks to go to the regular doctor. Well, it didn't get better, in fact, it got worse.

I took him to the doctor on October 5, 2007 and the doctor immediately set up an MRI for Monday, October 8. The next morning the doctor called and said we need to go NOW for an x-ray. I asked him what it was and he said David has a bone tumor. He also said he would have the orthopedist call us with an appointment; which they did, for the following Monday, October 15. We got the x-rays done. The imaging center sent us the results; and it said "malignant" and "Osteosarcoma" on it. We looked up Osteosarcoma and found out it is bone cancer. Needless to say, we were devastated!

David was in so much pain that I decided to go to the doctor on October 12, 2007 and get some pain medications for him. I had to go to the imaging center to get the copies of the MRI and the x-rays anyway. I went to the doctor and asked for the pain medicine, and the doctor asked me if I had seen the orthopedist, and I said we would go on Monday. Well, my doctor got quite upset and things started moving very fast!! He started making phone calls all around Carson City to other pediatricians to find out where they send cancer patients.

After spending over an hour in that office, we were told to go NOW to Children's Hospital in Oakland, CA; 4½ hours from where we live. I came home, packed some stuff up for David, loaded up the car and we went. It was David, his dad, his two sisters, and me. We left around 12:30 and got there at 5:00. It was very chaotic there. David finally got admitted and put in his room around 8:45 p.m. He was in a lot of pain, and had a panic attack with morphine so he wouldn't take it. They gave him Tylenol with codeine, and that worked for awhile.

Saturday we spent the day trying to manage his pain. Sunday he had another MRI that took 4 hours. Monday he had a CT scan. Tuesday we were ambulanced to UCSF to meet with the surgeon there. Tuesday and Wednesday he had to have a bone scan, kidney scan, echo-cardiogram, second CT scan, and second kidney scan. On Thursday he had a biopsy done on his knee. On Friday he had a broviac catheter put into his chest. He started his first chemo treatment on Saturday. The first treatment was Cisplatin and Doxorubicin. He slept for 4 days, and we went home on Thursday, October 25, almost 2 weeks after we got there. It was good to be home.

David lost his hair. He had his second treatment on November 13, 2007. His second treatment was Methotrexate. It took several days to clear the Methotrexate out of his system. They gave him Leucovorin every 6 hours to help flush the "meth" out. Then he had another "meth" treatment after we met with the surgeon on November 20, 2007. We were in the hospital for Thanksgiving and he also had chemo on Christmas Day.

David was scheduled for leg surgery on January 7, 2008, but it was postponed until February 4. The surgeon wanted the tumor to shrink a little more so he could do a successful limb-salvage. David has to undergo one more cycle of chemo; doctor wanted the 'big guns' in chemo to get the tumor off of the blood vessel. David has handled this delay like a trooper, even though he was disappointed at first. He wants it over with. If surgery wasn't delayed, the doctor would have had to amputate David's leg.

David will have his right knee and most of his femur removed and replaced with a titanium rod and artificial knee. We know we have a long road ahead of us. David will not be walking 'normally' for a year after surgery, maybe longer. He will have to get used to a 'bionic' knee.

We can't wait until we are done with chemo and David is cancer free!! Thank you for the cards and well wishes to him. We wish we could thank you all individually, but that is just not possible. Thank you so much, you have made him smile!