Fall break this year was much different than years past. We spent the week in Memphis, Tennessee at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. We arrived in Memphis on Sunday October 4th, 2020 to pregame for the dreaded week that was ahead. We enjoyed sightseeing downtown and dinner on Beale Street.
The following morning we checked into St. Jude where we were all COVID tested. The day was filled with appointment after appointment meeting various nurses and doctors. Kaylee's IV was started and multiple vials of blood were drawn. Later that afternoon Kaylee was injected with a green dye like medication. This dye is currently used in conjunction with a special light to assist in locating liver tumors and is being researched by St. Jude to assist doctors in locating other tumors during surgery. Spoiler alert-Kaylee's dye did not light up during surgery!
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| IV Started on Day 1 |
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| Medicine Room for the Green Dye |
On the morning of October 6th, we walked over to the hospital to Pre-Op from the Tri Delta Place where we were staying. Kaylee was given a purple warming pad, they call The Hot Dog. Keith and I were able to stay in pre-op with her and then I was able to dress in scrubs and go with Kaylee into the operating room. Soon she was given the "sleepy milk" and I was escorted to the waiting room where Keith and I would spend the next 4 hours.
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| Hot Dog warming pad before surgery |
The nurse from the operating room called us every hour to give us updates on the progress. Dr. Murphy came to the waiting room to explain how the surgery was a success. They were unable to do the surgery laparoscopic due to the complexity and size of the mass. Her main incision scar is most similar to that of a C-section. He explained her mass was large and grew directly inside the Right ovary. He described the removal process was like peeling an orange and removing the inside, with the skin peel needing to be sewn back together and formed to resemble an ovary. During surgery they discovered 2 additional abnormal cysts, of which both were removed and biopsied. He felt confident he was able to save her ovary and there was still good blood flow. A six month follow up will be needed in Memphis.
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| Surgeon's Drawing of Kaylee's ovaries |
About 1pm they made the final call that welcomed us back to recovery. We were able to see Kaylee as she was coming out of anesthesia. WOW was she funny! She had us laughing and we needed that. Soon we were all escorted to the 5th floor Room 14. This is where we would spend the next few days.
The next 24 hours would be spent resting and controlling the pain. During surgery they put in an epidural to assist with pain control and this was still in place which allowed them to administer medication directly into her spine. This left her unable to move her legs, which she did not like! She was soon surprised by a visit from Puggle the therapy dog. We learned Puggle and Asteroid (who works at Huntsville Hospital) trained together!
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| Puggle- St. Jude Therapy Dog |
The pain management team came to visit the next day and evaluate her progress. They were pleased with the way she was recovering. They choose to remove her epidural and monitor her progress with oral medications. Soon she was up, walking the hallways and requesting Starbucks!
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| Lap 1 Day after surgery |
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| One of Kaylee favorite windows to lookout |
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| Being escorted to Starbucks |
Enjoying a Starbuck Refresher
So all that excitement and exercise wore this 13yo out! She spent the next few hours resting, texting, and watching tik tok videos!
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| Being comforted by her soccer quilt |
Later that afternoon the surgeon came to talk about her progress and said if she felt up to she could be discharged to the Tri Delta Place were she could continue to recover. We would soon be wheeling Kaylee to our hotel room where we spent the next few days watching movies and resting.
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Kaylee getting exercise
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| Our view of The Pyramid at Bass Pro Shops |
Our next appointment was scheduled for 2pm on Friday October 9th at the solid tumor clinic. We would spend the next few days walking around campus and encouraging Kaylee along as she continues to get stronger everyday.
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Our favorite dining table at St. Jude
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Early on the morning of Friday October 9th, while eating breakfast downstairs at Tri Delta Place, my phone rang. It was the St. Jude clinic nurse asking us to come in earlier than our 2pm scheduled appointment. My heart dropped thinking is this good or bad news. So I asked the dreaded question, did the pathology report come back? She whispered, Yes, and it was all BENIGN!!!! Overjoyed, we went up the room, started packing in hopes to be released home later that day. During our clinic visit with the surgeon he was very pleased to be able to share the good news and explain to Kaylee she still has a 6 week recovery ahead of her. This would put stricter and longer limitation on her functioning levels, as this was a much more invasive surgery that the two previous. We were handed a surgical pathology report that included pictures of the cyst and a diagnosis of Mucinous cystadenoma of the ovary (9.0 x 4.7 x 2.0 cm), which translates to larger benign tumor in our vocabulary!!!
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| Clinic visit before heading home! |
We couldn’t have asked for a better result/gift! The few weeks leading up to this trip had been tough. That mass on Kaylee’s ovary had grown larger than what we initially thought. One of her docs here was concerned that this was cancer that had metastasized from her original tumor. In fact, this mass was only inches away from her original cancer. We had been pretty concerned that her cancer was back. Now that this cloud has been lifted from our family, it’s hard to explain how we feel. We should be walking on air (and at times we are). Sometimes we have to remind ourselves that all is good. You don’t have to worry today. Our life is back to the new normal with work and school. We have been enjoying everyday, life is short!
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Kaylee spent this Saturday at Lyons Farms with some of her soccer family.
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| Enjoying a turkey leg at Lyons Farms |
The love that has been sent our way has been overwhelming! We couldn’t possibly begin to thank everyone here. We do greatly appreciate all of the prayers, thoughts, kind words, food, cards, and many other things that people have sent our way. The Southerns know we are blessed and we appreciate you all greatly! #southernstrong
