Sometimes when you least expect it....

A curve ball. Thrown for a loop. Caught off guard. However you slice it, sometimes there are just moments that leave you reeling, and sometimes it takes a while before you have your feet solidly under you enough to be able to go back to that moment and re-live some of it -- even if the re-living + re-telling is for a greater good.

The reeling happened within the weeks +months that followed our lovely visit to see Aunt Nayne and our cousins in Virginia. During that visit, Samuel began to have some digestive issues, which largely seemed like a nasty bout of constipation. He ate less, began drinking less, and did not have any bowel movements for a couple days (which, for those of you who have been following this blog or know us, is EXTREMELY unusual in our house!). The night we visited our cousins Brian + Joyce and their children, Samuel's discomfort progressed rapidly to nausea, an attempt at puking, and a failed attempt at even having diarrhea. Mom decided immediately that it was time to get back home. We packed up the next morning and headed to Columbus on December 30.

The day after we returned home, New Year's Eve, we brought Samuel to the emergency room at Nationwide Children's Hospital. The doctor there examined Samuel and prescribed a mild laxative to help with his stomach troubles. We went home, gave him the laxative, and saw little to no improvement.

Shortly thereafter, we brought Samuel to an urgent care affiliated with the hospital for further evaluation. An x-ray did not appear to reveal any major "trouble", so we were again sent home with directions to use the laxative and keep him hydrated. Samuel + Trinity then spent two nights hanging out with their Mawmaw who informed us that he still was not eating or drinking well, and that he did not seem to have his normal level of energy. Another trip to a different urgent care yielded similar feedback -- x-ray showed no sign of obstruction in the bowels, just a "mass of fecal matter" that was "backed up". By this time, we knew Samuel needed more assistance than the laxative, so we planned to bring him into the urgent care directly located at Children's Hospital first thing the following morning.

That Sunday night, Mom stayed awake with Samuel who was experiencing a significant amount of pain and discomfort in his belly. He was unable to eat, unable to drink, and unable to rest at all because of the pressure and pain he was feeling. By around 5:00 am, it was blatantly evident that Samuel needed urgent medical attention - we felt in the form of an IV to help his body rehydrate itself. Mom brought him upstairs to brush teeth (they had been sitting in a reading chair all night unable to sleep and watching episodes of Dragon Ball Z on hulu.com!). When she undressed him, the sight of his pallid, emaciated body was gut-wrentching....we had not fully realized the extent to which his body had suffered over the past couple weeks. He was frail and had lost somewhere in the area of 10lbs in that short time frame.

Upon arrival at the hospital's urgent care, it was not long before we were transferred and admitted to the  Emergency Room for further testing and care. Another x-ray confirmed there was no "obstruction" causing the digestive issues; and so commenced a battle with the ER doctors who seemed to favor a surgical evaluation, followed by "exploratory abdominal surgery" to investigate the "problem". Through careful persuasion and with the assistance of the urgent care physician, we convinced the team to instead have a CT scan of his abdomen done and go from there. [Side note, yet again, already here we had seen God move MIGHTILY with all these seemingly crazy circumstances - ONLY by the Grace of God was Mom able to call the urgent care, and while the hospital doctors were calling in the surgical consult, somehow "coincidentally" the physician who had seen Samuel was not only present at the urgent care but was available to talk right then; so Mom handed her cell phone with the urgent care physician on one end to the ER doctor, and they personally conferred enough to satisfy the ER doctor that Samuel did not need a surgical consult or emergency surgery for a possible contortion/twisting or "obstruction"! It was an amazing thing to watch. And if you have ever needed to get a specific doctor on the phone for something right away, especially from an urgent care or ER facility, you will understand how miraculous that really was!!!].

As it turned out, the CT scan revealed an extremely large mass that had developed in Samuel's abdomen. The tumor, which through biopsy two days later would prove to be of the same pathology as the original tumor that had been removed from Samuel's testicle two years earlier, was approximately the size of a cantaloupe (about 14 cm x 14 cm x 10 cm). It was so big that it had crushed the passage from Samuel's stomach to his intestines (called the duodenum), preventing anything from passing through to be digested. Hence, the intense stomach discomfort and inability to eat, drink or pass waste. Moreover, the mass was far too large and impinged upon too many organs to be removed via surgery.

Major (miraculous) praise reports began immediately. On the initial CT scan, a small 4mm "nodule" appeared to exist on the lower lobe of Samuel's right lung. It was assumed by the doctors to be a metastasis of cancerous tumor. We confidently, immediately, and entirely rebuked that report and claimed the Truth that NO CANCER existed in his lungs. We cursed the nodule at its root and commanded it to wither up, disappear, and be gone from Samuel's body according to the Power given us through Jesus Christ and the Word of God. From that moment, the "mass" never showed up again! It had completely disappeared and was gone.

Instead of tumor removal surgery, Samuel underwent a surgical procedure to implant a new (double access point) port in his left shoulder, to biopsy the mass, and to perform a bone marrow aspiration. A PET scan the following day confirmed that there is NO CANCER anywhere else within Samuel's body or bone marrow. With regard to the "nodule" on the right lung, the oncologist informed us that according to the PET scan, it was officially "nonexistent".

Within less than four days, we began a rigorous chemotherapy protocol which was scheduled for a course of 54 weeks in combination with 4-5 weeks of radiation therapy. MANY MANY MANY prayers and research and "discussions" ensued, and we are so very grateful to the team of doctors at Children's Hospital for their openness to dialogue with us and modify certain aspects of treatment according to our determinations. And SOOOO many thanks to Uncle Michael (and Aunt Zara) for tremendous assistance in obtaining incredibly helpful supplemental treatment elements and dialoguing doctor-to-doctor with our oncologist regarding drug options and for unfiltered prognoses; to Dr Glen Aukerman for an incredible regimen of dietary modifications and blood work tracking to ensure Samuel's body is as strong + healthy as possible to best tolerate treatment; and most sincerely to our parents, siblings, family members, friends + friends of friends for prayers of faith that have absolutely 100% been heard and answered in the form of complete healing for Samuel's body. There is total Victory in all of this. We are again honored to share more of the journey through this adventure with you...

In love and with much appreciation and prayers, Brandon & Adriana