After visiting Fiesta Texas on July 11, Lauryn complained about pain in her lower right leg. She had been complaining of pain and swelling in her lower right leg since April when she accidentally caught her leg in the car door. We took her to an orthopedic urgent care center when she continued to complain of pain while she was walking. After x-rays did not show a fracture, she continued to have a bump on her lower leg and the pain increased over time. I took her back to the orthopedic urgent care on July 12. The same P.A. saw her again and told us it was abnormal for a child to continue to have pain after three months and ordered a CT scan. He basically came in the room and told us he could not help. He was going to refer Lauryn to an orthopedic oncologist and schedule a MRI for later in the day and a whole body bone scan the next morning.
When the orthopedic oncologist agreed to open his office just for us on July 15 to review the results, I knew the news was not going to be good. On Saturday, July 15, I called my daughter's pediatrician crying for answers and advice. She was able to secure us an appointment with an oncologist at the Children's Hospital of San Antonio the following Monday. The news from the doctor was that Lauryn had either an osteosarcoma or Ewing's sarcoma. Well, we have some mighty prayer warriors and some amazing things started to happen.
We were connected with an amazing orthopedic oncologist for a second opinion who told us he did not think she had a sarcoma. He believed that she had a type of lymphoma in her bone and would not need surgery on her leg! Unfortunately for Lauryn, in order for her to receive a final diagnosis and stage her cancer, she will needed to undergo more procedures including a PET scan and spinal tap. She received a final diagnosis of non-Hodgkins lymphoma (NHL) contained in her right tibia. Her chemotherapy began August 1. She is a beautiful fighter and continues to attend her freshman year of high school while undergoing treatment.
Jana
non-Hodgkins lymphoma (NHL)
