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01-8-2008 - Ashton's tumour

My mood while writing this blog: scared

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I thought I would share my experience of discovering my son's tumour, the events leading up to the discovery, and what happened afterwards.

I took Ashton for his 6-8 week check up with the Early Childhood Care Nurse, on 30th June. Ashton was 7 weeks old at the time. The nurse noticed his tummy was too large (abdomen distended) and his R testicle was also large. Immediately, alarm bells started ringing for me. Me and my husband noticed, for just a few days that his tummy seemed a bit big, but, being first time parents, we were not sure and put it down to normal baby chubbiness. Anyway, the nurse got me in a panic, and she rang our GP and said to go straight there. At the doctor's, he examined Ashton and said he had a hernia, and needed an xray. He also called a paediatrician and said to go and see him afterwards. I went to the nearby hospital with Ashton and got his xray. In xray, they looked all worried and said he would need an u/s - again, alarm bells were really ringing now and I was terrified. Looking down at my beautiful, perfect son, I could not imagine what could be wrong, and did not want to. But my instincts told me this was more than a hernia. They said they could fit Ashton in for an u/s right away. During the u/s, they got their chief doctor/technician to have a look. I could not see the screen. They did not tell me anything, but that I had to go and see the paediatrician.

After the scan, I took Ashton to the paeditrician, Dr Cohen, who's office was next door. He called for Ashton's results. With a serious look on his face, he turned and told me "i'm sorry but Ashton has a tumour". I started crying, and was a bit hysterical for a little while. I held Ashton to my chest and kissed him, crying the whole time. I called my husband, who spoke to Dr Cohen on the phone as I could not talk. My husband got a train from the city (where he works) immediately.

When I had calmed down, Dr Cohen explained a few things to me - it could be a kidney tumour, or one of the adrenal glands. He said it was very large, and possibly life-threatening. He spoke to an Oncology (cancer) specialist at the largest children's hospital in Sydney, Westmead. I asked Dr Cohen if it was cancer - he said possibly but he did not know. We would have to take Ashton to Westmead straight away, the specialists would see us then.

When my husband arrived, we took Ashton to Westmead. We checked in at emergency, armed with a referral letter from Dr Cohen, and Ashton's films from xray and u/s.

We waited for several hours, and were then taken to one of the wards. On the ward, we finally saw the Oncology Specialist. He said Ashton needed a CT scan, which was arranged for the next day.

I will continue with what happens next in another blog...

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1 Comments on Ashton's tumour


bdubb - Friday, 1 Aug
Swettie I am so sorry to hear what you guys are going through. You and Ashton are in my prayers. Please keep us posted.