There is no easy way to say this.....

6/30: Cydney woke up hungry. Due to her needing sedation for the MRI, she had not been allowed food past midnight. The MRI was scheduled for 8am. Thankfully Jared was taken off the flying schedule the night before and he was able to come sit with me while we waited for Cydney to be done with the MRI. We were told it would take about 3 hours.

After the MRI Cydney was sent to a recovery area as she came off the anesthesia. She was not happy and was confused to what was happening. She was offered and popsicle and took a few bites before saying she was done. We were taken back to her room to await results. While waiting she began having headaches. It was partly coming off the anesthesia, part hunger and now we know part due to the Tumor. After about an hour the nurse approved her to have Jell-o. She also gave her some medicine to help ease the pain. This made her happy and she had some red Jell-o.

About 30 minutes later I was sitting on the other side of the room when she sat up and got sick. I freaked for half a second as I saw a bunch of red stuff coming up. Momentarily forgetting about the red Jell-o.  While getting her cleaned up a Case Manager came in the room to introduce herself. There was a feeling of dread, why did we need a Case Manager? After she left and we continued to clean Cydney up another doctor walked in followed by our Pediatrician! Now things seemed very serious. The first doctor told us he would like to discuss the MRI results across the hall and he would bring in a nurse to watch the kids.

Once Cydney was cleaned up, Jared and I walked across the hall in silence and holding hands. Entering the room with a table full of doctors and Case Managers with red eyes was gut wrenching. As we sat down and I made eye contact with the doctor he began. "There is no easy way to say this...." he continued "there is a fairly large tumor on her brain". My heart dropped and stomach tightened as the tears started to pour out of my eyes. I turned to Jared and held him as hard as I could. Taking slow deep breaths and a few moments to cry and process what was just said I looked back up to the doctor through the tears. He asked if we would like to see the image. We both agreed. As he turned the computer around the image shown was unbelievable. A 5cm tumor sitting in the back of Cydney's brain. Wow! How is it possible that is in my child's cranium?

Discussion turned to our options for the next step. We where informed that Phoenix Children's has several neurosurgeons while Tucson has one. The likely hood of getting seen sooner was to go to Phoenix. Immediately we said we would like to be sent to Phoenix. The Case Manager began asking us if we needed help finding care for the younger children, that leaving them with someone in Tucson could be arranged she could help arrange talking to Jared's work to explain the situation. We thanked them and said we would get it all straightened out and to just get the necessary paperwork done to transfer Cydney to Phoenix.  I signed the release form and they all left the room to give us a minute.

We began furiously calling our parents and other family members. Taking a moment between each to gather our emotions and dial the phone again. Jared made calls to friends in Phoenix to arrange care for Nathan and Lily. After some time the doctors came back in and told us Cydney would be transported by helicopter, it was not clear if I could go with her yet.

Now we had to return to the room and tell Cydney what was going on. How! How do you tell a 7 year old they have a tumor in their brain? We had the nurse take Nathan out in the hall for a walk down to the play area. Lily was sleeping in the room.  Sitting on the bed we talked with Cydney about the MRI results and what they showed. We told her she would be flying on a helicopter to another hospital. Within an hour the Life Flight team arrived and transferred Cydney to the gurney for the helicopter. She gave Daddy a big kiss and we were off to the roof.

Once in the helicopter Cydney was tended to by the nurses while I stared out the window at the vast desert all around us. Within 45 minutes we were landing at Phoenix Children's and being escorted to her room. I entered a room with probably 20 doctors, nurses, social workers, Child Life Specialists and other medical staff all in line to talk with me about who they were and what was going to happen next. It was a whirlwind of information! As Cydney was getting prepped she was talking with the nurses and charming them as she does so easily. I was walked to a consult room by a doctor who showed me the tumor again and said Surgery was scheduled for early the next morning. She explained to me the two types of possible tumors it could be. She stated that the tumor was 5cm and could have possibly been there for years. She stated that the sections would be sent off to Pathology and results typically took two weeks to be returned.

I returned to the room with Cydney and had missed a call from Jared. I called him back to fill him in on the plan and what information I remembered at this time. He was driving up with the little ones. It would be a few hours until he was up to the hospital. He went to drop off Nathan and Lily with the Sullivans. I sat with Cydney and watched a movie with her until her dinner arrived. I then began texting some people to inform them of what has transpired over the last 24 hours.

This was a day that would not seem to end and one I wish we could send back and have a redo.

It was time to rally the troops and find courage in myself to help my baby girl fight this! Time to lean on Faith that she would be taken care of and watched over.

MRI of the 5cm tumor pushing against the brain stem and pushing cerebellum up.