More fun surprises!!!

9:48:00 PM Atticus Army 3 Comments

Hey army,

Well, Friday was quite the crazy sequence of events! We apologize for the delayed post! on Friday morning we met with the neuro-oncologist. She brought the pathology report for us to read through. The report confirmed that Atticus's tumor is Choroid plexus carcinoma. This type of cancer cell is very rare! In fact its ONE in a MILLION that get this type of cancer! The oncologist informed us that 90% of the cure and success of treatment is in the resection of the tumor! The oncology team is very pleased as the Surgeons were able to remove 100% of our sweet boys brain tumor! Again hooray for those tender mercies and blessings!

The oncologist discussed with us the next step in this process! She said this will be a long road or a marathon ahead! Atticus will need to start chemotherapy, his treatment will consist of 6 cycles, each cycle will last 3-4 weeks. We will need to do his treatment up here in Seattle at the children's hospital. They do not offer this type of treatment anywhere near Pullman, WA. The treatment will last a minimum of 6 months but could be longer. His treatment is very aggressive. However they will ensure to make sure his little body can handle each cycle. Atticus will need several blood, platelet and plasma transfusions during his treatment! They will also be doing stem cell replacement as well.

His chemotherapy cycles will consist of 3-4 days of in-patient hospital stay while he receives his treatment. Then 2-3 weeks off treatment where he can be home(in Seattle). The doctors informed us that we probably will still be in the hospital every few days even off treatment because he will be needing transfusions, blood work, physical therapy, and other things in between treatments. We would be lying if we said we aren't terrified for the days ahead. Nothing is worse than seeing your child suffer and in pain. We will have to watch our precious boy endure pain and suffering we cannot imagine. Our hearts ache that he has to go through this but at the same time we have found great joy in the success we have had in only one week here at Seattle Children's Hospital. We have truly been watched over and blessed in ways we never imagined possible. There have been days where we feel we cant take any more, or that we don't have the strength to carry on but somehow, someway we are carried through and pushed way beyond what we ever thought possible. Somehow a ray of sunshine shines through and those tender mercies come our way and we are strengthened with courage to carry on.

After our meeting with the oncologist they surprised us and told us that they were going to discharge us from the hospital that same day. They wanted us to go have some family time and be normal, (if there is such a thing as normal anymore). We were beyond excited! We knew it would be the best thing for Atticus. Lately Atticus would just sit in the hospital room and point at the door and sat out or out the window and cry to go out. It broke our hearts! Atticus loves to be out and about, again another amazing blessing!The hospital booked us a room at the SCCA, which is the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. They gave us tickets to the Seattle Aquarium and told us to take this next week and enjoy because once treatment starts it is intense! Once we received the news that we were being discharged Emilie's parents rushed to Spokane, Wa to meet Emilie's sister with the kids. Sweet Katti had been watching our kids all week for us while we awaited the next step in Atticus's treatment. We cant thank her enough for her kindness and love in caring for our kids. She really is the greatest sister EVER!  We knew Atticus would be so excited to see his brother and sister. His whole world lights up when he is with them!

So a couple hours later we were discharged and on our way! We cant tell you what an incredible freeing feeling that was being able to take our baby away from that hospital. Although my heart was somewhat uneasy knowing we would be right back there in another week. We decided to not think about that but to focus on our little family and make amazing memories together this week. We will forever be grateful to the hospital staff for giving us the time. It is treasured and cherished time that we so desperately needed!


Atticus was beyond thrilled to leave the hospital and has shown us such joy and hope! Atticus truly is a pillar of strength, and a fighter! He was so happy to be together with his family! We are loving every minute of this time together!







Emilie's parents left Seattle this afternoon to head back to Utah and that was really hard! They had been here with us the last 3 weeks. They were here for the MRI when we received the devastating news and they have been right there with us every second along this journey. We are so grateful for FAMILY and all their love and support. Goodbyes are never easy, but we will be having family come out to Seattle and rotate on a schedule to help with the kids etc. about every 2-3 weeks. We are so grateful for the love and support that each family member has given our family. It means so much to us!

We had a few visitors today and we have just been mainly relaxing today and doing a little exploring of this beautiful place. Its been a really fun day!



Caleb will start traveling back and forth each week to Pullman for his his Veterinary Medicine Schooling at WSU. Its about a 5 hour long drive each way! We are so grateful that his school has been so willing to work with us, given this difficult situation. His school and class have been so kind and supportive! They even had these green Atticus's Army bracelets made for us! His entire Vet med class is wearing them to support us! We cant thank you enough! Its incredible the amount of support we have behind us!

We will push through and stay strong. Its going to be very busy and there will be many hard days ahead. Looks like we will be here in Seattle for awhile, but we are okay with that because we know Atticus is getting the best care possible here. So for now we will soak up every second of this family time and make memories that we will never forget!! Thank you again for all your prayers, good thoughts, love and support we could not have gotten to where we are today without this ARMY!! Please continue to pray for our journey ahead, and that our sweet Atticus will be able to endure the long road ahead!