Ruthie C. - Quilt Finished in 2008
Born: December 15, 2007
Illness: Bilateral Wilms Tumor (Kidney Cancer)
A Thank You From Ruthie's Family!
From her webpage in February 2009 (she received the quilt in late 2008)
Ruthie is doing well today. We are enjoying a quiet day at home. She is playing with her sister. I had just washed her love quilt, so I decided to finally snap her picture on it. She never stays still for long. It is so beautiful with different cross stiched puppie squares! I love quilts!
Ruthie C.'s Story
Written by Ruthie's mom in October 2008
I took Ruthie to her pediatrician on Tuesday August 26th, 2008. She was 8 months old. She had had a "cold" since the Saturday before. She did not seem to have much of a fever that morning so I thought we were going to just get sent home with the "it's a virus" diagnosis. The doctor had said something about doing a chest x ray to make sure her chest was clear, but she had had one the last time we came in and it was great, so I told her we wanted to wait. As I was getting ready to leave she asked if I had anymore questions, and I remembered something my husband had wanted to have checked. For a week or two, he had been saying he thought that her tummy was "poochier" more on one side just above her diaper, during diaper changes. I felt her belly and did feel a firm mass on the right side. I wondered if it could be her liver, but it made no sense because it was so close to the surface. It made me a little nervous, but I told him, "well babies tummys are poochie, ya know?" But I told him I would mention it to the doctor the next time we saw her.
So as I was about to walk out the door, she asked me if I had any questions. I hesitated, because I did not want to waste her time, and said my husband had been saying her tummy sticks out more on one side than the other, could you look at it? So we laid her on the table and she felt her tummy. She told me to wait while she got someone else to feel it. That doctor felt the same thing and she asked her Nurse Practitioner to feel it too. They told me they did feel something, but that it could be as simple as impacted feces. They wanted me to go to St. Francis for a CT scan. They took a urine sample with a catheter before we left. I called my insurance to make sure it was ok, my husband to see if he could come help because I had my three year old Hannah with me. I was amazed at the new childrens hospital and very thankful for the play areas for my three year old. We got there and they did the CT scan, and I waited for the doctor to come in and talk to me. As we were waiting, my husband had to leave to go pick up my son from school so I told them they had to repeat it for him. I did not really want to hear it alone, but I know time is precious. So they told me she had some tumors in both kidneys and they believed it to be Wims tumor. At first they said she would have to have a biopsy and then chemo, but later they said a new treatment plan out in Europe is to shrink it with chemo first and then remove a kidney and resection the other. They admitted us and did an MRI and started chemo while we were there. When they did the MRI they put in a broviac line under her coller bone to put the chemo in and to draw blood from.
Ruth has had chemo at the Childrens Hospital at St. Francis and surgery at St. Judes. They were able to save most of her right kidney. The three tumors in the right side were Wilms tumor, favorable histology. The two 1cm spots on the left side were nephragenic rests. We were grateful to be able to spare kidney tissue. She will have a total of 28 weeks of chemo. She had to have bowel surgery to remove adhesions causing a bowel obstruction. Her bowel was "kinked".
St. Jude: return early summer to have stint removed.
Scans: every three months for five years.
