Isaac Got Diagnosed

Isaac was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, bone cancer, at the age of 16. No one would have ever guessed it was cancer. Everyone thought it was some kind of sports related injury. However, on Fri Dec 18, 2015 Isaac went to see Dr Rozzi an orthopedic specialist at South Bend Orthopedics because his right leg was continuously hurting and getting worse and worse to the point he couldn't stand to put any pressure on it. Dr Rozzi did x-rays and examined him. On Mon morning Dec 21, 2015 I got a phone call as soon as I got to work. It was Dr Rozzi calling me before he ever even went into the office. He asked me where I was and I told him at work. He asked me to get to a place where I could sit down and we could talk. I went into the shipping office and sat at a desk. He told me we had a lot that needed to be done and done now. He told me that he had already spent the weekend talking to Dr Rougraff whom he knew from medical school and that he was willing to see Isaac as soon as possible. That raised some red flags, for a doctor to be using his personal time to make arrangements it must be serious. I was thinking more along the lines of a serious sports related injury that would require a pretty intense surgery. Never expected to hear what they eventually would tell us.

First we had to get his insurance on board and on the same page. He said I needed to make some phone calls and him and his office would as well until we got the the ok and answers we needed. He said we had to get an MRI up here and then we had to go to Indy to see Dr Rougraff. He said, "It all had to be done this week and this week was short because of Christmas, so we only had Mon, Tues, and Wed." We kept in contact on and off all of Monday while I was at work. Then right before I left work he called me back again and said everything was a go. He said, "Tomorrow, Tuesday, we would get the MRI in Mishawaka and then go to Indy on Wed to see Dr Rougraff."

On Wed Dec 23, 2015 when we got to Dr Rougraff's office he sat us down and told us something we never expected to hear. He told us that what was going on with Isaac was one of three things. It was either a very severe bone infection or one of two types of cancer. The only way to know for sure was to get a biopsy done. Dr Rougraff had already made arrangements with the hospital before we got there, so we headed over to Peyton Manning Children's Hospital to get the biopsy done. After the biopsy he came and talked to us. He told us that he did not believe it was a bone infection. He said, if it was it would have started oozing at the biopsy site and it did not. He told us that he most likely thought it was osteosarcoma but that the biopsy results would be the only way to know for sure. We had to wait over Christmas for the results. Then on Dec. 26, 2015 we got the phone call that it was in fact osteosarcoma.

That upcoming week we had to make multiple trips to Indy. Dr Rougraff referred Isaac to Dr Cipkala who was going to be Isaac's oncologist. The oncologist is the doctor that puts together what is called a road map. The road map is the regimen that cancer patients follow through their journey. It tells you what chemo will be administered and when. It also guides you on what you can expect. In other words, the side effects that the chemo may cause like heart problems, hearing loss, problems with kidney function, low blood counts, possible blood or platelets transfusion, nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, weight loss, hair loss, heart burn, constipation, headaches, dizziness, mouth sores, and possible death. These are just some of the side effects.

Isaac also had to have surgery this week to have a central line put in. A central line is different from a port. A central line is even more permanent than a port. It can be kept in for years. A central line is always accessible and requires regular maintenance. We had to take a class on how to properly care for Isaac's central line. We had to clean the caps and flush his lines regularly with saline to clean them and then heparin so he wouldn't get blood clots in them. We also had to draw a little blood and push it back in to make sure the lines were working properly, if not we would have to insert another medicine into the line and wait about 20 min or so then try again to see if it dissolved the blockage. With a central line the patient also has to be careful when showering not to get the area too wet and it has to be covered with tegaderm at all times and with an aqua guard when showering. The tegaderm can cause major skin irritations and become quite painful. One has to be careful not to get an infection. With a central line the patient cannot go swimming. A port is place under the skin and is accessed every time it needs to be used. When accessed the port has to be covered with tegaderm and maintained like the central line, However, when it is not accessed it does not have to be covered and the patient can shower and swim regularly. Both the central line and the port are surgically placed and go into the main vein close to the heart. The type of chemo and the length of your treatment plan determines which you will have to get.