The Results

By Friday I was patiently waiting for the phone call that never came but since she said Monday was a possibility I wasn't too concerned when I didn't hear anything. By Monday mid-day I decided that I should call and check to see if the results were available. The nurse paged the Dr. to call me with the results. Not 30 minutes later my cell phone rings. Unfortunately, my cell phone barely gets service in the house so I immediately grabbed the phone and ran outside into FRIGID weather. The temperature was maybe 20 degrees outside and I ran out the door without a jacket. The Dr. started to apologize for not calling me earlier as she had gotten the pathology report on Friday. At this point she starts to explain to me that the biopsy had been sent to Paris to the leading pathologist for "this type" cell makeup. At this moment I felt confused and unsure what she was really saying. So I tried to ask for a little clarification. It went basically like this: "So, what your saying is, the pathologist here in GA found something that didn't look good (she called it an atypical spit or something like that) and to confirm what he was seeing he sent the biopsy to a guy in Paris to confirm what he saw?" The Dr. responded: "Yes." I then asked, "How long until I know the results?" She said in about a week. I then asked her, "if this was your child would you be worried about these results?" This is where the conversation takes a turn because up until this point I thought she was just saying that the results came back a little funky but she had never said cancer or anything like that. She responded by saying, "yes, I would be pretty scared because there is just not treatment for this kind of thing." WHAT?! Did she just basically say that Davis has some sort of incurable disease. I was floored and FREEZING and numb all at the same time. For that brief moment in my life, my mind started racing to, what are we going to do, how is this going to change our lives, I should start praying right now. I numbly responded, "well, I am glad that we took out the lump then. Some friends had questioned why they took out Davis' lump because their son/daughter had an enlarged lymph node and their doctor never mentioned removing it." By this point she gasped and said, "Oh gosh, I am so sorry, I just told you about the wrong patient. Your son's name is very similar to another patient that I did surgery on last week. I am so sorry. Please disregard everything I just told you." WOW. To go from believing for about 10 minutes that Davis had some kind of incurable cancer to being told that it was a mistake was an incredible emotional roller coaster. My main emotion when the conversation ended was RELIEF. I was not mad or upset or angry, just relieved. The second emotion that course through me was saddness for the parents that will be getting that horrible news that had just been relayed to me. The Dr. closed the conversation with, I will call you in the morning when I am in the hospital and can access the results. She did call me the next morning and the results were much different than the ones I heard yesterday. Davis' lymph node came back "reactive lymphoid hyperplasia," which is a benign condition and since the lymph node is removed there is no further treatment necessary. I can't help but be thankful and grateful that Davis is FINE and the road to recovery is complete for him and in the same breath I ache for the family that is getting devastating news that will likely alter the course of their lives forever. I don't know their names or anything about them except that the results of their childs biopsy are severe and will be confirmed by the Paris pathologist by Friday. Please say prayers for that family and thank you once again for all the prayers that you have said for our family and Davis during the past month.