Just Me

After taking in our two nephews as foster children, we were in the process of moving into a bigger house. Our three-year-old daughter Wendi was running a mild fever and complaining of having an ear ache. Being as busy as we were, we were contemplating on whether to take her to the doctor that day or just wait until the next day. But seeing our usually active, happy-go-lucky daughter laying on the couch with droopy eyes and red cheeks, I knew we had better try and get her in as soon as possible. Luckily, there was an opening and we got her in that afternoon.

What was at first just an ear ache turned out to be a nightmare. While examining Wendi, our Pediatrician, Dr. Moos felt a lump on her lower left-hand side of her abdomen. After x-rays and an ultrasound she was diagnosed with a childhood cancer called a Wilms Tumor. It is a tumor that attaches itself to one or both kidneys. If not caught in the early stages it can lead to death but it is also one of the most curable childhood cancers too.

Living in a small town, there were no doctors here to treat Wendi so we were sent up to Wyler Children’s Hospital in Chicago, Il (now called The University of Chicago's Children’s Hospital) Upon arrival she was given more tests: blood draws, x-rays, ultrasound, cat scan, etc. It was soon determined that she needed surgery to remove the tumor and possibly the left kidney as soon as possible. So the next morning as she lay on a gurney waiting to be wheeled into the operating room, her Daddy and I tearfully kissed her goodbye and promised her that we would see her soon. Waiting and praying for what seemed like an eternity, a nurse from the surgical team finally appeared. She told us that Wendi did great and that she was on her way to the recovery room and that we could see her soon. After a few hours in recovery, Wendi was wheeled back up to her room on the second floor. Lying on a cot next to her bed, I held her hand all night long and squeezed it tightly every time she cried out to let her know that Mommy was right there with her.

Just when you think that you have jumped the last hurdle you look up and see that you are far from the finish line! Her incision was healing up nicely, the tube in her nose was removed, and she was finally eating solid food too! So it was time to go up to the third floor where kids with cancer were treated. She was in good spirits seemed like she didn’t mind the tube in her chest that would soon be used to administer chemotherapy in a few days, even though it looked uncomfortable.

We soon met her Oncologist, Dr. Stew Goldman and his team of doctors. We soon found out that he was a very caring, compassionate and had the kind of sense of humor that will make you laugh so hard that you tend to forget that he is a doctor! Always smiling, always cracking a joke and forever singing down the corridor of the hospital. It didn’t take Wendi long to get attached to him, she looked forward to his visits every morning.

After a sample of the tumor and part of her left kidney were tested, Stew and his team of doctors decided that she would need three different kinds of chemotherapy and radiation treatments. Chemo started the very next day and radiation started the next week. We were well informed about the side effects of both types of treatment but we weren’t prepared to see what it was going to do to our daughter. They gave her a drug that would prevent vomiting, but she still got sores in her mouth that kept her from eating for days. Her beautiful blonde hair fell out in clumps. Whenever she got a fever, even a mild fever, we were to call Stew and usually she ended up back in the hospital on IV antibiotics. She spent Christmas and New Years of 1993 in the hospital. And was admitted at least once a month with a mild fever.

Finally, in June of 94 she received her last chemo treatment! I should have been excited but was scared to death that if the chemo stopped the cancer would come back. After being reassured by Stew and Wendi's primary nurse Damaris that all was well, that she had enough treatments, I sat down and cried. It was over! The sleepless nights, the trips to the hospital in Chicago, the stays at the hospital all were done and over with! But I also felt sad too. In the previous seven months we all had grown attached to that big hospital up in Chicago, and all of the people that took such good care of our precious little girl. We can’t thank them enough for the wonderful care that they gave to our daughter.

Wendi has been in remission for almost 5 years now. She is a very active 8-year-old who enjoys riding her bicycle and would do just about anything to have her very own horse! She is in second grade at Woodland School and does quite well. Thankfully she doesn’t remember much but she still talks about Stew and his singing, Frannie the secretary on the third floor that always let Wendi play with her computer, a little boy named Malcom that also had a Wilms Tumor. (Wendi loved to feed him his bottle) Rhonda who battled leukemia and won! And lastly, Maria, I can’t even begin to tell you what a beautiful young girl she was. We love her dearly and hope she is smiling down on us now from heaven.