Tumor, Cancer, and Sarcoma (The Beginning)

TUMORS 

"A tumor or tumour is commonly used as a synonym for a neoplasm (a solid or fluid-filled (cystic) lesion that may or may not be be formed by an abnormal growth of neoplastic cells) that appears enlarged in size.^[1] Tumor is not synonymous with cancer. While cancer is by definition malignant, a tumor can be benign, pre-malignant, or malignant, or can represent a lesion with no cancerous potential whatsoever."

-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tumor

CANCER

"Cancer /ˈkænsər/ ( listen) (medical term: malignant neoplasm) is a class of diseases in which a group of cells display uncontrolled growth, invasion that intrudes upon and destroys adjacent tissues, and sometimes metastasis, or spreading to other locations in the body via lymph or blood. These three malignant properties of cancers differentiate them from benign tumors, which do not invade or metastasize."

-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cancer

SARCOMA

"A sarcoma (from the Greek sarx meaning "flesh") is a cancer that arises from transformed cells in one of a number of tissues that develop from embryonic mesoderm.^[1] Thus, sarcomas include tumors ofbone, cartilage, fat, muscle, vascular, and hematopoietic tissues. (This is in contrast to carcinomas, which originate from epithelial cells and thus give rise to more common malignancies, such as breast,colon, and lung cancer.)" -http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarcoma

November 2001

(Ashton was 6 years old.)

With Ashton it began with headaches. His headaches were so bad that he would wake up at night and scream while holding his head. His headaches would come on really strong and he would get sick and throw up and a second later he would be alright. They would happen at random times. I remember my mom and dad were separated at the time but they took him in to the doctors many times to find out what was causing these headaches. They would just say that he's just getting a sinus infection, or he had the flu.

January 2002 

Finally it got so bad that they ordered a CT scan at The Utah Valley Regional Medical Center in Provo Utah, the scan showed that there was a mass, so they did an MRI.  My mom called my dad and he came to the hospital. They waited a while for the results, and finally someone came and told my parents that they needed to meet with the doctor. The doctor said that they found a tumor and to go to Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah to discuss surgery options. The headaches he was experiencing were a result of brain swelling.

 I wasn't there when the doctor told my parents, or when my parents told Ashton what was going on. So I'm not sure how he reacted toward it. How scary for a child to not fully understand what's making him sick. He was also in a great amount of pain at this time and things were probably hard to process.

 When they got to Primary Children's The neurosurgeon explained to my parents that surgery at this point was the best option for him. He had to take steroids for a couple of days to reduce his brain swelling so that they could do the surgery. You could read these definitions written above to a 6 year old all you want, but they wouldn't fully understand. I'm sure Ashton never fully understood why he was sick.

Ashton before Surgery.

I wasn't able to see him, but I've seen pictures of him before his surgery and he looked sad, and scared, but mostly in pain. He looked sick.  My mom and dad told my brother "Taylor" and I that there was a chance that he could die during surgery because it was such a dangerous surgery. I don't know if they told Ashton or not, but I'm pretty sure they didn't, because knowing my parents they didn't want to worry him, and he was also in a lot of pain. My mom would call and check in with Taylor and I while we were staying at our grandparent's house. She told me over the phone what was going on. She told me that the part of his brain they're going to operate on controlled his vision.

Ashton with The four wheeler Uncle "Ryan" gave him.

Ashton's surgery lasted for 11 hours and he did well and made it through the operation. He stayed at Primary Children's for a few days after to recover. During that time, they did a biopsy and found that his tumor was malignant, and that he had Sarcoma. He got many visitors after his surgery; one of the visitors was my uncle "Ryan" who gave him a toy four wheeler and to this day it sits in Ryan's living room on a shelf. After he was recovered enough he came home. They were only able to remove part of his tumor because of a blood vessel that the other part of the tumor was on. I remember seeing him when he first got home. I almost didn't recognize him. He looked completely different. He was pale as if he had been locked in a closet with no light for years, he seemed very confused and very tired due to pain killers and other medication.  My mom was guiding him inside because he couldn't see very well. He walked very slowly I'm sure because he was scared he would loose his balance and fall. Taylor and I guided him up the stairs and laid him on his bed. He had a big scar on the back of his head that started about an inch behind his left ear and went up to the top of his head and went back down an inch above his right ear it was kind of in the shape of a lower case "n". They shaved the back of his head and behind his ears for the surgery, but left the hair on the crown of his head. He didn't talk much, and he didn't act like himself. He just laid there and slept as if he hadn't slept in days. 

Not too long after Ashton's surgery my mom finally convinced him to go with her to fix his hair. Ashton wasn't to happy about that, plus he had been cranky and tired since his surgery. The lady that was helping us (bless her heart) was trying so hard not to bump his scar, but Ashton would shout out "ouch" and would start to cry. The lady would look up at my mom as if to apologize.  After a while Ashton complained so much that my mom decided to just forget it. We thanked and paid the lady and went home. A while later when Ashton's scar had healed a little bit more him and Taylor went together to get their head's buzzed. He never said, but I know it made Ashton feel better that he wasn't the only one bald.