Thursday April 12th, St. Jude

Thursday was our first visit to St. Jude as actual patients. We’ve been there several times seeing friends, but like everyone says, it’s completely different when you walk through the doors as a patient. I’ll admit that I was stalling leaving the house because I didn’t want to go to St. Jude and start this new chapter of our lives. We made it to the parking lot and then managed to get to these red revolving doors. The three of us hand in hand walked through the doors, but I think I was the only one that had tears rolling down my cheeks. We were greeted by the sweetest lady and she escorted us to a completely different building because we weren’t even in the right part of the hospital from the start. The three of us finally made it to our first appointment only about 30 minutes late. From the first “Hello” in E clinic, I knew that everyone around us wanted to help us feel at home. We had a long day with back-to-back appointments for about 4 hours and Ingram did not get grouchy one bit. He played with us, with the hospital staff, and especially with the Child Life Specialist. By the end of the day, we had a ton of information, but we still had no clear diagnosis because they’re still running tests on Ingram’s tumor. St. Jude is running another test on Ingram’s tumor and we should have an answer Tuesday afternoon as to what specific tumor they think it is. Once they know the tumor type, the team will meet and discuss every aspect of Ingram’s tumor as well as his symptoms and then they’ll make a recommendation o f a course of treatment. The girls had a soccer game and they really wanted Ingram to come watch them play; really I think they just wanted their friends to see him and for him to show off his “boo-boo.” He cheered for Madison and Lindsey as much as his little voice could yell and by the end of the night (we went out to eat also) he was definitely ready for bed.

Say "Grilled Cheese"