Maverick’s surgery & extraordinary medical expense
Donation protected
The day before Maverick’s 2nd birthday party, I felt a lump under his left armpit. Being that he is my fifth child I didn’t worry. I figured he had an enlarged lymph node and was most likely fighting a viral infection. Time passed and he didn’t get sick. To be quite honest, I completely forgot about the lump.
Fast forward to mid August. Maverick and I were playing hide in seek in the home we had moved into just two weeks prior. He went to run away from me giggling and I playfully grabbed him from behind under his arms. That same lump was still under his left arm but now it was much bigger. I was concerned now. I called his dr first thing Monday morning and we got an appoint for Tuesday. The dr did a thorough exam and called in his NP for her to see if she was feeling what he was. The dr told me he had figured he was going to tell me it was a swollen lymph node and we didn’t have anything to worry about...that was not the case.
The next two weeks were blood tests, dr’s appointments to recheck size and shape, ultrasounds etc.. At this point Maverick was treated for a bacterial infection as a precaution until blood results came back. They were negative. It was the one time in my life I hoped one of my children had a bacterial infection.Who does that right? Who hopes their child has an illness? But that was better then the alternative... waiting to hear when the next available appointment with the pediatric oncologist.
While waiting for the oncology appointment all of the blood tests started coming back. All the other testing came back negative. Not a bacterial infection, meningitis, or anything else. My baby has a tumor.
we saw the pediatric surgeon for a consult and surgery has been scheduled for September 17th at 8:50 am. As you can imagine, the stress of waiting is hard enough. The not knowing. Does our child have a benign tumor (which is bad enough in itself), or does he have a form of lymphoma. Our odds at this point are 50/50. We are trying to remain positive.
We both work. Me about 30-35 hours a week and my husband Dennis worksusually 6-7 days a week. The out of pocket cost for just the hospital is estimated to be close to $6500. That doesn’t include anesthesia, labs, pharmaceuticals, etc.. My boss has been great about giving me the time off when needed for appointments but my time off is unpaid (as it should be, I’ve only been there four months). The weight of most of our bills falls on my husband which he gladly pays after working all the time and never asks for a thing for himself.
I have looked into all the free or sliding scale programs and unfortunately we do not qualify for any of them. I would like to try and release some of my husbands stress and see if we can get “our village” behind us. Sorry this is so long. Everyone has asked what they can do to help. The short answer is donate a dollar, five, ten, whatever your family can afford to spare. If all of our friends donated 5 and got their friends to donate 5, we could reach our goal in no time. If you can’t donate, that’s ok too. Please share and prayer for our little boy.
Thank you!
Fast forward to mid August. Maverick and I were playing hide in seek in the home we had moved into just two weeks prior. He went to run away from me giggling and I playfully grabbed him from behind under his arms. That same lump was still under his left arm but now it was much bigger. I was concerned now. I called his dr first thing Monday morning and we got an appoint for Tuesday. The dr did a thorough exam and called in his NP for her to see if she was feeling what he was. The dr told me he had figured he was going to tell me it was a swollen lymph node and we didn’t have anything to worry about...that was not the case.
The next two weeks were blood tests, dr’s appointments to recheck size and shape, ultrasounds etc.. At this point Maverick was treated for a bacterial infection as a precaution until blood results came back. They were negative. It was the one time in my life I hoped one of my children had a bacterial infection.Who does that right? Who hopes their child has an illness? But that was better then the alternative... waiting to hear when the next available appointment with the pediatric oncologist.
While waiting for the oncology appointment all of the blood tests started coming back. All the other testing came back negative. Not a bacterial infection, meningitis, or anything else. My baby has a tumor.
we saw the pediatric surgeon for a consult and surgery has been scheduled for September 17th at 8:50 am. As you can imagine, the stress of waiting is hard enough. The not knowing. Does our child have a benign tumor (which is bad enough in itself), or does he have a form of lymphoma. Our odds at this point are 50/50. We are trying to remain positive.
We both work. Me about 30-35 hours a week and my husband Dennis worksusually 6-7 days a week. The out of pocket cost for just the hospital is estimated to be close to $6500. That doesn’t include anesthesia, labs, pharmaceuticals, etc.. My boss has been great about giving me the time off when needed for appointments but my time off is unpaid (as it should be, I’ve only been there four months). The weight of most of our bills falls on my husband which he gladly pays after working all the time and never asks for a thing for himself.
I have looked into all the free or sliding scale programs and unfortunately we do not qualify for any of them. I would like to try and release some of my husbands stress and see if we can get “our village” behind us. Sorry this is so long. Everyone has asked what they can do to help. The short answer is donate a dollar, five, ten, whatever your family can afford to spare. If all of our friends donated 5 and got their friends to donate 5, we could reach our goal in no time. If you can’t donate, that’s ok too. Please share and prayer for our little boy.
Thank you!
Organizer
Kimberly Ann Damon
Organizer
South Paris, ME