5. 7/22/2013 - A long day at the hospital.

Hattie had an ultrasound in the morning at Boston Children's Hospital. The tech and a doctor looked at the mass but didn't have much to say to us about what it was. We headed across the street to the pediatric gynecology clinic and waited for awhile. The head of the department examined Hattie and looked at the mass and then we were back in the waiting room again.

We were called in to meet with the head doctor and a resident. With very solemn expressions, they explained that all signs pointed to cancer and that a team of doctors from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute were on their way over. We were pretty shocked and didn't know how to react. The doctors gave Hattie a stuffed animal, another cancer critter, and we were ushered into a conference room to wait.

Kate and I didn't have much to say as we sat in shocked silence as we waited for the team to arrive. It seemed like we waited forever and then, in an instant, the room was filled with doctors. We met several doctors that day who would be with us through the entire journey but everyone blended together. We went over the plan. Hattie would go through a series of imaging tests and have surgery to remove the primary tumor a week later. Pathology would be performed to confirm the diagnosis but all signs pointed to a rare connective-tissue cancer called rhabdomyosarcoma. While rare, rhabdo is highly treatable and Hattie's appeared to be caught very early. Hattie was given some more cancer critters and the team left us.

We sat in shock for many minutes in the conference room. We got up to leave and couldn't bear to look at any of the cancer critters so left them behind. A nurse caught up to us, critters in hand, and insisted we take them with us. We thanked her but then left them on the floor near the elevator on our way out.