Recounting Kyle’s Journey with Cancer Pt. 3

When we left the hospital December 15th, there was a lot of uncertainty. The doctors explained that while they couldn’t confirm the tumours in his body were malignant without the results from the biopsy, they were very confident that it was. They said it was likely one of two types based on the findings from the radiologist of the CT scans: Lymphoma or Sarcoma. A quick google of course gives many varying subtypes of those two forms of cancer, and a lot of opinions on how serious this cancer could be. I knew regardless of the type of cancer the fact that it had metastasized made the disease more difficult to treat. But without more answers there wasn’t much we could do, but wait.

Family and friends surrounded us in support while we waited. Kyle’s boss from work came to the hospital as soon as he heard the news, leaving a family Christmas get together to go be with Kyle and see how he could help in any way possible. People we knew with connections with different doctors reached out to their contacts to see if there was anyway to speed up the processing of the biopsy and hopefully get Kyle started into treatment. The day we first heard the word Cancer at the hospital, my dad immediately let his work know he needed a leave of absence, and was unsure when he would be able to return. Both my sisters got permission to work remote from their jobs in Nova Scotia and left their lives and boyfriends to come help take care of our kids.

Our friends and church family surrounded us with support, prayers, and food. God showed up through all those people to let us know we were loved, seen, and being carried.

We had been told that we could expect to hear from the oncology centre at RVH in Barrie likely sometime in the new year. So, we did our best not to wallow in fear, kept singing of God’s goodness and faithfulness even when our hearts were having a hard time believing what our heads knew to be true. We waited in anticipation for what God was going to do, we waited in anticipation for Christmas and the promise of how God showed up two thousand years ago.

Much sooner than anticipated, we had an appointment scheduled to meet with a Medical Oncologist at RVH on December 20th. Nervous, and anxious we walked hand in hand into the hospital, knowing that when we walked back out through those doors to leave we would have answers, but also our world would again be changed. This was when they would confirm what we already knew, Kyle had cancer growing in his body. But with that confirmation would also come a plan, and we were ready to start fighting.

When the oncologist came into the small treatment room we had been assigned to, one of the first things he said was something along the lines of: “You must really be someone important to a lot of people- you have no idea how many people have been reaching out through all the Oncologists on staff here with your name. You’ve had all our top Oncologists conferencing with the top Oncologists at Princess Margaret Cancer Center in Toronto, expediting everything that could be. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

He then proceeded to dive into the not great news. What they had been sure was a type of lymphoma, was instead something most closely resembling a form of sarcoma. He explained that sarcomas are tricky and there are so many different types and variants. He explained that Kyle’s biopsy results were inconclusive in terms of identifying the exact type of sarcoma, and that it had been sent to pathologists in Toronto at Princess Margaret for further testing to find out more. They were also referring Kyle’s case to the Sarcoma Oncologist team at Princess Margaret, where a panel of world renowned Oncologists specializing in sarcomas were meeting to discuss Kyle’s case and plan for treatment.

At some point Kyle asked the Oncologist explaining all of this what his opinion was on Kyle’s outlook. He quieted and said that truthfully, it did not look good. Kyle asked him to clarify further, and He said that his diagnosis would very likely be terminal. We were then told that even with all of the expediting, we likely wouldn’t meet with an Oncologist in Toronto with more information until around January 10th.

Once again, we were resigned to wait.