On April 30, 2017, Joey found himself at urgent care with a one-way ticket to the ED for an ultrasound. Once the attending shared those images and radiology's findings with us, he was referred to urology and admitted to the hospital.
The urologist reviewed the ultrasounds and findings the next morning, and scheduled Joey for surgery (5/1) to remove a mass. We didn't know what it was. Even following mass removal, the doctors didn't know precisely what it was, except that it was fairly large (5cm) and "we're treating this as a sarcoma".
On May 2, a meeting occurred with the man who would become Joey's oncologist for the duration of his treatment. The mass was sent to pathology. By the end of the week, there would be an answer as to what it was.
That answer came on May 5th. Rhabdomyosarcoma was the diagnosis. Thankfully, due to the size and the location, it was Stage 1, Group 1, low-risk. Final pathology took an additional week to return, and it wasn't until May 18 that treatment began due to this.
The official post-full pathology diagnosis became Rhabdomyosarcoma - Embryonal and Spindle Cell/Sclerosing sub-types.
Six months went fairly quickly...and slowly at the same time. October 26, 2017 was his end of treatment date. We wait to see what chemo has actually done to him long-term.
In the years since then, he has survived AND THRIVED being academically successful along with taking chances and participating in a host of activities throughout the school year while also volunteering at events within our cancer community.
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