April 30, 2024
In late March, it started like any other cold and flu season. Our entire family came down with the usual suspects: sore throats, coughs, congestion, and fatigue. But as the weeks went by, Dylan's symptoms persisted. His coughing fits, shortness of breath, night sweats, and lethargy had us worried.
On April 14th, Dylan's left kidney started acting up, and we rushed him to urgent care. The doctors suspected a kidney infection and prescribed antibiotics, sulfamethoxazole-trimethoprim for 7 days, which brought some relief. But the coughing, tiredness, and chest congestion lingered.
Four days later, we visited our primary care physician because the coughing fits, shortness of breath, night sweats, and lethargy were not going away. He noticed swelling on Dylan's left side and suspected the kidney infection might still be the culprit. He prescribed more meds, azithromycin for 7 days, to tackle the lung issues and ordered a chest X-ray and lab work if the antibiotic didn’t cleat the problems up so we could get to the bottom of things.
Things didn’t clear up, so fast forward to April 30th, we went and had the labwork and chest x-ray done. The lab results showed low MCH, BUN, creatinine, and albumin, plus elevated copper levels. The X-ray revealed a moderate to large left-sided pleural effusion with left lower lobe atelectasis, as well as a markedly widened mediastinum, likely due to bulky lymphadenopathy – all suspicious signs pointing to lymphoma.
I was stunned, but tried to stay optimistic, thinking maybe, just maybe, these abnormalities were linked to Dylan's prolonged illness and lack of mobility. We decided to wait until we had a more definitive diagnosis before sharing the news with Dylan, not wanting to worry him unnecessarily.
Our primary care physician took charge, making calls to find the best fit for Dylan's situation. He connected with a thoracic surgeon at Scripps La Jolla, who recommended a CT scan to get a better look at what was going on. We scheduled the scan for May 1st.
The results were not so different: anterior mediastinal mass measuring up to 14.4 cm with enlarged left supraclavicular and right upper paratracheal lymph nodes, highly suspicious for lymphoma. Large left pleural effusion with compressive left basilar atelectasis. Small pericardial effusion. Nonobstructive 3 mm right renal calculus.. We booked an appointment with the thoracic surgeon for May 23rd.
Before our appointment with the thoracic surgeon, we got another chest X-ray to see if there were any changes. The results showed a slight improvement in the pleural effusion.
Little did we know, this was just the beginning of a journey that would change our lives forever.
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