Our thoughts, our sorrows our good times and bad.

Date of Entry: August 31, 2006
Author: Roxanne Cole

All of our lives changed on the 20th of July, when I took my son to the doctors, for what I hoped
was a blockage of his intestines. When we first got a look at this mass [ultrasound], I knew it
was 6 inches and it was stemming from his liver. It hit me like a truck, I knew it was cancer.
When the X Ray tech left the room to get more orders on how to X Ray it, that was when I first
spoke to my son about angels, after this conversation I knew my son did not want to leave, that
is all that mattered to me. Following this X Ray I had to tell his sisters, we all cried, we love
this little boy. We all mother him, he has a 14, 13 and 11 yr old sisters, who adore him, the
only boy. He is an amazing child. From the hospital in Everett, we were taken to Children's
Hospital in Seattle. My son who weighed 67 lbs and was feeling some pain ended up leaving
there 2 weeks later, weighing 55 lbs and in a lot of pain. During this time he had several X
Rays, a Biopsy surgery and a procedure to place a Hickman and a bone marrow extraction.
During these 2 weeks he started his first round of chemotherapy, he has had 4 rounds in the
last month since he was diagnosed. Zacamander is now on a feeding tube, he is not capable
of sustaining enough body weight on his own.
That is all the medical stuff. In the last month of our lives I have gone from a single parent of 4
children working full time to a full time mother who has picked the ability to be a full time
caregiver of an adolescent cancer patient going through treatment. I was suppose to start
school at Edmonds Community Collage in September my financial acceptance letter arrived
shortly after we were released from the hospital the first time, needless to say that will not
happen this year. I no longer have a job, my employer only offered my very part time as a
cocktail on the weekends, when I was able to return to work 2 weeks later. I was a full time
bartender, although it was an opportunity to make about $100 which includes hourly rate, that
ended when my son was admitted for his second hospital stay. Was not worth it to leave him
in the hospital alone. These are the basic facts on how our life has changed. My next entry will
be to express, how we feel about this experience so far. Roxanne Cole Zach's mom

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