Today, he looked so much more emaciated than two ago when he came in initially, while his belly was fuller and more tense. Whatever tumor is growing is making more fluid in his belly than his body can rid. He was breathing fast and using his accessory muscles because of the huge pressure on his diaphragm and lungs. Apart from the hugely swollen belly, it's just his shoulders and ribs with tiny arms and legs around which I can wrap my thumb and index finger. His whole body was burning up so he must also have an infection somewhere.
His dad took him to get a CT scan in Amravati a couple days ago and it does not look good. The radiologist said that there was no hope of a cure and that he needed to prepare himself for the end. It frustrates me so much that we have no idea what kind of malignancy it is and that he's probably not getting a definitive biopsy to figure out whether the prognosis is truly hopeless or not. The family seems to love the boy so much and the dad just looked so heartbroken and hopeless. I think they want to do anything they can do, but Dr Rashmi said they'd used up most of their money already just bringing the boy in and getting a CT done.
Dr. Steve did another paracentesis (removing fluid from the abdomen) this afternoon to relieve the tension on his belly, which helped him breathe a little better. We took out about 500 mL of fluid slowly over three hours. Atish was an angel. For three whole hours, he laid there with hardly any protests, except for the initial insertion of the needles (without sedation or anesthesia!) and later moving them to get more fluid out. His family was required to stay out of the procedure room (and yet he was so stoic!) We stayed with him, held his hand, and sang any songs we could think of to him to keep him occupied. Despite his tiny size and squeaky voice, he seemed more like an old man than a four year old--very serious and attentive to everything going on. When the procedure was done, he took care to button the one broken button on his shirt and fold over the collar just right. I couldn't help but think that if we could only bring him back to the States, maybe he'd have a fighting chance. At one point, I considered pediatrics after a rotation on heme/onc at the children's hospital, but I know, after seeing Atish, that I could not maintain emotional distance enough to be professional and do my job!
As the family walked out of the hospital, holding Atish, we wanted them to know that we would pray for him in the name of our God. We asked Abigail, one of the nurses, to translate and she'd understood (and thus translated) that we wanted to pray for him right then. They nodded and looked at us expectantly. When I found out why they were waiting, I asked if the family would be okay with us praying, which they said they were, so I prayed for them in the name of Christ. If you do pray, please pray for Atish and his family. I thought of the occasions on which Jesus healed the child of a desperate parent, seeking some hope for his child. Pray for healing and lessening of suffering for Atish, for wisdom for doctors to know how to treat him, for resources to be able to treat him properly, for the family to come to know Christ's love for them, and for God to be glorified through this situation.
Some of my pictures are up on picasaweb. Here's the secret link:
Thank you for keeping up with my blog and for your prayers!
Posts
wow. Although sometimes it is hard in the present, hopefully one day we'll be able to see how this little boy's situation was used for His glory.
ReplyDelete