My Son's Bone Cyst

This is my brave boy.

We had our doctor appointment on Tuesday, and it's taken a few days to work up the emotional strength to update everyone.

My son's femur has not healed.

What does that mean?

It means he's confined to a wheelchair and crutches w/ 50% weight on his right leg until it does heal--which could take years. It means he can't run or jump or play, as his leg is extremely fragile.

It means we have to move, because we live in a 4 level multilevel and he can't function well here.

It means we have to have additional surgeries. We have two options:

1. After cutting a 3-4 inch incision, they will drill out the center of the femur shaft, remove all the bone marrow, scrap out more bone around the perimeter of the cyst (weakening the bone), fill the cyst with cadaver bone and my son's marrow. He would be casted for another 6 weeks.

This surgery will weaken the bone further. It only have about a 50% chance of working.

2. They will make two scope holes, drill into the bone and remove what they can of the paste, scrape out what bone they can reach, and pump it full of steroids.

This method is even less effective than the first one.

My husband is behind #1 because it has a higher percentage of working. I am not, simply because I refuse to make his leg more fragile than it already is.

We haven't made a decision yet, as I'm hoping to find another doctor for a second opinion.

Things feel very much in upheaval right now. Like I'm in the center of a tornado and I keep searching for something to grab onto, but I keep being blindsided by debris.

My son is frustrated because he misses soccer (he's a very talented soccer player). He misses playing with friends--he get's left out a lot simply cause he can't do the things the other kids want to do.

My writing has ground to a halt, which is very frustrating for me, as my career was just starting to gain some major traction. But he's more important. He will always be more important.