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Journal entry by Liz Bjerklien — 22 hours ago
It started about 7 weeks ago, Tom wasn’t feeling his usual sassy, independent and active self. He said he had a headache and his back hurt. Thinking it could have been sore muscles from plenty of swimming or wrestling with Christopher, we kept an eye on him. Then, he got a fever the back pain got more intense and he started crying during the night. After a couple sleepless nights, I took him in for a checkup.
During that visit, he was looked over and his symptoms aligned with strep. He was tested and sure enough, he had strep but no sore throat. The doctor said that happens sometimes. He was treated with antibiotics for a couple weeks and he got better.
We had a great couple weeks. Swimming, Fourth-of-July, four-wheeling and having great family time. Then Tom started to feel sick again.
In the meantime, I had removed a deer tick from his hip area, and it stayed in the back of my mind. After those good times, he started to tell us his knees and back hurt again. He would be fine most of the day and then at night he would be in pain. It seemed to progress from his knees hurting to him walking stiff like Frankenstein.
The week of July 13th, he was struggling at times to walk. He was very deliberate about the steps he took. Instead of flying around the house and jumping on and off furniture, kids and parents he was holding onto these things and asking to be picked up. He was in so much pain at night and crying. We couldn’t get his pain under control with Tylenol and Ibuprofen.
I got him in on Wednesday 7-15 for a visit to the clinic. I thought either strep was back and worse or thought he had Lymes Disease. He was tested for tick-borne illnesses, Covid and Strep. It took until Friday to get all the results back and Friday night was rough. Everything was negative but Tommy wasn’t Tommy and I knew he needed help.
Saturday morning, I took him to urgent care. They ran some blood work and found he had high inflammation markers and the doctor recommended we go to Children’s Hospital in St. Paul, MN. She said go right to ER and I’ll let them know you’re coming. There is some more tests and ability to help him since we didn’t know what was causing his pain.
Chris and I arrived at the ER with Tom. Everyone was very helpful, asking a lot of questions and trying to figure out what was going on. Due to Covid world, St Paul cannot keep patients that will need more than 24-hour care. So, we were transferred to Children’s in Minneapolis Saturday night.
There is a whole care team that was trying to help us – looking at everything. Tom needed blood tests, urine tests, x-rays, MRI, CT scans and that was just the tip of the iceberg.
I’ll be honest, the rest of the days and tests have sort of blended together. On Tuesday, July 21st, Tom’s care team identified a mass in the back of his abdomen. It is too big to remove with surgery, so we needed bone marrow samples. The samples shown the abnormal cells are present there and they needed to be identified.
Wednesday July 22nd, Tom had surgery to remove more bone marrow, biopsy the tumor and insert a chemo port. He has been diagnosed with neuroblastoma cancer.
Being told our 4-year old son has cancer is nothing we ever imagined. It was supposed to be Lyme’s or strep, get some antibiotics go home and be back in the pool in a couple days. This news and how fast/slow things have gone has been surreal.
Thursday July 23rd, Tom was recovering well from surgery. He was a champ. They collected more bone marrow, sample of the tumor and placed a Hickman Catheter. He got a fever last night but been doing well. He had a MIBG scan of his entire body today. The results of the scan identified the cancer is in his spine, hip bones, the tumor in his abdomen and spreading to his other bones.
It is very serious, and we are starting his first chemotherapy tonight. His treatment will be intense and aggressive. We’re in the fight of his life right now and focused on getting him better.
Chris and I are very grateful to our family, friends, co-workers and well-wishers to help us as we try to maneuver this new chapter in our lives.
Catherine and Christopher, our other children have taken this news in stride and stepped up to help out while we are with Tom. It is very important I mention the fact they are so strong too. Mom and Dad left on Saturday morning to get help for Tommy and they’ve been shuffled a few places but being good. We are grateful to have a strong support system around us.
I am hopeful that if I share Tom’s journey and our experience, it may help others going through similar situations. We are sending much love, peace and positivity to all of you. Thank you!
Link to Tom's Story!
TOP https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/thomasbjerklien?fbclid=IwAR3SNH3N2s1oB_O2nnx8YVoHPUzOB6dwn-qGt5TtfB6Byfd8m7SHfJ9Odmg
It started about 7 weeks ago, Tom wasn’t feeling his usual sassy, independent and active self. He said he had a headache and his back hurt. Thinking it could have been sore muscles from plenty of swimming or wrestling with Christopher, we kept an eye on him. Then, he got a fever the back pain got more intense and he started crying during the night. After a couple sleepless nights, I took him in for a checkup.
During that visit, he was looked over and his symptoms aligned with strep. He was tested and sure enough, he had strep but no sore throat. The doctor said that happens sometimes. He was treated with antibiotics for a couple weeks and he got better.
We had a great couple weeks. Swimming, Fourth-of-July, four-wheeling and having great family time. Then Tom started to feel sick again.
In the meantime, I had removed a deer tick from his hip area, and it stayed in the back of my mind. After those good times, he started to tell us his knees and back hurt again. He would be fine most of the day and then at night he would be in pain. It seemed to progress from his knees hurting to him walking stiff like Frankenstein.
The week of July 13th, he was struggling at times to walk. He was very deliberate about the steps he took. Instead of flying around the house and jumping on and off furniture, kids and parents he was holding onto these things and asking to be picked up. He was in so much pain at night and crying. We couldn’t get his pain under control with Tylenol and Ibuprofen.
I got him in on Wednesday 7-15 for a visit to the clinic. I thought either strep was back and worse or thought he had Lymes Disease. He was tested for tick-borne illnesses, Covid and Strep. It took until Friday to get all the results back and Friday night was rough. Everything was negative but Tommy wasn’t Tommy and I knew he needed help.
Saturday morning, I took him to urgent care. They ran some blood work and found he had high inflammation markers and the doctor recommended we go to Children’s Hospital in St. Paul, MN. She said go right to ER and I’ll let them know you’re coming. There is some more tests and ability to help him since we didn’t know what was causing his pain.
Chris and I arrived at the ER with Tom. Everyone was very helpful, asking a lot of questions and trying to figure out what was going on. Due to Covid world, St Paul cannot keep patients that will need more than 24-hour care. So, we were transferred to Children’s in Minneapolis Saturday night.
There is a whole care team that was trying to help us – looking at everything. Tom needed blood tests, urine tests, x-rays, MRI, CT scans and that was just the tip of the iceberg.
I’ll be honest, the rest of the days and tests have sort of blended together. On Tuesday, July 21st, Tom’s care team identified a mass in the back of his abdomen. It is too big to remove with surgery, so we needed bone marrow samples. The samples shown the abnormal cells are present there and they needed to be identified.
Wednesday July 22nd, Tom had surgery to remove more bone marrow, biopsy the tumor and insert a chemo port. He has been diagnosed with neuroblastoma cancer.
Being told our 4-year old son has cancer is nothing we ever imagined. It was supposed to be Lyme’s or strep, get some antibiotics go home and be back in the pool in a couple days. This news and how fast/slow things have gone has been surreal.
Thursday July 23rd, Tom was recovering well from surgery. He was a champ. They collected more bone marrow, sample of the tumor and placed a Hickman Catheter. He got a fever last night but been doing well. He had a MIBG scan of his entire body today. The results of the scan identified the cancer is in his spine, hip bones, the tumor in his abdomen and spreading to his other bones.
It is very serious, and we are starting his first chemotherapy tonight. His treatment will be intense and aggressive. We’re in the fight of his life right now and focused on getting him better.
Chris and I are very grateful to our family, friends, co-workers and well-wishers to help us as we try to maneuver this new chapter in our lives.
Catherine and Christopher, our other children have taken this news in stride and stepped up to help out while we are with Tom. It is very important I mention the fact they are so strong too. Mom and Dad left on Saturday morning to get help for Tommy and they’ve been shuffled a few places but being good. We are grateful to have a strong support system around us.
I am hopeful that if I share Tom’s journey and our experience, it may help others going through similar situations. We are sending much love, peace and positivity to all of you. Thank you!
Link to Tom's Story!
TOP https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/thomasbjerklien?fbclid=IwAR3SNH3N2s1oB_O2nnx8YVoHPUzOB6dwn-qGt5TtfB6Byfd8m7SHfJ9Odmg
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Jamie Meyer
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New Richmond, WI