David is the youngest of 4 children. He was complaining of a sore knee for a few weeks. Then the knee started to swell. So we took him to Urgent Care and they told us it was just a sprain. But the swelling got worse, so we took him to the Doctor on October 5th. The doctor immediately ordered an MRI. The next day he called and ordered an X-ray because he said David has a bone tumor. Well, on October 12, 2007, we were sent to Oakland Children's Hospital, 4 1/2 hours away, for official diagnosis and treatment. David had to endure another MRI, a bone scan, 2 CT scans, echo-cardiogram, 2 kidney tests, a hearing test, ambulanced to San Francisco to meet the surgeon, biopsy, and the broviac surgery; all in a week. And he was in a lot of pain this whole time! He was officially diagnosed with osteo...
David is the youngest of 4 children. He was complaining of a sore knee for a few weeks. Then the knee started to swell. So we took him to Urgent Care and they told us it was just a sprain. But the swelling got worse, so we took him to the Doctor on October 5th. The doctor immediately ordered an MRI. The next day he called and ordered an X-ray because he said David has a bone tumor. Well, on October 12, 2007, we were sent to Oakland Children's Hospital, 4 1/2 hours away, for official diagnosis and treatment. David had to endure another MRI, a bone scan, 2 CT scans, echo-cardiogram, 2 kidney tests, a hearing test, ambulanced to San Francisco to meet the surgeon, biopsy, and the broviac surgery; all in a week. And he was in a lot of pain this whole time! He was officially diagnosed with osteosarcoma on October 18, 2007. Osteosarcoma is a highly malignant, very rare, very aggressive primary bone cancer. It has spread to his lungs. We were told he has 6 lung 'mets' (metastasized nodules); 5 in his right lung and 1 in his left lung. That is how aggressive this cancer is. This is a (mostly unknown) childhood cancer. He started chemo on October 20, 2007. His surgery is to be a 'limb-salvage' surgery. There was the possibility of him needing an amputation, but he will get to keep his leg, at least for the time being. There is always the possibility that he could lose his leg in the future, but we will let that take care of itself. We will do the limb-salvage for now; 13-year-olds should have their own legs! He is such a trooper! He is only 13 and has cancer. We still find it so very surreal; and unreal! But with God we are going to get through this. We can't wait to see what God has in store for David; we know it must be something big!! Please keep reading his journal, I try to update daily as things happen. Thank you.
David had his limb-salvage surgery on Feb.4 2008. Then he had trouble with his stomach and bowels and almost died before they found out he had an intussusception~~something that only happens to babies. On Feb. 10 he was rushed into emergency surgery at 1am for a bowel resection. They removed 15" of bowel, including his appendix. David has had the lung surgeries~on 3/28/08 & 4/11/08. His birthday is 4/12; so he spent his birthday in the PICU. They removed 1 osteo nodule from his left lung, and 9 from his right lung. Please continue to read the journal entries. Thanks and God bless you.
The chemos David was given are; Cisplatin, Doxorubicin, HD (High Dose) Methotrexate, Ifosfamide, and Etoposide (VP16). The Ifos and Etop have a side effect of Leukemia later in life.
David had 4 very major surgeries in two months. His last chemo was on October 3, 2008. He had more scans on 12/30/2008. He had his broviac removed on Oct. 29; and his leg lengthened on 12/29, and 6/22/09. It has been a long, long year, but we have made it through. Now we will attempt to get on with life and dig ourselves out of the hole we dug, financially, fighting this monster. I will continue to post; this journey is far from over.
David had the prosthesis replaced on 10/26/09. Scans on 1/6/10 revealed two tumors in his lungs; one in each lung. His cancer has spread, again. Please continue to read his journal.
We found out from David's' surgeon that in a couple of years David will have to have his prosthesis removed and replaced with a permanent, non-expandable prosthesis.
We have talked to David's oncologist, and he still only has less than 20%-30% chance of surviving 5 years. Pray for us all. Thanks.
For more information on David, and to follow along with his daily life, please visit one of the websites created for him at either www.caringbridge.org/visit/davidkoury or at www.davidkoury.blogspot.com
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