On the 10th of August 2018 we were given the devastating news that our baby boy Odhran (then only 2yrs and 9months) had a bladder Rhabdomyosarcoma (soft tissue tumor)
Odhran’s symptoms happened all over the space of 24 hours. He went from been able to pass urine to not and been in complete agony.
We had brought him to our local GP who gave us an antibiotic thinking it was a UTI, and also a doctors letter if he was no better by the weekend .
That Sunday came and he wasn’t any better so we packed up and went to our local hospital who in a brief examination with bloods and urine test said it was a UTI to go home and the antibiotics should work.
We brought him back twice more that week until he was admitted as an inpatient.
That Thursday they did an ultrasound but only scanned the top half of his bladder, which did show inflammation. At the stage his bloods were still off and they were none the wiser.
The hospital was willing to send us home with no answers even though Odhran was is a lot of pain.
Only for that we stood our ground they kept us in over the bank holiday weekend.
The following Tuesday they scanned him again and the full bladder this time and as clear as day you could see something in his bladder that had been there for months according to the doctor preforming the scan.
We went back up to the ward and were told that we were been sent to Crumlin for a procedure for Odhran to have a camera put up into his bladder.
The doctors in our local still trying to convince us nothing was wrong and that it was just a blood cloth Everything has been a world wind since then.
Odhran has had 8 rounds of chemo since then and responded well.
But all the chemo and been away from his bothers and baby sister has been hard on him.
Our next step is to travel to France this Saturday for reconstructive surgery on his bladder and Brachytherapy. (Brachytherapy is a form of radiotherapy where a sealed radiation source is placed inside or next to the area requiring treatment)
We will be in France for a total of 21 days.
I think only for we listening to our gut and persisted with the doctors we might not be in as good of a position today with him.
He is a tough fun loving kid who is full of energy and living his life to the fullest. It’s never a dull moment with him around.