Weaning from diapers does not go smoothly for everyone. Sometimes children even at three years old refuse to sit on the potty. But there are times when the refusal of the “adult” toilet is an alarming sign.
Usually, children are taught to potty at the age of one and a half. By three, babies are already gradually ripening to this device. Two-year-old Evie had nothing against the pot, the training went well, until one day the girl refused to sit on it – flatly.
“She made a plaintive face and refused to go to the potty,” says Linsay, the girl’s mom. “Evie, however, has always been a sickly child, and we did not attach any importance to this.”
Well, she refused, and okay, then it will mature, the parents decided. But it quickly became clear that abandoning the pot was not the only problem. Soon the baby began to refuse food, her appetite became worse than ever. Dark circles appeared under her eyes, and Evie wanted to sleep all the time. The baby did not have the strength to play or run.
The girl was taken to the pediatrician. He gave a referral for examination, and Evie spent five whole days in the hospital. With a diagnosis of kidney infection, the baby was discharged home.
“She felt fine for several days. And then suddenly she became sharply worse: her legs and feet began to swell greatly, her lips turned blue. She was constantly nauseous. It was clear that this was not an infection, ”says Linsey.
Hospital again, Evie doing an ultrasound. On the monitor, the doctor saw a certain formation in Evie’s stomach, but what it was, he was not ready to say. Therefore, the girl was sent to a larger hospital. And there the parents were invited to a conversation by an oncologist.
“Evie needs a tumor biopsy,” he said. Parents refused to believe what they heard. Tumor? Where? The biopsy confirmed that the two-year-old baby had stage IV neuroblastoma.
“It’s not just cancer, it’s the monster of all cancers,” the doctor said.
Only then did the parents understand the whole horror of the situation. Evie had a 13 cm tumor in her abdomen, it coiled around the main artery, metastases penetrated into the bones. The baby was facing a tough battle for her life.
Over the next year, Evie went through hell: a course of daily chemotherapy, removal of a tumor, another course of “chemistry”, experimental therapy, stem cell replacement …
“If she woke up in the wrong room or we weren’t around, she would start screaming and screaming nonstop. I had to leave work to be there, ”says Linsey.
Evie’s light curls fell out, she herself could not eat – the baby was fed through a tube, they put constant droppers.
“We said she had superpowers, so her hair fell out,” recalls Linsey.
The family tried their best to live a normal life, at least for the sake of the older boy – Oscar at that time was 9 years old. And finally, after more than two years of continuous treatment, Evie has recovered, now she is in remission.
“We cried out buckets of tears. Now Evie leads a normal life like any other kid. Her hair grew back, she loved to dance and ride a bike. Evie went to first grade, she has a lot of friends. And now we know that the best gift for our family is when we can all get together, ”smiles Linxi.