March 12th

After arriving at the hospital and some initial exams, they sent Drew by ambulance to a sister hospital in Orlando. They wanted him to be in a more specialized hospital--one that worked with pediatric patients. At 5:30 we arrived at Florida Hospital South and were told that there was not a single bed in the whole hospital available. They put is in the "pediatric holding unit" to await a conference with the pediatric surgeon. The thought was that the blood filling the outside of Drew's right lung needed to be drained. We waited until 3:00 p.m. that afternoon, and still no sign of anybody. The nurse hadn't even come in to check on us. Finally I went to the nurses' station to ask if they knew how much longer we could expect to wait. The doctor on call was sitting at the station and explained that someone had forgotten to page the surgeon so we would have to wait until he could come by. In a while, the surgeon did come in and took a look at Drew's Ct. While he's looking at the screen, another doctor was in the same unit seeing one of his patients. Dr. Hajjar looked over the surgeon's shoulder and said simply, "It's not bleeding on the lung; there's a mass." After that, several doctors came in to talk with us and to explain all the tests that would be taking place. To be honest, I never heard a word after he used the word "tumor". By the end of the afternoon, they had a room on the pediatric oncology floor and Drew was moved to his new room. We were warned that because it was the weekend, results would be slow. So, with our minds and thoughts racing, we waited for it all to begin.