Our story began on Christmas day 2011, when Thomas Clifton entered into our lives at 4:58AM. He weighed 7lbs, 8oz and was 20 1/4 inches long. Two days later we brought Tommy home. Big brother Joey was especially excited on the car ride home; he kept telling daddy, “Look at him Daddy, look at him!” However, that night and following morning Tommy began vomiting and our doctor told us to bring him into the pediatric ER. After Tommy endured an upper GI, ultrasounds and X-rays, the doctors stated that they found a mass in his abdomen. The next couple of days were filled with more tests and procedures. Then on the 30th, Tommy was diagnosed with neuroblastoma. Tommy’s surgery to remove the tumor was scheduled for the 3rd. We were allowed to go home for the weekend and spend time with both Joey and Tommy. On the morning of the 3rd, the surgeons removed a 5×7 centimeter tumor and left adrenal gland from Tommy. The cancer had spread to his liver, but doctors were going to monitor any change in that area of the body. After the surgery, we were admitted to the PICU which became our home for the next 6 days. Throughout that week (Jan 3-8), Tommy began having breathing episodes, complications from the surgery and de-STAT’ing. Tommy also began to vomit again whenever he was being fed. Finally, after the feeding situation was stable, we were moved to the 4th floor of Hope Children’s Hospital. On that floor, Tommy continued to have feeding problems. Since we were still in the hospital, the doctors decided to drain the blocked tear duct that they thought was causing a small bump along side of his nose. They inserted a tube to help drain the blocked tear duct, but learned the bump was not being caused by the blocked tear duct and they were not sure what was causing the bump. On the 13th, Tommy was sedated again to have an MRI to determine what the lump was. While coming out of sedation he went through another round of breathing problems. The MRI showed that the lump was in fact a sub-cutaneous tumor caused by the neuroblastoma– he also had 3 additional tumors throughout his body. On the 15th more tumors were found (he now has a total of 7), but he was finally keeping down milk. So on the 17th we were able to leave the hospital and come home. While we were home (17th- 30th) Tommy was gaining weight, snuggling with mommy and daddy, and going on our scheduled visits to our doctors. On the 31st we started to notice that his stomach was much bigger and hard. We went back to the doctor on Feb. 3rd and they found his stomach had grown 10 centimeters. We were sent for blood work and an ultrasound which showed a build up of fluid and an enlarged adrenal gland (the right one). We scheduled a CAT scan for the 6th, and on the 7th we learned that his kidney was smaller (possibly not functioning), and the fluid and adrenal gland problems were still a mystery. Tommy was sedated again on the 8th to conduct a fluid test, MRI and MRA. They removed 250cc’s of fluid from his belly, but by the time he came back up to the PICU his belly was enlarged again. With the breathing tube still in, Tommy continued to have breathing problems. On the 9th, we were told that the extra fluid in his body was caused by the neuroblastoma and his liver was continuing to get bigger. On February 9th, Tommy began his first round of hemotherapy. Since Christmas Day our lives have been filled with tremendous highs and lows, but the one constant in our lives has been Tommy’s incredible strength and courage. He is strong, beautiful and fearless, and we will continue to draw strength from our little man. Thank you for following us on our journey and for all of your caring thoughts and prayers.
