God listens, you just have to talk loud!

And god listened alright! First off we would like to thank everyone, we wouldn't be where we are at without your positive thoughts and prayers. We are so happy to report that Carter is cancer free! We went to Joe Dimaggio Children's Hospital Friday morning for the biopsy surgery. Let me tell you that was probably the hardest thing we've ever been through thus far. I cried so hard when they took our little boy from my arms and carried him away to the operating room. We had been waiting for 2 hours when Dr. Birken called for us. He took us out into the hallway to explain everything. The first thing that came out of his mouth was "well I took a biopsy and it came back as a thymic tumor that is benign." It still didn't register with me what he had said. I think after the forth time it finally dawned on me that Carter was going to be just fine. We fell to our knees crying and thanking god for hearing our prayers and guiding Dr. Birken's hands. Dr. Birken then followed with "Since the tumor was contained I was able to remove the whole thing which was the size of my fist." Um excuse me! We couldn't believe that something the size of a grown man's fist was in the neck of our little boy. He sent the tumor down to pathology and they biopsied 3 large sections and all came back benign. He told us in the 20 years he has been doing this he has never came across a large benign thymic tumor detached and in the neck. He said he was going to do some research but would like to document this case in the medical books. We stayed in the hospital for 2 nights to make sure Carter was stable and was able to eat on his own. Due to the location of the surgery Carter's throat is sore and the right side of his tongue is swollen. His tongue was so swollen the first night they had to call in the PICU doc to make sure his breathing was not obstructed and give him something for the swelling. The second day he was doing much better and able to eat a few ounces but Dr. Birken wanted to keep him another night. Carter was much better this morning and able to get about 3 ounces of formula down at each feeding. We are now home and have our follow up appointment on Tuesday. There are no words to describe the over whelming joy we have and how relieved we are that our precious boy has a new lease on life. We can now truly enjoy our beautiful son. Shout out to Dr. Birken, you are an amazing doctor and thank you for all the hard work and research you put in to making sure Carter is going to live a long healthy life.

Thank you again from the bottom of our hearts!