“I was only eight years old when I first came to CCHE57357 and it seemed to me to be a kids area not a hospital’, Tamara our new survivor, recalls the first time she stepped into CCHE57357 to start her treatment journey.
The story of her survival started when she felt sick at school. Her mother thought that Tamara had caught the flu and that some rest and antibiotics can treat it. Symptoms persisted for a whole week and the mother took her to the pediatrician who called for an abdomen x-ray that showed an enlarged spleen and a solid mass over one kidney. As a result, she was referred to CCHE57357, Cairo branch. The mother was shocked to know that her young daughter had kidney cancer, and that an immediate surgical intervention was inevitable. “Tamara’s pediatric oncology consultant lifted me up when he told me that she was in safe hands”, shared the mother on how the primary physician took the time to explain the treatment plan and reassured her the tumor removal surgery would be performed by professional surgeons in the hospital.
After the surgery, Tamara, stayed in the hospital until she recovered and started the chemotherapy. The treatment protocol included 17 cycles of chemotherapy which required more patience and courage to overcome the possible side effects.
In the daycare unit, she started receiving the chemo doses which resulted in loss of appetite and the falling out her hair. As the young warrior felt very sad about the loss of her hair she started to avoid looking at herself in the mirror. The psychiatry team in CCHE57357 intervened as soon as she started to refuse food. “The psychiatry & clinical nutrition teams at the hospital played a vital role during my daughter’s treatment journey”, reveals the mother. The caregivers helped the young girl in accepting the side effects and in going through this ordeal safely while the clinical nutrition team was keen to provide healthy meals according to the child’s preferences and her medical condition. After a whole year of treatment at the CCHE57357, Tamara recovered from cancer and is resuming her life as a beautiful girl with healthy growing hair.