Shad, Trevor and I went for a walk down to the little store and McDonald's for some lunch yesterday. We knew that Shad's pump would last about an hour without being charged up, so it wasn't too long of a trip. Shad is moving much quicker now, but it still takes us about 10 - 15 minutes to make it downstairs. When we got back Dr. Pene was standing at the front desk. He greeted Shad with "Ahhh, there is the boy from the empty room" which Shad seemed to think was pretty funny. He let us know that he didn't need to tell us much, but did want to let us know what the AFP (alpha fetoprotein) was. Remember this was a huge indicator as to what type of cancer Shad had, and started out over 60,000. After the first round they were down to 20,000. I think there was another number given to us after the second round, but I guess I didn't write it down. Now, after the 3rd round it is down to 42! Remember, if it gets to 0 that means the cancer is gone. Needless to say we are quite happy that he is doing so well. We are very excited to see what it gets to after this fourth round of chemo.
Last time we were in for a check up it was kind of red around Shad's catheter. Dr. Pene was a little worried, especially since the catheter has been in for a little more than 2 months, and usually needs to be changed every couple months. He called Dr. Christman (pronounced chrissman) from the urology team to come down and take a look. He got down there pretty quickly, and said that it looked fine. The redness was normal, and not something to worry about. He told us what kinds of things to watch for that would tell us there was a problem. He then asked Dr. Pene when they were going to be doing more scans to check for progress, he was trying to figure out if they would need to put in a new catheter, or if they would be able to take it out before that time came. Dr. Pene told him that they would be doing some after round 4 of chemo. We thought he was going to wait until after round 8, so this was a surprise for us, but we were happy we would be getting a better handle on his progress that much sooner.
Anyway, back to yesterday. After Dr. Pene told us the good news I asked him when he was planning on doing more scans, and what that would mean. He said that they will do them in about 3 weeks once Shad has recovered fully from this round of chemo. He said they will also check the AFP at that point and if it is at zero that will mean the cancer is gone, (they will still do the scans to be sure) and they will stop treatments. If not, they will look at the scans and see if what is remaining is something that can be taken care of with surgery. If it doesn't seem like surgery will be able to fully take care of it, or surgery is not the best option. They will do two more rounds of chemo and then repeat the scans and everything again. This was very good news, and also a surprise for us. Originally Dr. Pene told us they were going to do 12 rounds of chemo, so even the thought of being done after 4 or 6 is amazing!
Thank you again for all the prayers, don't stop now!!
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Run for Abigail and Friends
Thank you so much to all of our friends and family that came out to support Shad and our family in the run for Abigail and friends. It was great to see so many people there, and I enjoyed being able to visit with people for a little while. Because of your support we were able to win two of the cash prizes, a gift card to quicktrip, and gift card to sprouts, 2 separate photo sessions, and a massage. All of these things will be very useful as Shad (we) continues the fight against cancer over the next year.
Several of the groups made shirts to show they were there to support Shad, others wore the run shirts which was great too. I tried to take pictures of everyone who was there to support us, but I know that I missed some people. If I missed you then I apologize, but we are glad you came.
Several of the groups made shirts to show they were there to support Shad, others wore the run shirts which was great too. I tried to take pictures of everyone who was there to support us, but I know that I missed some people. If I missed you then I apologize, but we are glad you came.
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| My family, and my mom's friends sporting our Shad Wars shirts |
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| Starting the 5k |
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| Sis. Pruitt, Lori and Katie, Auntie Kathy, Timmy?, Tana |
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| Sterling |
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| My mom holding the sign made by her friends |
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| Auntie Kathy and her friend Timmy?, Tiana is in the middle, but I missed her |
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| Kaily and Kaneesha |
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| Billie, Devon, Delaina, Pat and Alexis |
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| Auntie Mat and Auntie Tito |
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| Jaron and Christy |
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| Blessing, Kyler |
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| Paula |
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| Jeff |
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| Daniel and Jessica |
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| Brendon |
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| Andrew |
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| Moana, Allison, Denise, Sheli, Ryleigh |
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| My mom, Jayce and Antjuan |
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| people from my dad's work, |
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| The back of the shirts |
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
MRI and PET scan Results
Last Wednesday Shad went into the hospital for a follow up MRI and a PET scan. A PET scan uses a tracer that is injected into the body to check for cancer (or see where the cancer is at). (for more information about PET scans click here). We arrived at the hospital about 9:30 and eventually got home at about 5:00, so the process took quite awhile.
We got to the hospital at 9:30 and checked in at the pre-operation window so they could get some information before the sedation process. We waited a few minutes, and then the nurse took us back to get Shad's height, weight and ask a whole bunch of questions. Once we finished there he took us downstairs to the imaging center where we waited about 45 minutes for the MRI tech, the anesthesiologist, and the PET scan lady to all figure out what it was they needed to do. At about 10:30 they took us back to the room and we signed a bunch of papers. Shad was in a great mood, and was chatting it up with all of the people. They all commented multiple times about how they wished all their patients were so cooperative. The anesthesiologist told us his plan (just basic sedation, no intubation or anything), and then we got Shad up on the table. He was still super happy and laughing and talking to everyone. Once the anesthesiologist pulled out the mask to administer the medicine, Shad lost it. He started trying to rip of the mask, and screaming. Trevor and I were on either side of him holding his hands down, and trying to talk to him so he would calm down until he fell asleep. The MRI tech came over, and took his hands from us so that we wouldn't have to be the ones holding him down. I thought that was a really kind gesture, sometimes it is hard to be the "mean one", but we do what has to be done. I appreciated that he took over for us, so we could just be with him as he fell asleep. Once he was asleep they kicked us out to the waiting room, and got him all set up. He had to have an iv put into his hand. They administered the tracer right away once that was done, and then did some MRI imaging while they waited the requisite one hour for the tracer to do its job.
At about 11:00 Trevor went down to the galley to get us some lunch. He brought it back up and we ate. Then we waited, and waited, and waited. They had the news on in the waiting room, and I found some of the stories a bit random. They had some guy on talking about the fact that the world hadn't ended. There was a lot about gun control, some really ridiculous things. They quoted a website that sold weapons to only law enforcement and military, and talked about civilians getting those types of guns when in all actuality, they can not purchase guns from there. There were some others that I can't remember right now. I studied up on the new youth curriculum and watched some of the movies that went along with that.
Finally, the anesthesiologist brought Shad out. He was already awake and talking randomly. They took him upstairs to the PACU (post anesthesia care unit), where they have to monitor his vitals, and make sure he is awake before they send him home. We were up there about half an hour. He had 3 containers of juice and a popsicle. He hadn't eaten or drunk anything since bedtime the night before, so he was pretty hungry and thirsty. We were supposed to go to the oncology clinic after his imaging to check his counts, so the PACU nurse just did the blood draw before she removed the iv. We went downstairs to the clinic to follow up with the doctor and check what his counts were, but it was closed. We weren't sure what we were supposed to do, so we went over the the peds area and asked one of the nurses there. She was able to get ahold of the doctor and she came over and talked to us for a minute. They said that they would call with his counts in the morning, so we headed home.
Fast forward to yesterday. We went in to check Shad's counts and possibly start chemo if everything checked out okay. We were also hoping to get the results of all of his imaging. His neutrophil count was not high enough to start chemo yesterday, so we will go back tomorrow for another check and to hopefully start chemo. He was at an 853 and has to be at 1000 to start. The good news from the check up was the results of the imaging. One lung is totally clear from any cancer, and the other lung is very faint which means it is almost gone. When he started there were multiple spots in both lungs. There are no marks on his liver anymore either. His pelvic mass is "significantly smaller", and there is nothing in his back. Dr. Pene had not seen the images, he had just read the report, so he was just telling us what the report said. Hopefully we will see the images when we are there later this week. We are so thankful that there are already such significant results after only two rounds of chemo.
We got to the hospital at 9:30 and checked in at the pre-operation window so they could get some information before the sedation process. We waited a few minutes, and then the nurse took us back to get Shad's height, weight and ask a whole bunch of questions. Once we finished there he took us downstairs to the imaging center where we waited about 45 minutes for the MRI tech, the anesthesiologist, and the PET scan lady to all figure out what it was they needed to do. At about 10:30 they took us back to the room and we signed a bunch of papers. Shad was in a great mood, and was chatting it up with all of the people. They all commented multiple times about how they wished all their patients were so cooperative. The anesthesiologist told us his plan (just basic sedation, no intubation or anything), and then we got Shad up on the table. He was still super happy and laughing and talking to everyone. Once the anesthesiologist pulled out the mask to administer the medicine, Shad lost it. He started trying to rip of the mask, and screaming. Trevor and I were on either side of him holding his hands down, and trying to talk to him so he would calm down until he fell asleep. The MRI tech came over, and took his hands from us so that we wouldn't have to be the ones holding him down. I thought that was a really kind gesture, sometimes it is hard to be the "mean one", but we do what has to be done. I appreciated that he took over for us, so we could just be with him as he fell asleep. Once he was asleep they kicked us out to the waiting room, and got him all set up. He had to have an iv put into his hand. They administered the tracer right away once that was done, and then did some MRI imaging while they waited the requisite one hour for the tracer to do its job.
At about 11:00 Trevor went down to the galley to get us some lunch. He brought it back up and we ate. Then we waited, and waited, and waited. They had the news on in the waiting room, and I found some of the stories a bit random. They had some guy on talking about the fact that the world hadn't ended. There was a lot about gun control, some really ridiculous things. They quoted a website that sold weapons to only law enforcement and military, and talked about civilians getting those types of guns when in all actuality, they can not purchase guns from there. There were some others that I can't remember right now. I studied up on the new youth curriculum and watched some of the movies that went along with that.
Finally, the anesthesiologist brought Shad out. He was already awake and talking randomly. They took him upstairs to the PACU (post anesthesia care unit), where they have to monitor his vitals, and make sure he is awake before they send him home. We were up there about half an hour. He had 3 containers of juice and a popsicle. He hadn't eaten or drunk anything since bedtime the night before, so he was pretty hungry and thirsty. We were supposed to go to the oncology clinic after his imaging to check his counts, so the PACU nurse just did the blood draw before she removed the iv. We went downstairs to the clinic to follow up with the doctor and check what his counts were, but it was closed. We weren't sure what we were supposed to do, so we went over the the peds area and asked one of the nurses there. She was able to get ahold of the doctor and she came over and talked to us for a minute. They said that they would call with his counts in the morning, so we headed home.
Fast forward to yesterday. We went in to check Shad's counts and possibly start chemo if everything checked out okay. We were also hoping to get the results of all of his imaging. His neutrophil count was not high enough to start chemo yesterday, so we will go back tomorrow for another check and to hopefully start chemo. He was at an 853 and has to be at 1000 to start. The good news from the check up was the results of the imaging. One lung is totally clear from any cancer, and the other lung is very faint which means it is almost gone. When he started there were multiple spots in both lungs. There are no marks on his liver anymore either. His pelvic mass is "significantly smaller", and there is nothing in his back. Dr. Pene had not seen the images, he had just read the report, so he was just telling us what the report said. Hopefully we will see the images when we are there later this week. We are so thankful that there are already such significant results after only two rounds of chemo.
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| waiting for blood counts yesterday |
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