The Update

Shad had his follow up appointment yesterday from his scans last week.  He had been anxiously waiting to see if his "little ball" was getting smaller.

Luckily Dr. Pene was ready for us, so we didn't have to wait too long.  He had to get his counts checked to see what his white blood count was.  Nurse Jo accessed him for the blood draw, and then immediately deaccessed him.  He was a little confused, because usually they leave him accessed in case he needs transfusions.  We went in with Dr. Pene and he gave us the results.  Shad has two lesions still on his lungs, and a small area left in his pelvis.  Dr. Pene recommended that we do 2 more rounds of chemotherapy and then do more scans to see what happens.  He said that the area in the pelvis could probably be removed with surgery, but they won't do surgery on his lungs, hence the chemo.  We will be starting on Monday.  He is going to suggest that urology do whatever testing they need while he is in the hospital for his chemo, and then hopefully the catheter can come out after he recovers from this round of chemo.  We will wait and see.  After the appointment we went down to McDonald's to get an ice cream treat.

This morning we went to the audiology department for a follow up hearing test that Dr. Pene wanted.  If Shad's hearing had been affected by the chemo (cisplatin), then he would reduce that drug by 50%.  Shad was very cooperative and all of the ladies were very impressed.  They claimed that he was the youngest child they have ever been able to get to do the part of the test where they have to raise their hands when they hear the beep.  He is a pretty smart kid!  His hearing tested normal, so we will be continuing with the chemo as normal.

him with the earphones in for the tests