Hope

This is Matt joining the blog. Today Brady had a bone marrow extraction, CT scan, and a PIC line inserted for chemotherapy. We just spoke to the chief oncologist and got our first bit of good news, although preliminary. So far the CT scan does not show cancer in any organs. It still hasn't been read by the radiologist. Also encouraging about the CT scan is that the spinal cord seems to be mainly decompressed and back to its normal position. The tumor had invaded the spinal canal as well wrapping around it. This could mean that there may not be permanent nerve damage, however, way too early to tell. The surgery last night was very involved, but seems to have been successful. Before the surgery, there were several levels of his spinal cord in which the tumor took up more space than the spinal cord. The preliminary bone marrow results are negative. This means there isn't a large amount of cancer in the bone marrow. There could still be neuroblastoma cells in the marrow in smaller amounts, we will find out more tomorrow. Brady is off of the ventilator and breathing on his own. We were able to hear his cries for the first time since yesterday...what a beautiful sound. This is serious cancer and our treatment path from here is uncertain. We know it will be difficult and involve chemotherapy and possibly stem cell transplant, but there was definitely hope given today. God does answer prayer. Matt and Meg