It's All in the Details

We survived our first night at the hospital. It was rough, little sleep for Brady or I. The surgery team came in and expects his surgery to be this morning at 9am. I feel like I'm bursting the bubble of excitement about chemo with the info I'm going to share with you. Remember the news about 2 round of chemo being a possibility? Well, it still is. But after a more lengthy discussion with our oncologist last night, it seems the 2 rounds of chemo is a "research study." She explained it like this: 8 rounds of chemo used to be standard for this stage of neuroblastoma in children. Chemo is a poison to your body, and produces many side effects, some can cause long term damage to parts of the body. In recent years, 4 rounds has shown to be successful in treating the kind of cancer that Brady has. Now that 4 rounds has shown to work, they are experimenting with 2 rounds. The thought is that if two rounds can get rid of the cancer, with fewer side effects, than that is a better treatment plan. The problem is, the chance of reoccurrence may be higher with only 2 cycles. So for now we are still in the discussion stage of what to do. We are waiting to hear from Sloan Kettering to see what they would reccommend. It sounds like it will be left up to us to decide.

Brady had surgery at about noon today. He hadn't eaten since dinner last night, and had two rounds of steroids on an empty stomach. Needless to say he was quite a grouchy boy. The surgery was pretty quick and he did well. The Broviac is placed the left side of his chest. He came out of surgery very upset...I was able to be with him in recovery, but he was hurting quite a bit and was just frustrated. Now we are up in the room (about 3 hours later) and he has since had a lot to drink, some goldfish, and is talking and sitting up.

We are expecting to meet again with our oncologist tonight. Chemo might start tonight, or maybe tomorrow morning. It all depends on the Sloan Kettering info and some further discussion. Please keep praying, pray for:
1. Comfort and rest for Brady. His little body is very beat up right now (lots of owies!) Pray he gets a good night's sleep.
2. Clarity for Matt, I, and our treatment team as we decide on the best treatment plan. What tough choices we have to make, we are trusting God to lead us in the direction we should go.
3. Continued strength for Matt, I, and our families as we continue to spend so much time apart. I miss home and the kids so much;)
4. Safe travel for all of us back and forth. I'm thinking about going home tonight and getting some sleep so Matt can stay with Brady tonight. We are realizing that there is little sleep in the hospital with a toddler!

Thank you for continuing to pray for us!