Good News

Sorry for the delay in update.  I'm just busy.... and slow. 

We returned to Memphis 2 weeks ago.  I have never ever been so anxious for appointments.  I just assumed that Matt would have his MRI's the day after we arrived.  However, they did ALL the other tests FIRST!  We arrived on Monday and didn't have MRI's until Thursday and didn't get results until FRIDAY!!!  Talk about mounting anxiety! 

I couldn't sleep.  Couldn't eat.  Couldn't think.

Thankfully, on Friday, our first appointment was with Dr.Wetmore.  She came in and the first words out of her mouth were, 'his scans look good'.  :)  She must have realized how anxious we were.  The chemo seems to be working.  All of the metastasized tumor is 'stable', which is good.  The main body of the tumor is actually a teeny bit smaller, which is a miracle!  In his previous chemo, the drop mets shrank and even eventually went away, but the main tumor has been untouchable and has only gotten smaller when it has been altered surgically.  To give you a sense of size, his tumor is roughly 5 cm. (2") by 3cm. (1 1/4").  His tumor showed shrinkage of 1/2 cm. all the way around.  1/2 cm. doesn't sound like much, but it is HUGE when you take into account the total tumor size. 

We had another blessing, too.  As one of the things they look for on this protocal, they do knee X-rays to rule out Avascular Necrosis (damage to the joint tissue).  In Matt's X-ray, there was evidence of this disease.  Ultimately, a knee or hip replacement is a small price to pay for a cancer treatment that is working, but I still felt worried about my 200 lb. 12 year old having joint problems.  Since the X-ray came back positive, we had to schedule an MRI of both knees.  In this MRI, there was NO EVIDENCE of disease.  Woo-Hoooooo!  They will continue to monitor him closely, but as of right now, Avascular Necrosis isn't a problem.

Since coming home, Matt attended school all last week.  He never made it to first period but we do our best.  :)  He is quite fatigued and nausea and vomiting have made their appearances, but he is doing pretty well.

This week he has felt fine except his feet have been really sore.  This is a mystery to everyone!  Yesterday we went in and had him checked out.  He has a petechial rash all over the top of his foot and his toes are really discolored.  They did an u/s of his entire leg to rule out clots (none, thank goodness!) and they also checked his blood flow to make sure there wasn't a circulatory issue.  That rules out the two most urgent problems that could be causing his symptoms of foot pain and discoloration.  We're still trying to get to the bottom of that.  Unfortunately, the pain has been severe enough that he has not been able to attend school since Tuesday.  :(  As long as he is taking it easy, though, he isn't in pain and otherwise feels well.

So, there you have it.  Consider yourself updated.  :)