Been a bit slack on the updates! Lucas is well within himself, it has been great to see him back to his usual self (even though his top two front teeth have just cut through, what a soldier). Lucas enjoyed his two weeks back at home. There were still plenty of trips to the hospital, including an unplanned one at 1am, an overnight stay, a NG insertion (feeding tube), 2x chemo and a blood transfusion. But we were home nonetheless :) The last cycle of chemo was a lot smoother than the first. It was refreshing to know that not all the cycles will be as tough as that first one. We came back down to Christchurch on Wednesday last week. Lucas had a MRI scan on Thursday. For this he required a general anaesthetic because he needed to remain still for 1 hour. As per usual Lucas bounced back from this like a champ They put another NG tube down whilst he was under (3rd one, because he keeps pulling them out- I dont blame him). This tube only lasted for a couple of hours and it was out again! It was an anxious wait for the feedback from the scan. Until today, all we were told was that the tumor was the same size as the original scan- so wasnt responding to the chemo as they hoped. So we waited for their decision on how to proceed. After much discussion they have decided it is best to remove the tumor asap. When the tumor is examined under the microscope they will be able to assess how much of the cells are active and how much of it is dead. From there they will determine what chemo to give him and for how many weeks. It is possible a lot/all of the tumor has died off but the mass has remained- this is what we are hoping for! We had hoped the tumor would shrink more, meaning less invasive surgery. To remove it now will require a significant amount of muscle to be removed and probably several ribs, also more risk of them not being able to remove the entire tumor= more chance of a recurrence in the future. Still, we remain positive. Lucas will be admitted to the hospital in the morning for the next round of chemo that requires him to be hooked up to the pump for 48 hours. Please continue to send him good vibes and positivity. (Wow, apologies for the novel, I will update more often so it wont need to be so long next time) xxxxx
Posted on: Tue, 18 Jun 2013 11:13:56 +0000