Friday, August 5, 2011

Good News........I think

The last couple of weeks have been normal cancer life with Annabelle. Chemo, blood transfusion, platelet transfusion, fever, ER visit, etc... She was scheduled to start Cycle 6 of chemo today, but her ANC was still zero yesterday. The plan is to check her counts again on Monday and if she is ready, start chemo on Tuesday. This will be another 5 day set. The whole 5 day part is bad, but this chemo is actually easier for her to handle. It doesn't give her mouth sores and when she gets a fever it hasn't lasted as long as with the other set of chemo meds. The exciting part is, she will be repeating all of the imaging done at diagnosis to see how well her tumor has responded to the treatments! I am excited to see, but nervous at the same time. I have hope that it will be gone, but with it being in the bone I don't think that is possible. More realistically I want to see it NEARLY gone, possibly off of the nerve it was affecting so badly before, not so tightly packed around the vertebral artery and reduced in the vertebrae. That's not too much to ask for, is it!?! The worst thing would be to see it have spread somewhere else in her body (not likely, but possible) or not have responded to chemo. We can see from the outside the tumor has shrunk, though, so I am honestly expecting good results!

The good news (I think) that we recently got was regarding the plan for local control. Annabelle's case was discussed at tumor board with the specialists from all areas: oncology, radiation oncology, neurosurgery, pathology, etc... and they anticipate that Annabelle will receive only radiation, not surgery! Since it is on the bone, radiation is required and since we have to do that anyway there is no need to put her through surgery as well. She may need spinal surgery at a later time to fix her vertebrae but from a cancer fighting view, it doesn't look necessary at this time. Of course, this is all subject to change as they review her scans.

BIG decisions will be coming and this is where I am asking for help. Please, PLEASE pray for Annabelle. Specifically for good news from the scans, inspiration for the specialists who will be reviewing them and making the plan, and peace of mind for us as we await the results. Thank you!

3 comments:

Melissa and Matt said...

We are always thinking of Annabelle and your family. Hopefully the next cycle of chemo goes as planned. Of course we will keep you in our prayers.

Carlin said...

We have been praying for Annabelle and will continue to do so. And for all of you!

RL Lacey Family said...

Fasting and praying. We love you!