The Results Are In

It has been a big week for us as Annabelle had her follow-up scans to see how well she has responded to the chemo. When we checked in on Tuesday we went right down for a repeat echo. She had one 2 weeks ago but there was some question about whether her heart was actually contracting like it should be so they decided to repeat it. The good news is it ended up looking fine! While down at echo they came in and said as soon as we finished there we were to go for a CT scan of her chest. Ewing's very commonly spreads to the lungs so they were primarily checking for that. Annabelle was great and held so still for it. Later that day we got the good results: no evidence of disease spread anywhere in the chest!

Yesterday morning Annabelle had an MRI. That was the one we were most anxious about. Remember, her previous MRI showed a large tumor surrounding the vertebral artery shutting off blood flow to the brain on that side, smashing the nerve that controlled her left arm, pushing against the vertebrae to the point of deforming it and causing other various issues. Yesterday the only thing reported was a tiny 10x13 mm mass in the left side of her neck. They said it could be residual tumor or something like scar tissue. Most likely it is still a small bit of tumor because Ewing's isn't likely to completely melt away. Either way it doesn't change her treatment plan at this point. They detected nearly full strength has returned to her left arm and expect no longterm weakness. Also her vertebral artery appears to be peforming normally now. In the beginning we expected to have to have it severed and only have the other side continue to work. Very VERY good news!

This morning the radiation oncologists came to meet us. They explained all the procedures with accompanying risks and benefits and set up appointments for Annabelle. She is scheduled for an initial simulation to get things set up specifically for her treatment on the 22nd. She will start actual radiation on the 29th and chemo at the same time. Radiation will be 5 days a week for approximately 6 weeks. She will have to be sedated every day for the treatment because she needs to be absolutely still in order for the radiation to hit the specific area and not get too much other healthy tissue. When we aren't inpatient at PCMC for chemo we will probably be staying at the Ronald McDonald house in SLC. There is just no way I could drive back and forth from Tremonton every day.

After the radiation docs left Annabelle went down for a bone scan. I just tracked down the NP to get me the results and they were good as well. The report stated a decrease of disease in the bone but not a complete resolve. Basically that means that there was still some uptake of the dye into the area but not as much as on her previous scan. Quite honestly I hope to get things explained a LOT better tomorrow when we see our actual oncologist but this information was the most I could get for today.