Chemo Round #5 & Scan Results

Our Thanksgiving week is a busy medical week for us and Brynlee. On Monday, she had a CT scan and an MRI scan at the Riverton Primary Children's facility. The nice radiologist agreed to show us the CT scan. The results were good, but the amount of shrinkage of the tumors wasn't as dramatic as the last scans that we got in October. Everything is still responding, so I guess we can't ask for anything more (other than patience).

So we met with Brynlee's oncologist today, and she was pleased with the scan results and that the tumors continue to shrink. We learned something new today that Brynlee didn't actually have any cancer in her lungs as we originally were told but that the spots were actually lymph nodes that are affected in the area of the lungs. We also didn't know much about the spots on her liver, but the radiologist showed us two spots on her liver on Monday, which seem to be very slowly shrinking. Dr. Bruggers is going to present her at the tumor conference they have once a month (which is next week) to reevaluate her treatment plan. I was left with the impression that Dr. Bruggers is planning on eight rounds of chemo, but I guess we will just see what is decided at the tumor chat and when they think will be the optimal time to do surgery and localized radiation.

After we met with Dr. Bruggers we headed to the RTU (rapid treatment unit) so that Brynlee could be sedated and have a bone marrow aspirate and biopsy. Her bone marrow hadn't been evaluated since her diagnosis, so Dr. B wanted to see the progress with that. I don't know when we will get the results of that, but hopefully it will be before we leave here on Friday.

So now we are inpatient in the good old ICS unit awaiting the start of her chemo. She has three days of chemo, so yes, we will be here for Thanksgiving. We are planning on having our turkey dinner Friday night. My parents are here helping us with the girls. We did have the option to postpone the chemo until no later than next Monday, but it just works out better for Blair with his job, so here we are.

Our favorite therapy dog, Panda, came to visit Brynlee today, and Brynlee loved pulling on poor Panda's hair. Brynlee also had some Oxycodone not too long ago to help with the pain from the bone marrow aspirate and biopsy, so she is pretty happy at the moment, and she is actually chattering in this picture.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Don't forget about the Festival of Trees at the Southtowne Expo Center. It benefits Primary Children's Hospital, and I think it starts November 30th. As much as I don't like coming here, I am very grateful that we live as close as we do to this facility. Speaking of gratitude, I/we am thankful for:

• Our parents who have come to help us with the girls whenever we have needed and done more than I probably know.
• PCMC and the doctors and nurses taking care of our baby.
• Doppelgangers. We saw our doppelganger Reese Witherspoon nurse, but no Aaron Nydeggar doctor today. We love Dr. Statten. He is a very nice man!
• Crazy nurses who make us laugh. Our nurse is Tomoko today. She is from Japan and keeps us smiling and giggling.
• Good weather for traveling to the PCMC and back.
• Shrinkage!!! The tumor kind, of course.
• Family, friends, and strangers who pray for Brynlee and our family.
• A neighbor girl I don't even know who walked dogs and had a yard sale to raise $90 to help with medical expenses. Doesn't that bring a tear to your eyes?
• Research that advances the treatment and cure rate for childhood cancers.
• Blair's job and the Health Insurance we have. We have good insurance. To date they have paid over $229,000 in claims.
• Meals and other goodies given to our family.
• Countless other things slipping my mind to name at the moment.