Scans/Tests Day #2

So today's appointment with Dr. B basically went as I had expected. It was pretty vague. The good news is that the tumors have continued to shrink; however, they don't seem to have shrunk very much (from my perspective) when you look at the measurements from her previous scans four cycles of chemotherapy ago. In other words, they are not a whole lot smaller than they were back in November. Her liver spots are smaller; however, someone didn't order an abdominal CT, so they didn't get a good look at those spots. Basically what it comes down to is that Brynlee has always been a complicated case for the doctors because of the extent and location of her cancer tumors. She is still a complicated case for them, and Dr. B and the surgeons will have to do a lot of talking and decide what to do. We also have to get the rest of her scans, including the abdominal CT and a bone scan that were just ordered, so that they can see if there is still any cancer in her bones. Anyway, it is complicated and I will wait to post more details when her treatment plan has been decided.

After her appointment with Dr. B we headed to the RTU to have a bone marrow aspirate. Her bone marrow was clear in November, but they checked it again. She was put under general anesthesia for that and did well. They also performed the echocardiogram to check if there has been any damage to her heart from the chemotherapy while she was under the anesthesia, but I don't have the results from that. Dr. B also realized that in addition to the abdominal CT that the bone scan didn't get scheduled either, so now we have those two tests on the schedule and two more days of sedation this week. Four days in a row of sedation. No fun! On tap for tomorrow is the abdominal CT and the MIBG injection.

I created our Kickin It With Brynlee team for the SLC Curesearch walk that will be held in September. I realize that September is a long ways away, so I will try not to bug people about it very often. I think this is the first time that I have ever sought donations for anything, so I don't really know what I am doing, and I think I might have shot for a lofty goal of $500 for our team. However, I have already received a very generous donation of $100, so maybe our team can get to $500. If you are interested in joining our team just click on the link. They ask for $10 to be a walker (if you are over the age of 15). They also offer a virtual walker option if you cannot be at the walk. You can also just donate under my name or under the team name if you just want to donate and don't want to join our team. Just click on the link to the side of my blog. It is super easy. They accept credit card payments, and you can receive a tax-deductible receipt. If you have any questions, let me know. We would love to have you join our team and/or donate to our team in Brynlee's honor and for the benefit of children's cancer research. Thank you!