MRI Results

Emmett's first MRI since starting treatment was today.  Essentially this was the first look at whether the protocol he's on is having an effect.  You can imagine that Katy and I were on eggshells.  What would it mean if the tumor had continued to grow?  What hope would we have left?  After his last MRI the surgeon showed up within two minutes to give us the results and take him off to emergency surgery.  (This is essentially what happened originally at UNM; and both of the emergency surgeries were on Fridays, just like today.)  You can imagine that left a sour taste in our mouths for MRI's.  To add to our anxiety today was the fact that his blood counts unexpectedly dropped back to zero after having climbed over the last two days.  What does that mean?

Well, the MRI showed the tumor on his brachial plexus had shrunk!  That's great news!  They were unable to conclusively determine whether the remaining tumor inside his spine had been reduced, but it also didn't look like it had grown at all (I believe there's so little left after the last surgery that it's difficult to tell what's going on).  They did note a pooling of fluid on his back near his left shoulder blade which I had pointed out on Monday, but after consulting with the neurosurgeon they don't believe it's anything to worry about.    We're still a little anxious about it but there's not much we can do for now.

So the cancer is susceptible to the chemotherapy...let's beat the heck out of it before it builds up a resistance.

They sent us home this afternoon.  We'll be here until Tuesday when he's scheduled to have the ommaya reservoir placed in his brain for intrathecal chemotherapy.  Then his next round of chemo starts Wednesday. 

We're optimistic!  We feels that prayers are being answered and that today was another miracle.  We pray the miracles continue!