Orthopedic, neurosurgery consultations

Yesterday we met with the orthopedic and neurosurgery teams.

The orthopedic team was asked to evaluate Emmett for spinal instability resulting from spinal surgeries and radiation treatment.  I've been anxious about this consultation for several months now.  We would hate to put Emmett through a spinal surgery that might limit his mobility and ultimately change the way his body functions.  It was hard when he was 18 months; it would be so much harder now that he's older.  He understands so much and asks such probing questions. 

Thankfully the orthopedic team doesn't think that anything is needed at this point - hooray!  Hopefully that message is repeated for years to come.  They did suggest he stay away from contact sports, however.  Tennis and golf were his recommendations.  What a 'coincidence' that those are the two sports I play the most!  I guess I was meant to be a pansy.  Incidentally, we brought tennis rackets for Katy's birthday yesterday to have here in Boston.  Emmett got so excited and begged us to sign him up for tennis instead of soccer.  He asked me to go play tennis with him no less than eight times today.  Hopefully it sticks!

The consultation with neurosurgery was also insightful.  We've been waiting for weeks to hear what Emmett's neurosurgeon thinks about this spot in his brain stem.  She is concerned about it.  She thinks it would be risky to get to surgically, and the risks would be great.  She said she recently went after a similar spot on another patient, and in the end the tissue wasn't good enough for a conclusive biopsy, so it was a lot of risk for a little benefit.  I assume if this spot started growing quickly she might reconsider.  But for now surgery is off the table.

She did recommend we proactively treat it with stereotactic radiation as the oncology team has discussed.  She thinks that the side affects will be minimal for this location.  I guess they irradiate kids with tumors in this vicinity regularly, and in her experience the side affects are very minimal. 

Keep in mind that this is a surgeon speaking for a radiation oncologist, so take everything she says with a grain of salt.  I'm anxious to talk to the radiation oncology team to see what they believe the risks and benefits are.

Our primary team still hasn't heard back from Mass General on options for proton radiation treatment, which is what I believe our primary team will recommend.  I think they have options for photon radiation locally, but proton is the preferred option.  So we're still waiting.

So that's where things stand today.

We appreciate the outpouring of love and support we continue to receive.  And we especially appreciate all the prayers.  So many people have been involved in bringing Emmett to where he is today.  We love and thank you for all you do for our Little Muncher!