January 2018 MRI

Today Emmett had his third MRI since starting the clinical trial at Children's Hospital Colorado.  The scan showed that everything has remained stable since his last scan -- yay!  Emmett has now had three scans since starting the clinical trial.  The first scan in October showed a significant reduction in Emmett's tumor, and the second and third both showed stability, and that is amazing news.

While we've hoped to hear of continued reductions of this spot, it's important to remember that Emmett has always had scar tissue in this area since his last spinal surgery in 2012.  A few times over the years the doctors have wondered whether this area might contain active tissue, but it's never showed activity until June 2017, and so they've never been concerned about it until then.  Given that he's had scar tissue here for the better part of six years, it's understandable that it may not respond completely (i.e. reduce down to zero) because it wasn't zero to begin with.

In looking at the imaging myself, what remains in this spot looks about the same size as what it was in January 2017 when the doctors had no concerns.  Perhaps it's slightly larger now, or changed in shape slightly -- but overall it's roughly the same size as when the doctors were not concerned.  So maybe he's close to his "non-zero" baseline.

Upon reviewing the MRI results with our doctor she mentioned that sometimes tumors reduce significantly upon treatment but never completely go away, even though they are shown to be clinically "dead" upon subsequent biopsy.  Without a biopsy it's impossible to prove whether residual tissue is benign, and in Emmett's case there's too much risk to do a biopsy, so we'll never know for sure.  But we can hope and pray that this is the case.

Our doctor did mention that spots that pick up contrast in MRIs are more likely to be vascular (which scar tissue generally is not), so that fact that Emmett's spot lights up on an MRI may be a bad omen.  But then again, with each additional surgery / treatment / intervention, the less the traditional rules may apply...so we'll take that for what it's worth.

What we will take (and are extremely excited about) are two more months of life the way we're currently living it -- trips to Denver every other weekend to get more medicine, but otherwise home in Albuquerque living as close to a "normal family life" as possible.  The thought of another two months of this routine is very exciting!!! 

We feel so blessed and thankful to be where we are today and we're praying that this period of our lives may continue.  How thankful we are for everyone who continues to remember Emmett and our family in your prayers.  The miracles keep coming, and each of you play a part in that!

Welcome 2018

We have thoroughly enjoyed the last few months since Emmett's good news MRI in October.  The blessings of the past few months have been remarkable indeed.

After Emmett's October scan, we were thrilled by the realization that we would get to spend Halloween in Albuquerque together as a family.  It's been a long time since we've had the opportunity to do that.  We were likewise excited that we would get to celebrate Thanksgiving before Emmett's next MRI.  That was also another great blessing.  Over these past months we've also been blessed by several visits from family who made the trek out to New Mexico, and those have made for sweet memories.  And we've also been able to drive a "few" extra miles on our trips to Denver to enjoy family time in Fort Collins and Salt Lake City.  And those were wonderful times.

And to say that we enjoyed spending Christmas at home in ABQ is the world's greatest understatement.  The week off between Christmas and New Year's made for very treasured family time.

Overall, we just continue to feel so blessed and Thankful.

Emmett had another MRI on 11/30/17, and that scan showed stability from the October scan.  The spot still hasn't reduced completely, and the doctors are certainly still concerned about it, but we are very, very happy that it hadn't grow at all from early October to late November.  And our oncologist thought that it may have reduced 1mm in one dimension, and we will take whatever encouragement we can get.

We keep praying for further reduction and hope this medicine will continue working its magic!  Or at least keep this spot from growing!  As long as it doesn't grow more than 20% we can continue on this study.

Emmett's next MRI is a few weeks from now and we're praying for good news.  In the meantime, we'll continue watching two boys smother their new little sister with an overabundance of love and affection.