ALL HAIL THE CONQUERING HERO!

So here we go, now that the dust has settled and the emotions have settled a little. I can now fill you in on the roller coaster of the last few months. When I last posted we were waiting for Kade to start his scans for his final evaluation, and for the most part all the pieces fell into place. Kade had all the scans he had originally, that way they have an accurate view of everything that has happened over the last year. DR. Tim went on holiday around the same time that Kade was having his scans so we were waiting with baited breath for results... or at least we thought we would be! I had told Suzanne (Kades nurse clinician), that we were feeling extremely anxious about finding out the results and that waiting for Tim to come back before we would find anything out was emotionally hard. This of course was no surprise to her at all, and as it turns out Tim, Suzanne, and quite a few of the other Oncologists were anxious about his results too. While Tim was on holiday, he talked to the other doctors and viewed Kades scans via the internet. He then emailed Suzanne the results and she phoned us right away! It's amazing how much these awesome people care... they are definitely not just in it for a paycheck!
There were two things that happened that didn't relieve any stress though. First, Kades PET scan was bumped because another little one was more in need... which obviously is more important. He was originally supposed to have the scan on June 29th, but then it was bumped to July 13th. This now meant that we wouldn't have our meeting with Tim until July 15th!
The second stress factor was that when we got the results from Kades scans (minus the PET scan), nothing had changed since the last time! The thing is, that the PET scan is the only scan that shows active cancer. Kades affected areas had already shrunk quite a bit, and we were told that the primary tumor would shrink and become scar tissue. In other words, the cancer would only shrink to a certain point and then it would stay the same. So without the PET scan we didn't know if the cancer was dead or alive... talk about nerve racking!

So the 13th of July finally came and Kade got his PET scan! Then FINALLY, the 15th came... Elaine and I barely slept for days before that! Elaine's mom Kathy came with us, my mom Linda came and so did my sister Lori... it was a big deal that day! we got there at about 1:00 for a 1:30 appointment, however Tim was busy and he was still waiting for the written report from the Radiologist about Kades PET scan. So finally just after 2:00 we went in to an office and got all the results. We never did see the written results from the PET scan, but Tim had a meeting with the Radiologist and it was confirmed that the Tumor IS DEAD!!!!!!!!!!!
It's some what bitter sweet though, Tim wanted to make sure we understood completely how things can work. Biology is very unpredictable at times, but he told us that more than half the kids in the Oncology program relapse. Also when the cancer comes back it is a lot harder to treat, because the cancer has proven to be resistant to the treatments already undergone. Also you can only irradiate an area once in your lifetime. The tissues in your body can withstand a certain amount of radiation and still survive and heal. Anything more than that and the tissues breakdown and die... and the tissue has memory! Thus radiation is a one shot deal. That is why surgery is usually the first option, but in Kades case surgery would kill him. So to be honest right now I'm still scared shitless, however we are going to take this victory and run with it...knock on wood!

So now what? Kade still has a few things he has to go through before life is completely back to normal. He still has a few more doses of Pentamidine to get (it's an antibiotic he has to inhale through a mask...this is to ward off a rare type of pneumonia that cancer kids can contract.) Also, he still has his VAD in (Venous Access Device). If you've been following the blog, you may remember that this was the tube they put in Kades chest that they used to give him all his chemo and to do all his bloodwork and give him all his meds! So now, Kade has to go in once a month to have his VAD flushed and Hep locked (to make sure no blood clots plug it up). We have to wait for the surgeon to have an opening fo do the surgery to remove it. This will probably be the only thing that we have to wait for... something we aren't used to since kids with cancer usually get bumped to the front of the line for everything else. This surgery however isn't considered that important to rush. We are not in a big hurry to have his VAD out anyway... just in case of any complications. The one thing Tim told us was that because of the location of Kades tumor, and the treatment he underwent, he may be prone to urinary tract infections! He told us that on the 15th, and on the 17th Kade got a fever and off to the hospital we went. Sure enough he had a blsdder infection, and he has been on antibiotics since then. The good news is that Kades blood counts are normalish now and his immune system is working again. This means we don't end up spending 3 days in the hospital every time Kade gets a fever. We do still call the hospital and have the Oncologist on call make the decision on what to do... at least we can give him fever reducers and function like a normal sick kid would.

VAD issues aside, Kade will now go in every 3 months for evaluation scans (bone scans, MRI's), just to keep an eye on things and make sure that if the cancer comes back they catch it early. This will go on for about a year (since it will usually come back in the first year), then the next year he will be scanned every 6 months or so. They may decide to change this schedule a little depending on how they feel. Kade may get scanned every 3 months for 2 years.
Kade has to remain cancer free for 5 years before they declare him cured, and the statistics say that this type of cancer (Embryonic Rhabdomyosarcoma) can come back any time until Kade is about 20 years old.

In the mean time, Kade, Elaine and I are going to camp goodtimes (summer camp for kids with or who have had cancer) next weekend. Also Make a Wish has granted Kades wish and we will be going to Disneyworld sometime in September. Life isn't quite back to normal yet. but in some ways it's a lot better!
Thank you all for the support you've shown us throughout this last year. We wouldn't have survived this without you! Love to all... and Ill periodically update this blog to let you know what's going on. So for now victory is ours...peace out!