The Jury Has Deliberated!

Well we got some more news today. Poor Kade had a rough day. First we had to go to the Cancer Agency, so Kade could get a PET scan. This is so his Radiologist can start to plan and map his treatment. His Radio therapy will start Nov.8, and is scheduled to finish Dec.20...so we know what we are asking Santa for this year! They had to sedate him with a general anasthetic, so he would be still enough for the imaging...You try asking a 5 year old to stay still and not move a muscle for an hour! He woke up groggy and with a sore little mr. happy because they had to put a catheter in. Poor little man.
Right after that, we had to go back to BCCH for another chemo treatment. That was fairly quick though we were outa there in about 2 1/2 hours. About 2 minutes before we left Kades Oncologist popped in to tell us he had the results of Kades bone marrow biopsy from friday.
It's completely clear! I get a tear in my eye every time I say it...yay...it's clear!

The Jury Is In...Again!

Well Kade just had his second evaluation, and we got some good news...thankfully! The cancer has been shrinking everywhere. Some of the lymph nodes have gone back down to normal. Some of the leisions on his bones have disappeared. Most importantly his primary tumor has shrunk by about 30%. Kades primary Oncologist thinks that his bone marrow has cleared up as well, since his blood counts seem to recover fairly rapidly. Unfortunately he is not a candidate for surgery. If they tried to surgically remove his primary tumor, they would have to remove his bladder and it would probably ruin his one functional kidney. In other words it would most likely kill him. I learned that with this type of cancer (as well as others), when they surgically remove tumors they have to take a fair amount of healthy tissue around the tumor. this ensures that they get all the cancerous tissue and reduce the probability of a relapse. It's common sense really! Kades tumor is touching most of his organs in his abdomen. Rhabdomyosarcoma's are very penetrating cancers, and therefore can be difficult to completely remove surgically...depending of course on location! Kades tumor is in one of the worst spots it could be, for not being in his head!

The good news is that he can be treated with radiation, and they may be able to completely kill the cancer.This would possibly mean that they may not need to do surgery at all, and he would end up with scar tissue instead of a tumor. Now that's my understanding after talking to the Oncologist, so it may not be entirely accurate.

Kade will be starting his radio therapy soon. We still need to meet with his Radiologist to get all the details. You know the scary details, like how the radiation that your child with cancer will be getting, may cause cancer and/or make him sterile, or kill him! However it beats the alternative!

All in all, it was good news. We are getting closer, but we are a long way from being out of the woods! He is a tough little trooper and he is truly my hero!

On another note, our great nephew Ayzac has been in childrens hospital for about three weeks now. He has a mitocondrial metabolic disorder that a team of over 60 doctors are trying to figure out, and it could take them days to a year. Poor little Ayzac is only 10 weeks old, and he and his parents are going through hell. Our hearts and thoughts are with them, and with the rest of the family!

Well it's been a while, so here's what's going on. Kade is finishing his second cycle of his second round. Today is his second to last day in the hospital this time around. Got all those seconds? Next week he gets a break from chemo, even though he will be coming into the hospital for antibiotics and blood tests. We are in the hospital every week no matter what. After next week Kade will be starting the last cycle of the second round. Meaning he will be in the hospital for three days that week, then out for a week (with a single day trip for chemo), then back in for five days. After that he will almost get a week off. However that's when the next evaluation starts. This is the big one! This next evaluation determines whether or not Kade will be getting surgery, if his tumor has shrunk enough. This is a scary thought, since his surgery is very complicated and dangerous. Not to mention that after surgery he will be getting radiation therapy. Cancer is an awful disease, especially for children. To treat this disease you have to do everything you're supposed to stay away from! You have to poison the child, then you have to cut them open, then you expose them to radiation...all of which can kill them! I hate this disease with a passion.
I've had the opportunity to speak with other parents whose children are being treated for cancer as well! The most common cancer in children seems to be Leukemia, with all different types of catagories. Just hearing what other kids are going through breaks your heart. One young girl we met had lost her leg and nutrition was an issue. She was having trouble keeping anything down due to her chemo. Another girl was in the hospital frequently with fever and infections because her immune system is so low with her treatment. Alot of kids end up being in isolation. This is usually the kids that get bone marrow transplants, because they have no immune system until their new marrow starts making white blood cells and Neutriphils (the soldiers in your blood that do the physical fighting of infection!) The good news is that they've done so many studies on childrens cancers that they have a huge knowledge base and have a wide variety of treatments. Most children survive and thrive. We have our fingers crossed for our little boy, we are lucky he is so strong! There will be some difficult times ahead. When he has his surgery they will have to remove his prostate gland, which means that he will be sterile. Now obviously saving his life is the most important thing, but this will have long reaching effects into his life!
If I have any advice for parents it would be this, if something seems not quite right with your child don't wait, get them checked out right away. If the doctors say nothing is wrong but you feel differently, be persistant. If we had waited any longer we would have lost our beautiful little boy, and the fact is that we are not out of the woods yet. Don't get me wrong, we are going to beat this..but the risks are still there. Anyway, keeping strong, and until next we post!

With Arms Raised, The Roller Coaster We Ride!

Ahhh, where to begin? Well for starters Kade gave us a scare a few days ago when his temperature went up to just below fever, then came back down. When we went back to the hospital for bloodwork a couple of days later we found out that his white blood cell count was virtually nonexistent...yikes. We have been giving him injections to boost his white blood cell count as part of his treatment, so this is all par for the course! The drug we have to give him needs to be refridgerated. So imagine our horror, when after we filled his prescription, we discovered we had left it in the car all day in the heat! Back we go to the hospital on the Sunday of the long weekend to get more life saving drugs for our baby! The parent of the year award goes to...!
Now we are back in the hospital getting chemo for the third week of round one! So far so good, this chemo is scary stuff though...lots of risks. However the alternative isn't very appealing!
We will have lots of hospital stays with this cycle of treatment, and hopefully Kade will avoid any infections while his counts are low. With a little luck he won't need any transfusions either, but unfortunately infections and transfusions are quite common during this treatment...very scary!

The Verdict Is In and Back for Round Three!

So we got the results of the scans, and it was good news...somewhat. The main tumor hasn't changed. It hasn't grown, but it hasn't shrunk either! However, his lymph nodes have gone down and his kidney function is exactly where it should be for a child his age and size! In other words, the chemo was working...on a small scale. We found out that the chemo he was taking has only been used for about two years and there are no studies saying if it is effective or not. They know it works in some cases, but Rhabdomyosarcomas' are very tough tumors and they usually don't respond well to many forms of chemo. We will take what we can get though...any success is still success!
So now we are back in the hospital for round three! Kade is starting a new chemo that has been proven to be effective in 80% of cases. He will be going through three rounds about one month long each. He will be admitted to hospital for two days for the first week, taking one type of chemo. Then he will be going to the day clinic for a few hours the next week, taking another chemo....that he's already been taking. The third week, Kade gets admitted for five days taking another new chemo. Week four, Kade gets a break! This cycle repeats three times and then he gets another evaluation. This is a fairly agressive therapy that has proven to work in most cases...so with a little luck...!

Scans

We just got home from the hospital where Kade has just had his evaluation C.T. and M.R.I. scans. Hopefully we will find out soon how well the chemo is working. We do know it is working, but not to what extent. We are keeping our fingers crossed!