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March 2, 2006

By Margot | March 2, 2006

Sammy’s PET Scan lit up in the same place that the CT scan lit up – a mass around the adrenal gland area. It has been there since the CT scan last July after surgery. It was classified then by the San Diego radiology team as “consistent with a post operative seroma rather than a residual mass.” A seroma is a “mass or swelling caused by the localized accumulation of serum (fluid) within a tissue or organ.” This mass was 2.6 centimeters in September and has shrunk quite a bit as per our January scan. It is 1.9 centimeters now. However, it is still over a centimeter large and larger than the doctors at Memorial Sloan Kettering like to see -anything over a centimeter, they go in after. There is a good chance that the mass is scar tissue but it could also have live cancer cells. All of this means that Sammy will probably have another round of surgery after his next round of scans and if the mass does contain live cancer cells, have another round of chemo, probably topotecan and cyclophosfimide (sp?). The good news is his bone marrow is completely clear and this mass is something that has been showing up on all of the scans and classified by our oncologists as scar tissue or artifact and not residual tumor. So, we are hoping for the best. We have a meeting with our doctors on Wednesday to formulate a plan. It is crushing to think of putting Sammy through another surgery but perhaps we will know more after the next round of scans. We think we are going to finish up with Accutane (starting our last round tomorrow) go on our Make-A-Wish trip in March and do the scans when we return and then see where we are at that point and schedule surgery. We aren’t sure that that is the plan and we will have more news after we talk with the doctors. The worry of course is mind-numbing and we’ve been walking in a fog for the past few days. It is not in any case, a worst-case scenario because we have clear bone marrow and no other real spots of worry. Our doctor said that even if it is cancerous, we should be able to get back to remission relatively easily. If it is cancer though, it probably means it will come back again. I can’t quite believe that it’s cancerous because of how we’ve been treating it all along. I think if it were a new worrisome spot, I would be able to believe it but the fact that it is shrinking is a good thing I think. Anyway, I don’t really know and am trying to talk myself into the best case-scenario so please forgive the stream-of-consciousness here. Part of us wants to have surgery tomorrow just so that we know and to make sure that we aren’t putting Sammy at risk but since it’s been there since July, it’s hard to think we are, but then again… The other point is we can’t get surgery tomorrow. The soonest we can get in with anyone is in a month. As you can tell we are going back and forth quite a bit on this. As soon as we know more, we’ll post.
In the background of all of this, Sammy is loving school and has already made a lot of friends. He has something new to tell us everyday. We finally got both his hearing aids in this morning. He has been going without them due to a quadruple ear infection (middle and inner) in both ears. He’s worried that they’ll come out when he plays soccer at recess he told me this morning. “Mom, I have to play soccer at recess. I don’t think I can wear these.” Good thing he has his priorities straight. Andy and I play sword fight or Ninja Turtles after we drop Sammy at school. He’s doing very well too. He still doesn’t love his school but we’re looking into a smaller school that we might be able to start in April. Please put Sammy back on your prayer lists. Thanks.
Margot

Topics: Progress Reports | Comments Off on March 2, 2006

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