On the road again...

Friday, we had a very long day at the doctor's office getting Gavin's port accessed and then we had a long wait at the Childrens' Hospital for day surgery to prepare Gavin for his alomost 2 hour MRI where he was under asethetic the entire time. We had to wait the entire weekend for the call with the results. Although we did find out right away that his Harlequin syndrome was legit as a result of the anesthetic. Good news is it only lasts a few hours.

I wish I had a goose pimple inducing announcement that miraculously Gavin's reisdual tumor was completely, miraculously gone...but I don't have an announcement like that. We got a call around 4 PM from the oncologist's office telling us to be prepared the next morning at 7:30 to be admitted to the hospital for the next 3-4 days for his next round of chemo. The report stated that:

**Warning....VERY technical talk to follow, skip to Impression, if you feel impressed to do so**
"Compared to the MIBG scan of 07/30/11 showing increased uptake at the right supraclavivular area, MRI of the thoracocerviacal spine of 07/27/11, and the preoperative MRI chest of 07/25/11 what is likely port of right jugular catheter results in metalsusceptibility artifact. This and HASTE imaging hampers evaluation. Minor atelectatic change is seen at the posterior lung bases. Previously demonstrated right chest tube has been removed. Small residual area of soft tissue with abmormal enhancement post contrast in the right supraclavivular area incompletely encasing the proximal right vertebral artery just caudal to the thyroid level correlates with the abnormal focus of uptake on MIBG and is similar in apearance since MRI of C-spine on 07/27/11 but more clearly demonstrated on the previous study. The soft tissue thickening along the lateral margin of the right vertebral artery at this level is improved since 07/27/11, but this is difficult to certain. Ultrasound may prove clarification. The area of abmormal enhancement is best demonstrated on T1 axial postcontrast view, page 18 of 20. This measures about 8mm. No further abnormal enhancement is seen. Visualized liver and spleen are unremarkable. Adrenals are not clearly imaged. Normal bone marrow pattern"

**Impression: Small focus of soft tissue thickening with enhancement in the right supraclavicular space partially encompassing the right proximal vertebral artery. This is likely residual neuroblastoma. Appearance is similar or slightly improved since 07/27/11.

So we learned 3 things" 1) The tumor is still there and pretty big. 2) Hospital food really isn't all that bad when Mickey Mouse Clubhouse is on. 3) For us at least, the more chemos you get, the more vomit Mommy gets to clean up!
Luckily, I have a doctorate degree in and therefore speak mumbojumbo, so the first part gives me a bit more information than the impression, but suffice it to say: The tumor is still there, and it is about the same size as before (following the surgery to remove most of the tumor).
The good news is, it is not growing. We will do 2 more rounds of chemo (one more since we just finished one yesterday) and then we will do the MIBG scan that will show if the residual tumor is actually active tumor. As you can see, the tumor that was left was not removed because of it's placement surrounding the vertebral artery and it's proximity to the right carotid artery.
We are all doing fine. Garth Lee is doing well in school and he won his first Jiu Jitsu match! He really likes it and I hope that he sticks with it. Garth is still working like crazy and we are trying to get some maintenance stuff done around the house that has fallen by the wayside. I work this weekend, but we will be getting busy Monday! Isn't it RUDE that people still want to get paid when your kid is sick! Like the bank and the electric company. RUDE! [that is sarcasm for you sensitive folks...sort of]

Thank you everyone for all of your kind gifts and words, and prayers. They are all what have gotten us through this trial. Gavin is so strong and he helps me see the good in everything, but sometimes you seem to believe grown ups more. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart!