New Diagnosis

Brody's oncologist has heard back information from Dr. H. Shimada.  He is still waiting to talk to him (Dr. Shimada) this afternoon for further information and direction.  Our oncologist expects to talk to Bill and I again today after another conversation with Dr. Shimada. 

 

But based on the information they have so far, it is now believed that Brody does not have Neuroblastoma after all.  Instead, they think it is Rhabdomyosarcoma.  It is another type of solid malignant tumor which fortuantely has a better prognosis than Neuroblastoma.  Expected survival rates of up to 70% for his stage vs. somewhere between 25-50% for Neuroblastoma tumor of the size tumor Brody has.  Here is a copy of a link that can give you much more info on rhabdomyosarcoma.

 

http://www.acor.org/ped-onc/diseases/rhabdo.html

 

Brody's blood cell counts are looking much better today.  He's recovered well from his first round of chemo.  The chemo round that Brody has already been through is not as effective at treating rhabdomyosarcoma as regimens normally used for that type of tumor.  The first round has not shrunk his tumor very much but has gotten a little smaller.  His next round of chemo will start on Monday using agents known to be much more effective at shrinking rhabdomyosarcoma.  His oncologist says that these types of tumors generally respond very quickly to the chemo regimen they plan to use on Monday. 

 

Today Brody is feeling pretty good.  He looks more alert than he has and has been eating oatmeal with whole milk, cookie crisp cereal in whole milk, and orange flavored Boost Breeze juice box drink (has lots of calories per volume and 9 grams protein and vitamin fortified).  Brody has been busy playing MarioKart on Wii today.  He's getting really good at it.  He'll probably enjoy beating his big brothers at the game soon.  He's definitely smoking Mommy. 

 

Brody's oncologist wants to try to get Brody home for the weekend before he will need to return for chemo on Monday.  Today they are clamping his nephrostomy tube again and gradually increasing increments of time to test if they will be able to remove it before Brody returns home.  Each time they unclamp it they measure the flow of urine into the tube/bag.  If it is greater than 15ml then they will need to leave it unclampled and leave the neprostomy tube in place.  So far, they had it clamped for an hour and then unclampled it; 10ml of urine flowed into the bag.  Right now it is being clamped for 2 hours before they will unclamp again.  Even if they are not able to remove the neprostomy tube, they still plan to let Brody go home for the weekend and go over a plan with Bill and I on how to take care of the tube and what to do if it is dislodged etc.  I really hope the tumor has shrunk enough to be able to take it out.  It really limits what Brody is able to do and he really hates the thing.  And, it is definite infection risk. 

 

We'll be sure to post more info after our next talk with the oncologist.