Had Meeting with Pediatric Surgeon Today

We met with Dr.  Stockman, a pediatric surgeon,  today.   He is the same surgeon that operated on Brody in June of 2010 to remove his tumor before.   He told us today that basically he is not able to perform an operation at this time to remove all or part of Brody's tumor.   He said that his concern was that the tumor is wrapped around the ileac artery and ileac vein providing the supply and return of blood to the left leg.   And also the tumor is wrapped around the ureter on the left side and is generally very large and in very close proximity to many vital structures.   He stated he was "thankful to the Lord" that they were able to get Brody through the surgery in June of 2010 without any major problems and that this time it would be even more difficult.   He was concerned that operating could cause more harm than good and stated that his experience has demonstrated that outcome/survival for recurrent rhabdomyosarcoma are poor and that surgical intervention in his experience has not improved this.   He stated that those are his concerns but you cannot just give-up either.   He said he would need to converse with our oncologist more to better be able to make a decision as to whether or not surgical intervention truely has a chance of helping Brody.   He also said that before performing a surgery to remove some or part of Brody's tumor that he would like Brody to get an internal stent for his left urterer rather than external one he has right now (his nephrostomy tube and bag).   He said that it would make it easier for him during the surgery to remove the tumor away from the left urterer without damaging it if this was in place.   He also said he would like Brody to get another round of chemo and get another CT scan done at the same point in the cycle to have another comparison CT scan to better determine if the tumor is continuing to grow still or if it has regressed or halted.   He would not want to do surgery if it is staying the same/not gaining ground.   When I feel Brody's tumor,  it does feel smaller to me than what it did the day we had our last CT scan.  

We do not yet have any second opinions from surgery group at Sloan Kettering.   We will seek a second opinion but do agree with Dr. Stockman right now that we should not yet operate.   We will still have other surgeons look at Brody's case though in case we do get to that point.  

I talked to Brody's oncologist today after talking with Dr. Stockman and he said he would get the ball rolling on getting Brody scheduled for placing the internal stent.   He said we would not have to hold any of his chemo for this procedure (thank goodness!!!).   He said he would also order the CT scan for same timeframe in chemo regimen as when we had the last one performed.   Then,  he and Dr.  Stockman would both review whether surgery would be necessary or not after the scan is complete.  

Brody will be very happy to get rid of his nephrostomy tube and bag.   This would mean he could get in the water again once he is healed from this being removed.   He says he gets to pick the waterpark!   This is one procedure Brody is definitely looking forward to.   He loves to be in the water.  He's very excited about the possibility of being able to do this again.