Saturday

(Note-- I know this is redundat but I wrote this yesterday but wanted Trish to read it before I posted it so saved a draft of it-- she didn't know I had written this but thought I'd post it anyway)

Brody had his scheduled Chemo today and I (Bill) spoke to Brody's oncologist this morning. He had talked to the surgeon who we consulted with on Monday and they are in agreement that Brody's best option would be for him to have "De-bulking" surgery--  this is to remove as much of the tumor as they can so the chemo has less to work on and to give Brody more room in his abdomen. That surgery is scheduled for Feb 28th, so he did get his Bevacizumab this morning.

From everything that Trish has researched, this is his best option at this point. I am so thankful Trish is a pharmacist and at least has a grasp or how the chemo drugs work and how to "wade" through all the results you get when you try to look up info on the internet.

We are both excited and anxious about this. We obviously want this tumor out of him, but we are anxious because we will need to withhold his Bevacizumab for 4 weeks before and after this surgery and we are fearful that the tumor will grow significantly if it is withheld and maybe cause other issues.... it may seem weird to most but you do take comfort in getting chemotherapy (even when it was as toxic like those Brody had previously)-- I do recall feeling unsettled when Brody finished his initial treatment 2 years ago because we were not longer being proactive with his treatment. And that chemo did take quite a toll on Brody (severe nausea, GI issues, weight loss, etc). The chemo he is on now is alot less toxic and as a result he feels perfectly fine 99.9% of the time and other then the tube out his back, he looks and feels perfectly healthy.

The plan currently is to have a CT done next week to see if the tumor has grown in last month (hopefully none). Then just before the surgery to they want to install stints in his ureters (both) so the surgeon can feel them and not damage them during the surgery. Apparently the stints they will use can be uncomfortable so they want to wait til just before the surgery to do this and then remove them soon after with hopefully good urine flow through both-- at that point he can get his nephrostomy tube removed.

Anyway... that's where we stand now.

(the above was written yesterday-- below is from Today)

As many of you may know, Geordi was in Cubscouts last year-- Jaden was not interested in it last year and Brody was too young. Since the boys are being homeschooled, we thought they needed to spend at least some time with kids their own age so we signed Brody and Jaden up earlier this month. Neither of them have even been to a Den meeting yet and their first event happened to be the Pinewood Derby today--- we worked pretty hard on the boys cars the past week or so to get them ready. They competed against boys in each of their Den's (Geordi is a Weblos I, Jaden is a Wolf, Brody is a Tiger)-- The boys were very competitive (it was close) and coincidentally-- each boy placed 3rd in Speed in their Den's... the boys had fun playing with their friends when they weren't racing-- Both boys new several of the kids in their den from school last year so. Trish's parents and brother came up to watch and boys had a really good time.

I guess thats about it for now....

Bill