Pathology Results are In

Conculsion: Neuroblastoma

While this is not the news for which we were hoping, we feel having the mass out of the pelvis gives Emmah a better springboard from which to fight.

Emmah made a second trip to the O/R yesterday to have her finicky port re-positioned (it is working much better now) and to have a bone marrow aspirate. Today, Saturday, she is scheduled for a bone scan. On Wednesday comes an MIBG scan, which is specifically used to highlight areas of activity involving neuroblastoma. We have our fingers crossed that the results from both tests will be unremarkable, similar to when she was diagnosed. This would be the silver lining in what has been a daunting week.

Emmah is up and moving more now and the Dr. offered up that she might be able to come home after the bone scan. I would have to say that Emmah was not nearly as excited at the prospect of coming home this time around as she was after the month long stay Aug 2006. Seems to have something to do with the noise level here at Camp Gudeman along with the bothersome issue of little hands getting into one's stuff. Apparently the hospital offers peace and quiet and security to belongings, which to this pre-teen are of considerable concern. Needless to say, we are hoping to reach a compromise with Emmah.

Please keep those positive thoughts and prayers coming. We are true believers in a multi-disciplinary approach to healing.

3 Days and Counting

Well, it has been three days since Emmah's surgery and we are still waiting for the pathology results. The surgery was more involved than anticipated, thus Emmah's recovery is more involved than anticipated. The surgeon did a fair amount of "rummaging" around Emmah's insides in an effort to verify that nothing was left behind before closing.

The goal is to get Emmah up and moving today. She is still on a diet of clears until the Drs. see evidence of her bowels getting back into the game. Before she can get up and moving she has to lose the catheter. In order to lose the catheter she has to lose the epidural. In order to lose the epidural her platelets need to get to a more respectable level. Thus, we are hoping that the latest blood draw will enable us to start this chain of events.

Emmah was pretty quiet yesterday. She did offer up a few token smiles at my request, but the real smiles came when her friend Autumn called. Thanks, Autumn! It made this mom so happy to see Emmah laugh ... we need to get those endorphins going!

We are hoping that the Drs. will be able to share the pathology results with us today. It is hard to make any sort of plan until we know these details. In the meantime, we continue to focus on recovery.

Today marks a week already since the emergency room visit. Thanks to everyone for all the support that has enabled us to juggle it all and get to this point. As always, PKEIYTAP!

John Lennon Summed it up Well

Life is what happens to you when you're busy making other plans.

The pretty-much-back-to-normal daily grind came to a screeching halt Thursday night when a trip to the local Emergency Room with Emmah revealed that the pains she was experiencing were not due to a urinary tract infection as was the case last fall. Instead, the pain was attributable to a 10cm mass located in her pelvis, which was putting pressure on her bladder and kidneys.

With that information in hand, she was admitted and transferred back to Hope Children's Hospital the next day. After reviewing the CT scan, we were informed by Emmah's oncologist and the pediatric surgeon that that mass did in fact appear to be resectable. Consequently, she was put on the surgery schedule for Monday (2/23). We are hopeful that the procedure will be as straightforward as has been suggested (i.e., no surprises upon entry).

Then comes the long wait for the pathology results, which will determine the next step in the process. Depending on timing, these could be available tomorrow, or possibly Wednesday.

We are trying to take it a day at a time while keeping the faith. As always, PKEIYTAP.

Happy Birthday

So, this is the first posting of the new year and looking at the date today, it being the 9th of February, that means only one thing.

It's Lyndsey's Birthday today... she's turned the mighty 

4

...still keeping it on one hand