This will make all the chemo easy to put in and all the tests easy to take.
Dr. Says...
The chest CT was clear. That is great news!
Checked in
We checked in at Loma Linda at 1:30. Heart echo is this afternoon. He will get his port in the morning. So no chemo until sometime tomorrow.
Weekend news
Not much to report. Blake had some friends over Saturday and they had a good time together. We've had so many people supporting and encouraging us.
Blake's body doesn't seem to like pain killers much, so on Saturday afternoon we switched to just Motrin. This leaves in him more pain when he needs to move about. But it also means he's not so groggy and isn't suffering some of the other side affects that come with more serious pain-killers. He slept for 12 hours on Saturday night (with Motrin every 4 hours), so clearly the Motrin is doing the job.
Monday morning starts chemo. We don't have a time yet. We know that we'll report to the 4800 floor of Loma Linda Hospital. And that he'll receive an echo, an EKG and have a port implanted in his chest for the administration of the chemo. He'll be in the hospital for 3 or 4 days.
Thanks for your prayers. Every moment is different, but the peace and love of God is real and present.
Thanks
Many, many thanks for all the messages of care and concern. And for the many, many prayers. So many of you have offered so much. It's hard to know what to say and what to do. I think we'll know more what we need as head a few more miles down this road. In the mean time, again, many thanks.
If you want to help with meals, Sharon Strum is organizing this. If you don't know Sharon, shoot me an email.
Blake got the chest CT today and a hearing test. The CT was to do a thorough check to make sure the cancer is not in the lungs. And the hearing test is to establish a baseline. Apparently chemo can effect hearing and the audiologist said we'd be seeing him from time to time during the chemo to check on Blake's ears. We don't expect any results from the CT this weekend.
Saturday and Sunday have no medical appointments. This feels like a great relief.
Bio!
Blake is 16. He's a sophomore at Redlands High. He loves origami, digital animation and creating new things. He has a good heart for God and is often noted for his servant's heart.
Blake so much loves to create things, he is very frustrated to be woozy from the pain killers. He likes to have his mind clear for thinking and making. Although he hasn't added much to the channel lately, you can see some of his video creations on his YouTube Channel.
Diagnosis
Well, so much for waiting. Mike made a phone call or two and and the pediatric oncologist (Dr. Bedros) talked to the pathologist. We saw Dr. Bedros tonight.
Blake has an osteogenic sarcoma. This is a type of bone cancer. He will undergo some tests tomorrow. Most importantly, they will do a chest CT to make sure the cancer hasn't moved there. If it hasn't, this cancer has a 90% cure rate!
Monday morning he will be admitted for 3 to 4 days of chemotherapy. He will get chemo for the next four months. Then they will operate and remove what's left. Followed by some more chemo.
In about a month, he joins me in the hair-free club. :-]
Surgery day
Today was the biopsy. In short, it went well and now we wait. It will take 3 to 5 business days to find out if it is an infection or some form of cancer.
Blake was in pain in the morning, as he stopped taking pain pills at midnight and the procedure wasn't until 11am. And he was in pain immediately after the procedure. The pain meds that he was on initially seemed to agree with him, so the doctor gave another round of those at a higher dosage. Please pray that we can find the right rhythm and amount and that his pain can be controlled. He is sleeping soundly this afternoon, which is great. When he wakes up, we'll start medicating and see how it goes.
Dr. Zuckerman did want us to set up an appointment with an oncologist for next week. That way if we do get a cancer diagnosis, things are already in place and ready to go.
Thanks for the many prayers and support. Feel free to use the comments or email.
Radioactive
This morning Blake got a full body bone scan. This involves getting a shot that makes you radioactive after a few hours. Then they scan your whole body. We were quite disappointed that the radioactivity gave him no super powers and he didn't glow a nice bright green. We are VERY excited to hear that the scan showed no other "hot spots". His shin lights up like a sparkler on the scan, but fortunately no where else. This is good news. Whatever is happening is still just in the one place.
The bummer news of the day is that his pain is on the rise. It woke him up at 4am and has been increasing through the day. We got a prescription for a stronger pain medication and are still working on figuring out timing and dosage so his pain is manageable.
You can be praying that we can figure out his pain management and that we can figure out how to time his pain pills with his procedure in the morning.
I've heard that a few people are having trouble with adding comments. If you'd like to send messages to Blake or anyone else in the family, feel free to send me an email: mrmathman@gmail.com
We ended up being able to see Dr. Zuckerman this afternoon. He was very friendly. He will take a biopsy on Wednesday. He said that until the biopsy is done, he won't know what the problem is. He said that something is "eating away" at Blake's bone and has moved into the soft tissue also. The bone scan on Tuesday will check and see if things have spread anywhere else or if the problem is only at Blake's shin.
Wednesday's biopsy will be out-patient and Blake will be all the way out for the procedure.
Comments are open. Feel free to say hi on any of these posts.
Thanks for the love, support and prayer.
Schedule
Blake will have his bone scan on Tuesday morning and will meet with Dr. Zuckerman, the orthodpedic oncologist, on Thursday afternoon.
Prayer
Last night a group of friends prayed over Blake for an hour. It was very encouraging. Thanks to all who came, it was kind of last minute.
We appreciate all the prayer support. Our God is good.
MRI
Blake had an MRI this afternoon and the amazing Dr. Mike Coen got the results read right away (thanks Dale Broome!). Blake does have a tumor in his left shin. He will need a biopsy before we know what kind of tumor it is. Mike will be helping us work with LomaLinda so that the specialist there can make progress quickly.
He is going to receive a bone scan tomorrow (Monday) at some point. He should also find out how quickly he can see the specialist.
The beginning
Blake received X-rays for a painful shin on Friday. It was clear even to our novice eye that there was something cloudy in the picture around the point of pain. Our good friend Mike Coen called in a radiology consult. He confirmed that the area didn't look good. Mike immediately took they following steps of action:
Blood work was drawn on Friday afternoon. Mike called that evening with the results. Everything was pretty normal. Which is good. His white-blood cell count is not elevated. His infection markers were slightly elevated, but only by a little. Mike also checked some of Blake's lymph nodes and none were swollen. That is good news.
A MRI will take place Sunday evening.
A bone scan will be done on Monday.
Blake was referred to Dr. Zuckerman at Loma Linda. He is an orthodpedic oncologist. Blake will see him either Monday or Thursday next week.
All your prayers are much appreciated.