Test Results

Our doctor called us early this evening and gave us the best news ever, all Jack's labs, urine and bone marrow results look good! Hooray!! 

On the MIBG scan, the radioactive marker uptake did show up in the liver. But compared too the CT scan, the doctor isn't overly concerned. The plan is to keep an eye on the it through labs and make sure the liver is doing ok. 

His eko-gram did show his heart wasn't releasing all the blood it pumped in, so we will redo those tests. Fingers crossed it was just anxiety right before the surgery, Jack was pretty upset and squirmy while they were doing the test. (It's like having an ultra sound done on your heart, and there isn't much fat on him. Any sort of pressure on his ribs in not the most comfortable.) 

We have the thumbs up for his central line to be removed, which Jack says he wants it done before Christmas. Those weekly dressing changes stir up quite the drama, so it will be one less thing to worry about. Plus, I won't have to flush his line every night and worry about the dressing getting wet when he takes a shower. Another hooray!! 

We go back up to Children's the second week in January for some more labs and a check up. When his central line is removed, clinic visits will involve a poke for labs. He's had pokes in the hospital before and knows those phlebotomists are like rock star with a needle. (What a job!)

We are planning on Jack going back to school after the Christmas break. Slowly easing into the routine of school and hopefully it won't be to overwhelming for him. He hasn't been to school for a year and a half and he is pretty excited to go back. (Some days he is and others he has declared that I will homeschool him for the rest of his elementary days. Nope, not happening.) We are planning on going for a visit tomorrow and a few days next week for a few hours.

So tonight we are all doing the happy dance around the house. We have been anxiously awaiting the test results, which take a bit longer because the bone marrow and urine samples are sent elsewhere for testing. Plus there has been talk back and forth between doctors, nuclear radiologists and cardiologists regarding test results. Our doctor thought by Tuesday we should know more. Nothing. Add another 48 hours onto that and our brains were thinking of every possible scenario. The good, bad and the ugly. Whew!    

What now? Moving forward, Jack will have routine clinic visits and labs to make sure his blood counts are still increasing back to the "healthy child" range. Any decrease in counts is a flag that something is going on. We have asked lots of questions about the Neuroblastoma coming back, is there a time frame, how will we know, how is his immune system and so many more. There is no one answer, except we just keep an close eye on Jack for signs and go from there. We knew there are no concrete answers and no rules apply when it comes to cancer. We watch and wait and hopefully it's ugly face doesn't reappear back into Jack's and our lives. I've had my fill! 

We are thankful for:

- well, it's a no brainer-------> CLEAN SCANS! 

- and many other things. Tonight we are emotional drained, but walking around with huge smiles on our face.