I’m so glad all our prayers are working. For Evan having neuroblastoma, we can’t ask for a better possible outcome than it to be classified today as staged 1 and low risk, basically he is now in remission. For now, no additional treatment will be necessary, just some follow ups. In about three or four weeks we will be back to do a CT scan and take some blood work to establish a baseline. Thereafter Evan will have CT scans and blood tests every 3 months for the first year and then they will space them out further. They will further compare his blood to the neuron specific enolase (NSE) which appeared elevated before the surgery. Well, I’m so glad we can take a break for now after going to 22 Dr appts in the last month. We can’t believe it’s only been two weeks since first learned that Evan had a tumor, it feels more like two months or two years. Granted the best thing would have been for none of this to have ever happened, but since it did happen, we couldn’t have been more blessed with this outcome and we feel so fortunate to have such wonderful friends and family like all of you to have helped us through this. Thank you all.

Love,
Deb, Mike, Emma & Evan

mIBG Test Today

We just got home from the mIBG test and just got a call from Dr Wheeler with the preliminary results. Although the results are preliminary, he feels confident that they won't change, which is a good thing since they came back negative. Our prayers have been answered.

We'll meet with Dr Wheeler tomorrow morning to discuss all the results and the follow up scans. No additional treatment should be needed at this point.

Thanks again to all of you for helping us through the past two weeks.

3 more pokes and Pathology Results

The pathology report confirmed today that Evan has (or hopefully had) Neuroblastoma. The good news is the limp node and the bone marrow biopsies were negative and although the tumor was neuroblastoma they’ve termed it as favorable histology, which essentially means that the cancer cells are the less aggressive type.
http://www.cancer.org/docroot/CRI/content/CRI_2_4_3X_How_is_neuroblastoma_staged_31.asp?sitearea (see staging, prognostic markers, tumor grade)

Today Evan received a radioisotope injection for tomorrow’s mIBG scan. This was after the IV team poked him 3 more times. It’s a good thing the third attempt worked, because if it didn’t, the only spot left for them to poke him was his head. Because of this, the doctor changed the orders so that Evan could go home with the IV so he won’t need another IV to put him to sleep for tomorrow’s test. Now we just have to make sure he doesn’t pull it out (we have it wrapped up pretty good).

Tomorrow’s mIBG scan will take about two hours, and hopefully this will be the last test. We will meet with the oncologist team on Thursday to discuss the results of the tests and any treatment if needed. As long as the mIBG test comes back negative, Evan shouldn’t need any additional treatment.

Still no Pathology Results

We talked to Evan's oncologist today. Unfortunately, he still hasn't gotten any results from the pathologist. We're not sure if that's a good sign or a bad sign, or means nothing. We're not going to read anything into this and hope we get it tomorrow. I'll provide an update once we know something.

Thanks again.