One month since infusion!

Today is the one month mark since Aaron received his cells, and things are going ok. He is still not eating, but last night he did taste about a teaspoon of pudding and did alright with that. He will be on the i.v. nutrition for another week and then if the nausea is gone we may switch back to the ng tube. He just is still dealing with nausea and diarrhea multiple times throughout the day and night, and he is getting pretty tired of that. At his clinic appointment yesterday they said he looked as expected or better for where he was at, so that was reassuring. He did need platelets, and on Thursday he will get a gamma globulin protein infusion to give his immune system a boost. I think I need one of those to shake this lingering cold!

Today we met with Dr. Watanabe to get the details on the radiation, and here is the rundown. Aaron's cell kill of the part of the tumor that was in the bone was only 50%. This dropped his cure rate by 10-12%. The studies indicate that for these kids doing the local radiation then brings that prognosis up approximately 10%, which leaves him about where we started with his prognosis. That statistic is a 65-70% chance that he will be no evidence of disease at five years out. The research indicates that if we skip the radiation that would then turn into a 53-63% chance, which is obviously a lot worse! So, our next step is to see the radiation oncologist here and then to get another opinion to see if there is a hospital with a type of radiation that will kill any remaining cancer cells but be less devastating to the mobility and graft. It doesn't seem that proton radiation is recommended for this, but again a second opinion is in order. If no other option is available then we will start at the end of May and go to Good Samaritan (where I was born, incidentally) Monday through Friday for treatments for two months. He will receive 40 treatments to achieve the desired dose.

On a happy note the garage sale was a big success and lots of fun. We had such wonderful donations and all of the people that volunteered to make it happen were just amazing! I can never move because I have such wonderful neighbors on this street! Erica also still has tickets available for the raffle, and new prizes have been added so I think we may have a secondary drawing a week after the iPod drawing. If you think you may be able to sell some tickets please email Erica at erica.shubin@gmail.com. A big thanks to those who have already taken tickets!

Please pray that we get good information and make the best choices for Aaron's future. Please also pray that our pool care business flourishes now that the weather is warming up and we do more marketing.

Thanks,
Barbara