Finally, Some Good News

We finally got our first piece of good news today. The cancer has not spread to her bone marrow!!! That means survival could possibly be as high as 60-70%!! I never thought I'd get excited about a 60% chance that my daughter will live, but it's better than the 30% that we'd been told. The results of the spinal tap still aren't back, but that's ok for now. The cancer was more likely to have spread to the bone marrow than the spinal fluid.

Abby had a big day on Wednesday. In addition to radiation in the morning, she had her port placed for chemo, her g-tube put in, a double bone marrow aspiration and biopsy and the lumbar puncture. She came through it like a champ, but I didn't expect any less. She slept the whole rest of the day and the night after that, which was a good thing because she ended up being NPO for over 36 hours.

Yesterday afternoon she was finally able to start eating. Before the day was over, she had chowed down on 4 popsicles, some chocolate covered pretzels (Thank you, Giddens family!), and a 3 oz container of ice cream. That's more than she's eaten in nearly 2 weeks combined. They also started her on tube feeds, which eases our mind a lot. We no longer have to be worried about getting nutrition or oral meds into her.

Today will be another big day for Abby. After some conversations with her oncologist and a meeting of the tumor board, we have made the decision to start chemo today. Normally they would recommend waiting because the results of the biopsy are still inconclusive for the type of cancer. However, because the tumor is inside her brain cavity and is putting pressure on her cavernous sinus, it is important to shrink the tumor as quickly as possible.

Please pray that Abby does not have any major side effects from the chemo, that we made the right decision regarding starting chemo, and that the pathologists are able to come to a consensus on the type of tumor that this is. Last of all, please pray for total remission and a long, healthy life for Abby.