10.00am – Christian is not reacting very well to the chemotherapy. One of the side effects is a sore jaw, and this seems to be making him uncomfortable when he eats and drinks. The doctors were a bit concerned so we brought him to St. George’s Hospital last night and Claudia and he stayed the night. He has been on a drip to rehydrate him and we are now waiting for more news. 10.55am – We are taking him back to the Royal Marsden for further checks.
Good News and Bad
(Very) Good news – CT scan confirms no spreading of cancer into lungs or, in fact, anywhere else.(Slightly) Bad news – biopsy shows sign of muscle in the tissue, this means it is either a variant of Wilms tumor (fetal rhabdomyoblastic) or it is a completely different cancer (rhabdomyosarcoma). This other cancer would be treated in the same way as a Wilm’s tumor so Kathy Pritchard-Jones suggests we start on the chemotherapy straight away. It would be very unusual for rhabdomyosarcoma not to have spread out of the kidney so Kathy still feels that the Wilm’s tumor is the far more likely problem. They will do more analysis of the biopsy to help decide. Christian had his first lot of Chemotherapy at the Royal Marsden at about 5.00pm.
An Infection
Went back to St. George’s because a urine infection had been detected from Monday’s tests. Antibiotics administered intravenously and orally. Christian a bit niggly today…
Posted in Blog, Christian's Story. Tagged with Christian's Story, Infection, St George's Hospital, The first round.
Biopsy
Keith Holmes performs a biopsy at St. George’s and fits a portacath (a direct access to the bloodstream for drugs and removal of blood). Christian woke up a bit upset but was happy for most of the afternoon.
Posted in Blog, Christian's Story. Tagged with Christian's Story, Keith Holmes, Portacath, St George's Hospital, The first round.
First Visit to The Royal Marsden
We took him to the Marsden where we met Kathy Prichard-Jones, she is the professor of pediatric oncology and happens to run a large team of researchers who research Wilms tumors. Wilms tumors have been “curable” for 20 years or so and 90% of children apparently make a full recovery. The treatment is chemotherapy for a few weeks, followed by surgery to remove the kidney and growth followed by more chemotherapy. He would need to have a biopsy and a CT scan to confirm that it is Wilms tumor and that it hasn’t spread anywhere else (unlikely from the fact that he is acting happy).
Posted in Blog, Christian's Story. Tagged with Christian's Story, Kathy Pritchard Jones, The first round, The Royal Marsden.
The awful news
Christian had a lump in his tummy so we took him to Jake McKinnon, the pediatrician who originally diagnosed his reflux a year ago. He was immediately concerned and we took him for an ultrasound and an x-ray which seemed to confirm a Wilms tumor in the kidney. Blood and urine tests were taken. Keith Holmes is a pediatric surgeon who happened to be consulting at the same surgery on that day and he agreed that this was the most likely scenario and referred us to the Royal Marsden Hospital.
Posted in Blog, Christian's Story. Tagged with cancer, Christian's Story, The first round, tumor, Wilm's Tumour.
