In the month of December, Jonas had developed a dry cough. Our radiologist said that his his lung could detect a mass in there and was trying to cough it out. (Which, of course, it could not. If only you could just cough out a tumor.) The largest of tumors in this lungs is on the right main bronchial tube. Doctors told us that because of its framework along the bronchial tube it cannot be removed without removing the entire lung, which is not an option. There is such a thing as a lung transplant, but cancer patients are not a good risk and, as I understand, cannot get one even if they wanted to. About two weeks ago Jonas completed 15 daily rounds of radiation to just that tumor in his right lung. His radiologist says that she expects to see a very measurable success. We think so, too. The cough was all but gone by time we got to the last 3 or 4 radiation treatments. This tells us that the tumor has shrunk considerably.
By the end of December we also recieved our final answer from Children's Mercy Hospital -- that they would not even be considering Jonas for the clinical trial he was elligible for. I'm still trying to process it all and I may post more about it here later, but let me bring you up to speed from there. We decided to enroll Jonas in the trial at a different hospital and by the time we had gotten all our paperwork to them, the trial had closed...nationally. So, we won't be getting in on that trial. It's too bad, really. Jonas had develped a great sense of hope with the thought of this trial. And sometimes, hope is all you need.
Now we need to get back to chemotherapy that will treat ALL of his cancer systemically. Before we can proceed he will need to have a full set of scans to tell us just where his cancer progression stands. Scans are scheduled for tomorrow.
Thank you to everyone who helped us get through Christmas. It was a special one.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UKJLsOe5rM
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11 years ago