Hunter LiveStrong: January 2010

THE BEGINNING

January of 2007 we found a small lump on Hunters back located just under the skin, between the shoulder blades. The doctor told us it was a fatty tumor or sebaceous cyst, and it would get bigger, then smaller and go away. If it grew, or bothered him we could have it removed. June 27th it was removed in surgery and on July 3 we were back for a check up of the area and were told he had, cancer, Ewing's Sarcoma PNET (of the soft tissue surrounding the bone). A year of Chemo was started, which consisted being in the hospital every 21 days for 6 or 3 days at a time. He underwent a second surgery in October 2007 to clear the margins. On May 27th of 2008 he finished chemo and was "Cancer Free".

He was scanned and examined on regular intervals and his last clear scans were on August 19th 2009. October 28th 2009 we noticed a lump in the original tumor location. After a biopsy on October 29th, we were told the next day that the cancer has returned. The central line was put back in his chest on November 2nd and a series of tests have begun to determine the extent of the disease. Please view "posting" dated November 7, 2009 for treatment plan...

Thursday, January 28, 2010

HOME From CHEMO!

We are "finally" home from Hunter's third round of Chemo. This round was an extremely tough one for Hunter, and he is VERY HAPPY to be home. The weeks ahead of us will be filled with blood and platelet transfusions along with doctor appointments. He is scheduled to go back into Chemo around the 12th of February, BUT it will all depend on his counts and "IF" he is ready. It could be delayed by a couple of days until his body will be ready for it again. Then he will have his LAST SIX day round of Chemo at Kaiser before he begins his Stem Cell Replacement at City of Hope.

Thank you for ALL of your LOVE, SUPPORT and PRAYERS,
The Herrick Family

Friday, January 22, 2010

CHEMO Begins Again...

Hunter is back in the hospital beginning Chemo again. He will be there for six days (which means he will get out late Wednesday night) and remain to get the ICE Chemo. There were many discussions back and forth from Hunter's doctors at Kaiser and his City Of Hope doctors and they decided that the ICE Chemo would be the best Chemo for him to remain on with a few minor adjustments. He will be receiving 2 rounds of Chemo before he begins his lengthly stay at City of Hope for his Stem Cell replacement and Chemo.

Hunter's back has healed well and just got the O.K. to go without dressing on it. Hunter's stay at the hospital can get boring as it's a long stay, visitors are always welcome, especially since it takes his mind off of what's taking place.

As always THANK YOU for all of your love, continued support and prayers.

THE HERRICK FAMILY

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

HOME From Surgery!

We are FINALLY home from a week long stay in the hospital. Hunter is TRULY AMAZING and is getting stronger and stronger everyday. It will take 2 to 3 weeks before he will be able to do a lot of the simple things that we all take for granted, like opening or closing a door, lifting his arms, or anything that has to do with moving too much, too sudden or too quickly. Each day he is able to move a little more and a little better. The surgeons and the plastic surgeons were extremely happy with the surgery and out come of the skin graph. We are still waiting for the results to come in from the pathologists. Hopefully that will be in soon. We want to THANK everyone for all of their love, support and PRAYERS. We are truly blessed to have so many wonderful people in our lives.....

Love,
The Herrick Family