Hunter LiveStrong: Monday..

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...

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Monday..

Today seemed like a long but quiet day. Hunter had woke up in the middle of the night, about 3 a.m. with a extreme case of the chills. It is one of the side effects of one of the medications that he is on, so he had to get some Demeral to relax and calm down. At that point I was really worried that a fever might follow but so far we have been blessed and that hasn't happen. Today when the results of Hunters counts came in his WBC (White Blood Cells) had gone up from the previous day. When I talked to the doctor she was pretty positive that this means the the Stem Cells have started to take ahold of the bone marrow and that's why they increased. We were told that it wouldn't be until around May 1st till we started to see this, so this is a GREAT thing. Although we will know more tomorrow when we get his counts back to see if they are "still" increasing or what they are doing. Hunter had to get another unit of blood today because his heart rate was a little high and this could be because of his low red blood cells. He also had to start a treatments for his mouth and throat soars. This is done by a nurse that comes in 4x's a day and does a special treatment to help heal these area's quicker. He got 3 treatments today and said that it really does make a difference. There are so MANY things that seem to happen or come up in the coarse of a day. Little things that aren't a big deal and yet little things that turn into a big deal. Day in a day out I watch Hunter go through what he does and there is one thing I know for sure and that is he is ONE AMAZING YOUNG MAN....

Thank you for ALL Blessing us with your friendship, love and support..

The Herrick Family