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...

What is Ewing's Sarcoma and Stem Cell Bone Marrow?

Ewing's sarcoma
http://www.cancerindex.org/ccw/faq/ewings.htm#q1


Stem cell

This was posted on the sidewalk at Tour De France

This was posted on the sidewalk at Tour De France
THANK YOU to Debbi Ortego for doing this for Hunter <3

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

RECENT Updates...

Things have been a little crazy around the Herrick household the last couple of days. It has been filled with doctors appointments, platelet, and blood transfusions. We received a call from Hunters doctor on Sunday evening saying that they didn't believe that the "ICE" chemo was working. They received the recent CT scan and compared it to the old one in October and felt that the tumor has gotten slightly larger instead of shrinking like they were hoping to see. We then had an appointment with the surgeon on Monday and we were told that the surgery was going to be postponed for now. They were going to try to use a different chemo to shrink the tumor and then do the surgery after that. Hunter then had a platelet transfusion. Tuesday we went for our second opinion at City Of Hope, with Dr. Sato. She suggested that we continue with the surgery and had some other suggestions that were very helpful. She's one a few doctors that specializes in Ewings Sarcoma, so it was extremely wonderful to talk to her. After the second opinion Hunter had a blood transfusion scheduled at his doctors office so we were able to talk to his doctor about everything. Dr. Sato was also able to talk to Hunter's doctor and they were able to work out a plan. They decided to try to re-schedule Hunter's surgery and remove the tumor. When the tumor is removed they will look at it and go from there. Hunter had an MRI today, and possibly a blood transfusion tomorrow. We received a call today and surgery is re-scheduled for the 30th of December. We are not sure of the details yet but will learn more as the days progress. It seems as each day, and at times each hour brings us something new. We will do our best to keep everyone informed as we get the details. THANK YOU for all of your continued LOVE, SUPPORT and PRAYERS... May your Christmas holiday be filled with lots of love and memories that will last you a lifetime.

Love to ALL,
The Herrick Family
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1 comment:

  1. UnknownDecember 25, 2009 at 3:24 PM

    Again, with all that is on your plate, thanks so much for the updates. We love you all very, very much. Hunter, you have grace that is beyond compare. Hugs and tons of them to you all. We miss you. xoxoxoxoxoxo

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