Hunter LiveStrong: First Week HOME..

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...

Sunday, March 21, 2010

First Week HOME..

Hunter's first week home started off a little rough for everyone! Hunter had his normal doctor's appointment on Monday and when he went to this they felt something on the outside of his scar. They really weren't sure what it was but they knew that it was swollen and that it wasn't there before he had gotten sick this last time with pneumonia. The next step would be to take an MRI to get a better look at it and see what it was. They scheduled an MRI for first thing on Tuesday morning. Tuesday afternoon we received a call from the doctor and she told us that there was "something" there but she really wasn't sure what it was? She knows that it was bigger from the previous MRI that was taken in January. The problem was that Hunter had such a MAJOR surgery on his back to remove the first tumor that it still isn't fully healed. This made it hard for her to know exactly what it was. Our biggest fear was that a new tumor was growing. She wanted Hunter to do a PET scan the following morning to get a better look so that she can see exactly what was going on. So, Wednesday morning Hunter went in for his PET scan and needless to say WE didn't sleep much, if any. On Wednesday afternoon we received a call from the doctor and she told us that the area is clean..THANK YOU GOD. What this means is that the area did not light up, she knew that certain areas would light up due to the surgery but the "area of concern" was not lighting up. Most importantly..it wasn't a new tumor!!! She believes that it could be muscle coming back together, veins or something to that sort due the extensive surgery he had at the end of December. There were no words that could express the weight that was lifted when we received that phone call. This time we cried for joy!! We took Hunter out to celebrate that night and the rest of the week has been great! Hunter is getting stronger and feeling better. His counts are continuing to go in the right direction and he is starting to eat great!

We will have a Doctor's appointment this week, but as of now we are scheduled to start City of Hope (Stem Cell Replacement) on April 11th. We will keep you updated as things progress.

THANK you for all of your LOVE, SUPPORT and PRAYERS,
The Herrick Family