ENT Appointment

Yesterday was our appointment with the ear, nose and throat doctor. I think it's funny that just before Christmas I told my sister that I don't "do" the Kenwood area and this week alone I was there twice!  The PET scan was at Jewish hospital and the ENT doctor was across the street from Jewish. First thought walking onto the office....WOW the waiting room is small!  There were a ton of chairs in not a lot of space...yet those chairs were very squishy! We got called back to the room and about 30 minutes later the Dr came in. I had expected him to be older, but he seemed close to us in age.  Dr. Manders looked at the scans we brought and looked in Jason's mouth before sitting back to talk with us.

Dr. Manders idea of treatment would be surgery first then radiation and chemo. The surgery he speaks of is a MAJOR surgery.  He would remove 2/3 of Jason's tongue and take a piece from his arm to build a "flap" to replace the large removed piece. This flap would have no muscle so it is more cosmetic than anything.  Talking and eating will be very difficult!  At first they would trake him because his tongue would be too swollen to breath and he would also have the feeding tube.  He would eventually be able to talk but it would be with a very heavy lisp. As scary as this surgery seems....Dr Manders says he can remove the entire cancer infested area then the radiation and chemo is a precaution to be sure all cancer is gone.  Jason will also need to have lymph nodes removed from his neck since one has a small amount of cancer in it.

Now, we are a bit at a loss.  This was a shock to hear and we have to decide which way we want to go.  We can do surgery first or wait and do it last with the possibility that radiation and chemo will eliminate the cancer.  I'm not a doctor so I don't know the ins and outs of all this....but if there is a chance to eliminate 1 step from above why wouldn't we want to take that route? I worry that the ENT guy just wants to cut! With that being said we are going to get back in with our radiologist and oncologist as soon as we can to discuss this with them. This is a HUGE decision and I'm freaking about it!  How do we know what is best? How do we know we are making the right choice?

Yesterday I had my melt down...first BIG one so far.  Jason came up and cried with me....I love him so much!  I woke up this morning and said to myself before I got out of bed, "Today will be better!  No pity parties only steps forward!"  Then I logged on to Facebook and saw a post that broke my heart!  A good friend of mine from my High School days is dealing with cancer also.  His daughter Annabel who is just 8 months old is in the hospital. They were running tests to find out the cause of her discoloration around her eyes.  Upon doing the MRI they found out that she has cancer!  Here is a bit from his post "Anabel was diagnosed with stage 4 neuroblastoma cancer.  There is a large mass in her abdomen and it has spread to her liver, bone marrow, and her skull, which is what is causing the bruising/discoloration of her eyelids.  She was admitted to the Seattle Children's Cancer Care Center today (Friday) and will begin treatment shortly. At this point we don't know much more than what I've already told you. Anabel is scheduled for her biopsy tomorrow where they will remove part of the mass from her abdomen for genetic profiling and further testing to determine how advanced the cancer is.  We're trying to stay positive but the oncologist that was working with us today says that it's likely that the cancer is advanced, which makes treatment much harder."

Please keep sweet Annabel in your thoughts also!  Cancer is such an ugly disease and I hope they find a cure soon!  Thanks for all your support and prayers, we have our lows....but we are ready to evict cancer FOR GOOD!