Saturday, May 21, 2011

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Drew has been out of the hospital a week today. As I write this, I am overcome with praise as I watch my sweet young man outside with his brothers. He's not able to play, but he can watch:-) We are so thankful; so, so thankful.

He is healing well. His stitches have not dissolved yet, and that is causing him some aggravation. We caught him trying to pull them out himself:-( I know it itches like crazy. He is doing great with his pain tolerance. He hasn't needed anything for pain in 4 days. We are in awe of how the Lord has touched his body. The biopsies thus far have been clean. Drew has a follow-up appointment Monday.

We thank each of you for praying for Drew and will keep the blog updated on Drew's progress and potential chest wall reconstruction surgery in the early fall.

Thursday, May 12, 2011

Surgery Day, May 11th








Surgery was supposed to begin at 8 a.m. today. Because of an emergency surgery on a 3-week-old baby, Drew's surgery didn't start until 10. We were anticipating a 2-hour surgery, and it was right at 2 hours. The surgeon is very, very encouraged by what he found. The "mass" turned out to be mostly water!! The rib had been broken at least 4 times since last July, and was removed completely. It was, as they thought, totally useless in providing support any longer. Everything was sent to the lab for a complete biopsy, but the doctor is very hopeful that nothing is going to be found! He actually said it was the best he could have hoped for! We are rejoicing and literally ready to have a shouting fit!

Drew will have to have the chest tube for likely 2 days. We are hoping to get labs by Friday.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Lord! Thank you to all of you sweet friends for praying!

May 9th

Surgery is scheduled for Wednesday, May 11th.


Dear Lord, my fears assail me. Within, I know You are my God. You hold everything in Your tender hand, and nothing takes You by surprise. And, even in my trembling, , I trust You, Lord. I think of the frantic father so burdened for his child in Mark 9:24:

"And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord I believe; help thou mine unbelief."

Thank you to all of you following this blog for caring about Drew. Your prayers are worth more to us than all the gold in the world.

May 4th

The results of the PET and CT scans are very concerning to us. The "mass" that they biopsied after February's scan is still there, and worse, it is even bigger than it was. Drew's oncologist still thinks that the mass is a result of the refractures of rib #6. And, there it is, as plain as day, a new fracture. But, the pediatric surgeon is not sure that the "hot spot" is just symptomatic of the rib problem. Although it was biopsied in February, the results could be flawed because they only did a needle-guided biopsy at that time. What that means is that the center of this "mass" is not showing any cancer cells; but, a needle biopsy doesn't test the whole mass--only the center. Though Dr. Hajjar (the oncologist) isn't overly-worried, Dr. Thompson (the surgeon) shows more concern. And, that concerns us. For this to be a cancerous tumor, it had to start growing during chemotherapy, and that doesn't make sense. But, the surgeon explained that it could be a different type of tumor or even the same Ewing's tumor but now resistent to that chemo regimen.

They are going to schedule Drew for another surgery. This time to totally remove rib #6. Though we aren't sure how many times he's re-fractured the rib, it is for certain that the rib has been damaged to the point that it is no longer offering any support to his frame, and in fact, with the jagged edges, could possibly puncture a lung if Drew were to fall. While they are removing rib #6, they will take the whole "mass" section and do a regular biopsy to alleviate all our fears.