It's been about 6 months since Christopher and I made the Journey to NH. Hard to believe we not only made it up here but actually made it through (a relatively mild) winter...well for NH anyway!
I have not been very good about updates I am sorry to say...mostly because medically there has not been much to report...which is a good thing!
I mentioned in the last blog that we were to meet with his oncologist and one of the surgeons from Children's Hospital after his Chest CT was reviewed at a local surgery conference.
As has been the case for the last 6 months there has been no significant change to his scans therefore they do not wish to do another invasive lung surgery . The way the surgeon explained it to us is getting to the spots on his lungs (which are mainly centered in the chest) is like a chip shot. Unless he has a direct shot he feels that because the lesions are so small a.) Once they go in surgically and are relying on palpating the lungs they may miss the spots they saw on the scans and in attempting to remove the disease they take out unnecessary tissue and b.) it is better to leave well enough alone at this point and given his health and the risks involved with doing an open thoracotomy.
Chris is scanned every 3 months and is due for his next Chest CT the first week of May.
He is definitely feeling much better off the chemo and aside from fatigue and some shortness of breath he has been in good shape. He did experience the effects of his weakened Heart muscle (caused by heavy doses of one of the chemo drugs) when he ventured back into snowboarding this past winter.
Other than than that he goes to school regularly and even made honor roll despite the amount of school he had missed!! (A very proud mother notes!)
He has been adjusting very well to the New Hampshire lifestyle. He was hoping for more snow and the chance to do more snowboarding, try sledding and snowmobiling and get a real taste for a new England winter but I am happy to say we did not get enough snow this year. Whew.
He was very fortunate to get to go to FL with the Dana Farber crew -Thanks to the Red Sox and Jimmy Fund- and had a most excellent time. A truly wonderful opportunity for a very special and courageous group of teenagers.
In the next blog...as this one is getting quite lengthy I will put up some pictures of the new leg!
I will also attempt to be more timely with the results of his next set of scans and keep you updated on what Christopher is up to in general... as always there is never a dull moment!
I am thankful that we made it through the winter and look forward to more good health and adventures in the spring.
Thank you for taking an interest in Christopher's ongoing battle with cancer. The kind thoughts and prayers are priceless.
Much peace to all, Patty
The following are a few of the photos from the past few months:
The photo below was found in Twitter by Uncle Mike. It is from a trip with the teens from Dana Farber to Ft. Myers, FL where they had the opportunity to see a game at the new spring training park and meet some of the players.
Chris did an awesome job hitting the slopes on his snowboard for the first time since his amputation.
Here he was able to hike about 3 miles...again thanks to the new leg being much more forgiving than the old prosthesis.
Though he didn't get to see as much snowfall as he would have liked, he did get to experience winter in New England.
Shoveling is not as easy as it looks!
Here he was able to hike about 3 miles...again thanks to the new leg being much more forgiving than the old prosthesis.
Though he didn't get to see as much snowfall as he would have liked, he did get to experience winter in New England.
Shoveling is not as easy as it looks!
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