Surgery

Mom here...

We met with Nick's surgeon and radiologist yesterday. First, the surgeon discussed the scan results in detail and there is virtually no visible activity in his sinus area and minimal activity in his lymph node. Nick's original PET scan revealed an SUV of 10.5 in his sinus (measurement of cancer activity - i.e. anything over 5 is worrisome and anything over 10 is critical); his current PET revealed NOTHING! The lymph node had an original SUV of 3.8 and is now 3.1 - this could be from anything, like the low-grade fever he had last week. No worries there, either! The surgeon will simply remove as much dead tissue as possible going up through his gum line and removing a small square of cheekbone - this will not damage any nerves in his face or bone/muscle structure.

The radiologist is thrilled with the results and we were walked through viewing the scans side-by-side - truly amazing. She said the fact that his tumor even shrunk at all was incredible, let alone completely gone. We also found out that there have been 5 cases of rhabdomyosarcoma in the past 4 months up at Huntsman. Wow.

Nick's surgery is at 2:15 today at SL Regional. He will come home today and will recover quickly, however will have a pretty swollen face for 2 weeks or so as his cheek has been heavily treated. We still really shouldn't officially celebrate until we get the results back as negative from the tissue they recover. We have an appointment next Wednesday, 12th, to review with the surgeon.

It sounds like Nick won't begin his next round of chemo for another 3-4 weeks. He would just assume getting this over with asap, but we'll take this break to chub him up some more (he is now up to 133 lbs). He tries every day to do something active - we all played tennis a couple of nights ago and he did great! Bowling the night before last! I do believe he can now clean his room, too.

One funny story to share: Carly was groaning after dinner last night that she needed 3x5 cards to help her study for one of her classes and we didn't have any at the house. When we suggested she go to our local Wal-Mart 1/2 mile away to get some, she tried to recruit Kelsey to go with her so she could run in the store for her. Not a chance. Then Carly continued to complain she couldn't possibly go into the store as she was dressed in sweats and her hair was in a pony-tail ("You just don't know who you might run into!"). As she continued to lament about her appearance, Nick finally said, "CARLY! I have ONE eyebrow!" We all roared with laughter as Carly grinned, put on her shoes and quietly took off to the store. Ah, perspective...

We would like to express our sincere appreciation for all of your prayers for Nick's recovery. It is obviously a miracle he is doing so well and we couldn't have made it this far without your support. We're very humbled, indeed.

We'll post again soon,

Love, Lori