Well here is another update…(I am sure we will be updating a lot the next few days!!)

Jack’s surgeon called tonight and told me that we will know either tomorrow or Friday what our plans our for surgery.  The tumor has shrunk a lot…It was up in the throat area and around the major arteries there and it was also wrapped around some vessels of the heart and laying heavy on his lung.  It is no long doing any of that!  He is confident that it will come away clean from the throat, heart, and lung.  He is a little concerned because is it still wrapped 3/4 of the way around a major vessel that goes to his left arm.  He is calling in a cardiothoracic surgeon to analyze it.  If he can bypass that vessel (and keep blood flow to his arm) he will do the surgery.  He is looking to remove 99% of the tumor and he does not want to do it unless that can be accomplished.  If the cardiothoracic surgeon will do the surgery along with him, then he will do it.  He will not do anything that would [put Jack and his arm in any sort of danger so now we will wait to see what the other doc says.  He may end up doing the 6th round of chemo and then surgery…but we aren’t sure yet.  We will update you as we know more!

Jack had a clinic appointment today and his platelets were a little low so he had to get some today…which means he will not be doing surgery tomorrow.  If he has low platelets, his blood will not be able to clot and that would not be good when you are having surgery…so, it has been put off.  We also got a message from the surgeon and while his tumor has shrank a lot, it is still wrapped around some major blood vessels of the heart so they have to consult the cardio team before we set the date.  He should be calling back either today or tomorrow so we will know where we go from here.  Hopefully he will be able to do surgery next week…

As far as his walking goes, they have looked at it from every angle and what they believe is the reason is the mix of chemo that he has had.  It is rare, but some kids will devlelop some sort of walk like he has, but they say it will go away and they do not seem to be worried about it at all.  A physical therapist came today to evaluate him and she had him do all sorts of tests (standing on toes, standing on heels, on one foot, bending over…etc) and he did everything just fine.  They think he will just get better and all will be fine.

So, all is great here and we are just waiting for the word on what is next so we will update you after we know.

Wooo Hooo!!  We are pretty much jumping up and down right now because Jack’s Dr called and there is nothing in his brain or spine!!  This is so very great!!  Jack did wonderful today with his scans.  He woke up great, had his 2 cups of juice and 2 purple Popsicles and then told us he was ready to go home and that was that.  We have been waiting by the phone for the Dr to call and he did and said all news was great.  No cancer in his brain or spine and that his tumor has shrank by another 50%!  He is assuming he will have surgery on Wednesday but that is up to the surgeon for the final decision.  We will find out tomorrow if the surgeon thinks now is the best time for surgery, if not, we will wait until after the 6th round. 

Jack’s walking is getting better as the day goes on, so hopefully this is just some sort of a reaction to too much of the shots or from his last dose of chemo.  All is well in the Morton house tonight and we will actually get some sleep that we really need!

I will update more tomorrow after our clinic appt.  Thank you all for your notes and prayers…we really believe that they are working!!

On Friday morning  Jack woke up and was walking “funny” so we took him to the Dr to see what he thought and he couldn’t figure it out.  He doesn’t complain of any pain and he acts totally normal with the same amount of energy, but he is walking on his heals or limping or something.  The Dr is adding a scan of his spine, legs, and brain tomorrow along with the CT scan of his chest and neck for the main tumor sight.  As of today, Jack is still walking around a little different (kind of hard to explain what it’s like) so we talked to the Dr again today and he said as long as he isn’t having pain, then we will just wait until tomorrow for the scans instead of worrying about anything tonight.  He doesn’t believe it would be anything with his spine or brain, but he wants to cover all bases so we will know. 

Please say some extra prayers for Jack tomorrow not only for his tumor sight, but pray that nothing comes back with his brain and spinal scans!!

Jack had a clinic appointment today and all went really well.  His hemoglobin and his platelets were great so there was no need for a transfusion.  His ANC is over 2800 so we can stop giving him his shots so he is thrilled!  He is up almost a pound since Monday so hopefully he will be back to normal after this weekend.  We go in Monday morning for a CT scan so please say prayers that his tumor has shrunk enough for surgery. Let’s hope it has!!

Just wanted to give a quick update and we will give you more on Monday!  Have a great weekend!