Results

Going back to the hospital today was hard. Mason really did not want to leave. None of us wanted to leave.

Oh, how we miss Dr. Smith – and he hasn’t even been gone a month.  He was so good at explaining scans and patiently answering our many questions. Our new oncologist basically handed us the printouts and asked if we had any questions, but then really didn’t fully answer any of them.  Thankfully, we have tried to decode many scan results on this journey so reading them is less foreign than at the beginning.

Our news today is neither good nor bad.  The 3 tumors in his femur are basically unchanged since the last scan.  With osteosarcoma, this is considered an overall success I guess. They consider the chemo to be effective because there are no new tumors and the ones he has have not grown.  We now have to continue with the next 2 weeks of chemo while his surgeons come up with a plan based on this news. Then, the percentage of necrosis will tell us if we have to add more rounds of chemo than originally planned or not. If the necrosis is 90% or higher and the cancer doesn’t metastasize to his lungs, we can plan to be done with chemo this fall.  If it’s less than 90%, his team of doctors will have to research whether to change chemo drugs, add additional rounds or try immunotherapy.  The last surgery showed 20-30% necrosis.

Pray for…

Good spirits for Mason to continue fighting.

Wisdom and communication amongst his surgeons and entire team.

High percentage of necrosis.

Adjusting well as a family into navigating into living separately for the next 2 months.

Good days.  Mason’s already throwing up on day one and we don’t usually have that with this chemo.