Duke appointment Tuesday 4/20/12

From this (November 2011):

To This (February 2012)

To this (April 2012)

And this (November 2011)

To this (April 2012)

All visible signs of Morton/cancer are G-O-N-E! The doctor's are very excited to see such amazing progress from the post op MRI to this one...any iffy spots are now gone and the only abnormal stuff on the MRI is swelling/inflammation from the radiation and small amounts of fluid left over from surgery. The re-sectioning cavity is slowing closing up as Rion's brain relaxes back into it's original position. We prayed for good results and God gave us more than we even knew to ask for.

In a nut shell the 6 weeks of chemo and radiation was a success, Rion is healing still from surgery and almost all of the fluid that was present on his skull right after surgery has been reabsorbed. Since he did so well on the chemo/radiation regiment, the doctors are optimistic that the next round of chemo will go smoothly and we won't have to keep going back to Duke so frequently!! YAY

Here are the nitty gritty details of what's to come:

• the next chemo regiment will be with the same oral chemo drug that he was just taking in combination with the radiation but it will be at a much higher dosage (double to start off with until we make sure his platelets can handle it and then it will probably be increased further.)
• Speaking of platelets- his have rebounded nicely! We had labs done before we left Duke on Wednesday and they called us later that day to say his levels are all great- platelets are at 135 now so he is all set to start chemo ASAP
• We will be starting the chemo this Saturday evening- on the new regiment he will take the oral chemo for 5 days and then stop for 23 days. We will have lab work done on the 3rd & 4th week to make sure his levels are high enough to start the regiment again the following week 
• Our next appointment back at Duke is June 27th and as long as the MRI is clear and he is tolerating the chemo then we won't have to go back "for a while." (Not sure exactly how long that is but sounds promising to me.) We will still have to have MRIs done periodically but we will just send the scans up to Duke to review & keep in Rion's file

We are so hopeful and excited that Rion is doing so well and really putting up a fight. And we have an amazing team of doctors both local and at Duke that are doing a phenomenal job at handling the medical and human aspect of his cancer treatment. And we really, really couldn't imagine having to face something like this without our loving & understanding friends and families- from the random cards we still get in the mail to the patience you have with us when we have to cancel plans (or always seem too busy to even make plans) we sincerely thank you from the bottoms of our hearts. You guys take so much stress off of us and keep our spirits up when we start to feel discouraged.

God has renewed our hope and we continue to be faithful that He will see us through this difficult time. We look forward to Saturday and actively participating in treatment again which brings us one step closer to remission!

God bless,

Emily & Rion