Julia had a clinic visit this morning to check her counts. Her platelets have continued to drop (this morning at 15), so a nice healthy transfusion was ordered. This did not come as a surprise as Julia’s energy level has dropped and she has several large bruises on the legs and abdomen.
We also had the opportunity to see Monday’s scans and speak with Dr. Stern about next steps. The difference in the scans is amazing. The tumor is quarter the size of the original mass! The chemo continues to do a great job in destroying the tumor.
The oncology team and surgeon met on Thursday to review all the scans. Julia’s tumor is in the lung and is growing in an unusual area (towards the center of her body). With that being said, surgery is not the best option. In order to remove the tumor, it would require a very invasive procedure and the removal of a lobe of Julia’s lung. The best choice for continued treatment will be chemo combined with radiation. We meet with the radiologist on Tuesday to discuss the extent of treatment. At this point, we know Julia will have radiation in both lungs in order to ensure that any rogue cells are killed. We don’t know how many treatments she will receive, but it will be able to be administered in conjunction with her chemo (chemo will not need to be stalled in order to give radiation).
Monday, Julia will go to clinic for blood counts in preparation for getting her next round of chemo. This round is five days of the “magic cocktail”. Hopefully, her counts will rebound enough by Monday so that chemo treatments can continue as scheduled. Lots of rest and no climbing monkey bars this weekend.