Liam's Cancer Fight Day 6-MRI

Day 6 (Wednesday Dec 11th):
The first night of chemo was complete. Everything went well and there were no complications. Liam was a little tired from being woken up every few hours but otherwise he was doing great. Mom and Dad also slept pretty good. A few people had brought some super soft blankets and we slept with those. Definitely an upgrade from the things the hospital call "blankets".

The team informed us last night that rather than do his MRI on Friday with another scan (called MIBG scan) which was the original plan, they didn't want to sedate him that long so they were going to do his MRI today at 1:30. The reason for the MRI was the staff felt like previous imaging showed the tumor was pressed up against the spinal chord and they wanted to make sure the tumor wasn't intertwined anywhere along the spine. If it was, things would be much more complicated. The other scan (the MIBG scan) is a nuclear medicine imaging test. It combines a small amount of radioactive material with a substance called metaiodobenzylguanidine (MIBG) to find certain types of tumors in the body. We nicknamed this one the glow in the dark scan because anything cancerous would essentially "glow" on the screen. This scan was another scan to make sure the cancer hadn't spread to anywhere else in the body. Since his MRI was today he was yet again NPO until he got back.

After taking our morning stroll in the hall, at about 10:15a the nurse came in to inform us that there was an opening in the MRI schedule and they were ready to take Liam for his MRI. We liked that plan since it meant that Liam would be able to eat sooner. We took Liam down to his Imaging and prepped for his MRI. The onesie he was wearing had the metal snaps on it so they found an extra onesie in the unit and cut the bottom off to turn it into a T-shirt so he could stay warm while they did the scan. The anesthesiologist had us hold Liam while they administered the anesthesia. The anesthesia was supposed to make him feel just like he fell asleep. It took a few minutes to kick in and then the immediately took him into the MRI room. 

 

We grabbed some lunch in the cafeteria on the way back upstairs and when we got up to the unit, we ran into Bryan (Indie's dad) again and he said his wife was there so we dropped our food off in the room and headed to their room. We had a great conversation with them where we learned more about Indie's story and how they were doing. They also filled us in on some tricks to make the stay better including what room was the best room.
We were just getting back to the room when some other friends showed up (Breanna, Amy, & Perry). They had brought some food and snacks, a blanket for us, and some cars for Liam to play with. We caught up with them for a while and then Liam was brought back to the room. He was a little groggy still but otherwise was doing great. We started feeding him a bottle and the anesthesia he had made it so his oxygen levels dropped when he ate so we had to do blow-by (like a mask in front of his face) while he ate. He did much better after that.

Not long after our friends had left, Grandma and Papa brought the girls to the Unit for the first time so they could see Liam. They were so excited to see all of us and were all just a little hyper. I couldn't tell if it was because they really missed us that much or because they were going to get to pick something out of the prize bag. One of the things we felt was important was making sure the girls felt just as important as Liam so we decided to have a bag of prizes (toys, candy, etc.) that the girls could pick from when they visit so they didn't feel left out since Liam was getting so many gifts. Once we got them settled down, we started to explain to them why Liam had a port in his chest, what everything was for, and then we explained that Liam had cancer. We expected them to react WAY differently than what they did. We thought that they would get emotional and worry that he wasn't going to be ok. Hallie asked "Is it treatable?" and we explained that there were many types of cancer and this one was very treatable. We asked if they had any other questions and they were like "Can we pick a prize out of the bag now?".

One of the biggest concerns Natalie and I have had through this was not only how it was going to impact Liam, but what kind of an effect it would have on the other 3 girls. Would they need therapy? Would they resent Liam? Would they be worried for him? We wanted to make sure they stayed a priority as well. When someone in the family get's cancer, the whole family does, because it impacts everyone. Seeing that the girls took the news well, Natalie and I felt much better about things. Another answer to our prayers. Every day we saw small miracles happen and this was just another one. This was going to make things a little easier.

The kids hung out for a while, played with Liam in his walker, played in the toy room on the unit, and then we took them on a tour of the Ronald McDonald room and the Kids Zone area so they could see where they could play IF they were healthy. When we got back upstairs, one of our doctors grabbed us and said they got the results back on the MRI and everything looked amazing. The tumor was completely self encased and was not impacting the spinal chord!! Fantastic news!!

Liam: 1
Cancer: 0

The doctor pulled up the images and showed us that there was a clear and distinct separation between his spine and the tumor. We also got a great view of how big the tumor actually was. It really was an avocado sized tumor sitting right in his gut. It's almost unbelievable that we didn't notice anything sooner. It was great news though. Another blessing. Another answer to our prayers.

After a few hours of playing, the girls headed home. It was good to spend time with them and for them to see Liam as his happy little self. We think seeing him that way made it easier to be away from him. There have been a few times this week where the girls have called at night to check in on him or Hallie has called from school at recess to make sure things were ok. We could tell they were worried about him but tonight was good for all of us.

We cruised the halls a little more that night and saw Birdie (Indie's little sister) come strolling down the hall in a remote control Mercedes Benz convertible. When we were with them earlier security came to grab him and said they had a delivery. Someone had donated the car for Indie. It was pretty cool to see people stepping up and helping these guys with the gifts.

We got to bed at a good time again and Liam was ready for another night of Chemo. Tonight would only be 1 bag and it would only take an hour. 2 nights down, 1 night to go.