A Note from Daddy

Hey all…

   I wanted to send a note so we could get an update about Nate out there.  I'm sorry we couldn't get this out sooner.  Everything tends to move so quickly, but the information never comes fast enough to satisfy.  Beth is much more avid on the internets with the Facebook, so I'm having trouble keeping track of which people know what stories.  Feel free to share any of this to anyone that you see fit (relying on the rumor mill tends to take a great deal of work off our plates):

Thursday night, Nate had a fairly innocent jump onto a 2-foot ottoman we have in our family room.  He flopped onto his belly, only to start complaining of abdominal pain.   The pain didn’t subside and led to vomiting.  Considering how indestructible he’s been, and how little he complains, since he’s been born, Beth and I both figured a trip to the ER would be necessary.  They ordered an abdominal CT as a precaution, only to find a fairly large mass that appeared to have ruptured and bleeding.  He was as PCH within the hour, and in the OR the following afternoon (while they attempted to pinpoint where they were going to go in and resect).  They were able to remove the whole tumor, which turned out to be adrenal in nature, requiring removal of his right adrenal gland.  The surgical team reported no signs of invasion into any of the surrounding organs (kidney, liver), and subsequently Nate’s been doing quite well in his surgical recovery.  He’s down to two access sites (central line and peripheral IV) without any sign of site-infection, which is a great relief…and continues to improve post-op.

Histology and pathology of the tumor are pending, as they tend to take their very careful time with diagnosis of a tumor.  Because of the rupture, they do have a concern of what they call “spillage” in that cancer cells were floating in his abdomen for just shy of 24 hours.  At this point, there could be upwards of 10 or so possibilities that we’re facing…each with varying courses of action.  They’re leaning towards neuroblastoma but trying  not to get ahead of the diagnosis.  A PET/CT scan of the chest prior to surgery did show no indication of any spreading to the lungs.  A battery of tests to rule out cardiac involvement is next…and a bone scan  today to ID any possible bone mets.  From there, it's more tests to continue to rule out further complications before we dive headlong into treatment.

We'll continue to do our best to get the word out.  The vast majority of the sadness and drama is from us...Nate is fairly unfazed.  These types of things tend to have very positive prognoses in children, but we have to get through the preliminary grind before we get him on the road to recovery.

Thanks for listening,

-Christopher.