Success!

This may not be the prettiest picture I've ever posted of Nate, but it's real, and really it's spectacular.  As you'll notice, our little super hero did it again and he is sucking on his Nuk...not a breathing tube!  He was able to come out of the OR off of the ventilator which means they also were able to take out the NG tube and we get to stay at MSKCC and not have to go across the street to the other hospital.  They also didn't have to place the central line.  So, he came out of the OR with 3 extra lines/tubes instead of 6.  The sooner the tubes come out, the sooner he'll be ready to go home!  The less tubes that have to come out, the better.

He is doing great.  As you can imagine, he is in pain.  He is on a good deal of pain medication to manage his pain and we are hoping he will mostly sleep tonight.  Tomorrow, we will get him up and started walking.  He has woken up a few times, briefly.  Once to take off his pulse ox meter (the little sticker wrapped around his finger to monitor his vitals) and tell me that he wanted his catheter out.  Never mind the giant gash in his side...he just wants that thing off his finger and that tube out of his penis!  Poor kid, hopefully the catheter can come out tomorrow.  Then he woke up to tell us that he wanted the oxygen mask off and his Nuk in.  Wish granted, they'll just keep an eye on his oxygen levels and make sure everything stays good.  The third time he asked us to turn on the TV, then fell back asleep before we got a chance to turn it on.  So, we're currently watching the Disney Channel so he doesn't wake up to yell at us to change the channel to "kid shows".  Such a little fighter!

The surgeon said that he lifted Nate's liver out and chopped out that tumor!  Hooray!  He did take some funny looking lymph nodes in the area that probably have Neuroblastoma in them.  This is a little scary but is very normal, I guess.  There are a lot of lymph nodes in the area and they frequently get Neuroblastoma in them.  We will have to wait for the biopsy results to see if they have active or inactive (killed) Neuroblastoma in them.  Either way...they are not inside my baby anymore!  The surgeon said that he lifted up Nate's aorta, vena cava, kidney and portal vein and looked all around...no Neuroblastoma!  Crazy...and awesome!

Nate will have round 6 and then will have a full work up of scans and bone marrow biopsy.  We are trying not to count our chickens before they are hatched...but we BELIEVE that Nate will be considered NED (no evidence of disease) at this time.  Amazing!  He will still have to complete his full course of treatment to make sure that every last Neuroblastoma cell is destroyed, but we love being ahead of the game.

Thank you to everyone for your thoughts, prayers and kind words today as we sent our baby into surgery.  I know God heard our prayers and Chris and I (and the rest of our family) really appreciated all the support.  It helped carry us through another rough day...with relatively few tears.  I will keep everyone updated on Nate's progress over the next few days as he recovers.  We love you all!