Results…

Alex had his MRI on Friday, and today Phil and I went into the WCH to meet with Alex’s Oncologist to hear the results. A big thankyou firstly to Phil’s mum Fran for babysitting so we could hear the news and ask questions without having to manage the kids too!

The MRI scans showed no tumour growth compared with the last two scans. These results are not the worst case scenario we were dreading, but we will have to wait for another 2 months before we can be sure that it is good news. With brain tumours it is apparently quite rare for the tumour to vanish and it is more normal for the tumour mass to remain even after the cancer has been “killed”.
The scan showing no tumour growth leaves us with two basic possibilities

1. The high dose chemotherapy has halted the growth of the 3 tumours, essentially pausing them, and when the chemo is out of Alex’s system they will start to grow again.
2. The high dose chemo has worked and the 3 tumours showing up on the MRI scans are dead.

The only way we will know which of these two possibilities we have been given is to wait for two more months and to have another MRI scan. The good news is that for these two months Alex has only minimal hospital needs – a port flush and an infusion of a medicine to prevent chest infections – both of these given only once a month. Other than that we will (if we can remember how) resume a more ‘normal’ life. Alex is feeling better and better now we have stopped giving him nasty drugs and immune system is slowly but surely returning, meaning we can start coming out of seclusion and seeing our friends again! We have to be a bit careful still that he doesn’t get sick, so we need to steer clear of people who are actually ill, but we can now safely take him to the playground and see other people and their children again!

So here we are again, I think the phrase is “hurry up and wait” but we are grateful to have thus far avoided the worst case scenario. To have Alex coming back almost to his old self is so wonderful to see, to tickle him and hear his belly chuckle is one of the most amazing sounds in all the world.

Thankyou all once again for all the love and support.