Seattle Visit Went Well

Thursday, we had our appointment with the Oncologist in Seattle. We were asked to bring Rebekah's scans with us. We knew that it would be difficult for the doctor to have much of a look at the scans if we were bringing them with us, but they were very clear that we were to bring them and not send them in advance. As we expected, doc didn't have a good chance to review them before meeting with us. He wanted to know what our concerns were and we layed them out - 1) do we need to be concerned about the current scans, and 2) what scans should we be doing on a regular basis.

From the little he had seen in the scans and the reports he read, he wasn't concerned about the scans. He did ask to keep the cds so that he could spend some time reviewing the scans and let us know. We left them with him and not more than a half hour later, he called telling us that he wasn't concerned about what he saw. GOOD NEWS!

As for what scans we should be doing, he generally won't do a PET Scan after treatment because of the false positives and they just aren't proven. He recommended that we stop doing them, because they produce anxiety and aren't that helpful. He likes to do a Chest CT instead of a Chest Xray. He feels that the Chest CT will likely catch a lung met earlier than a Chest Xray would and although a recurrence is difficult to treat it is not impossible to treat and it is better to catch it earlier and begin treatment earlier. While Ewing's will usually recur at the original site or in the lungs, it can recur at any location. Therefore, he will often do a full body bone scan as well to watch for recurrence in any location.

All in all, it was a good meeting and we appreciate his time to review things and provide a second opinion. We are glad we went and feel a bit better. We still have to take things a step at a time, but we aren't too concerned right now.

The Dunham family watched both girls for us for the weekend - Thursday through Sunday. Both girls seemed to have a good time. And the Dunham family seemed to enjoy it as well. Mommy and Daddy got away for the weekend, sort of. We were working a race in the woods that ran all day Saturday. We got to "camp" late Thursday night (after driving to Seattle and back) and worked on setup Friday, the event Saturday and headed home Sunday morning. It was nice to not have to worry about the girls and know that they were having fun and being s-p-o-i-l-e-d. We did miss them, however.

Thank you for your continued prayers and concern. It helps us through each day. Please continue to keep Gage and his family in your prayers.