Where to begin... Dani had her Thyroidectamy on May 17th. I was preparing myself for a combative patient. For those of you who know Dani, she can be moody and shy. Well my daughter was amazing! She blew me away! When we had to go back to prep her with "giggle juice" she was calm and chatty. Thankfully she was not picking up our nervous energy. The surgery went extremely well and Dani woke up with no problems from the anesthesia asking for her beloved hippos. We knew she was OK!

Dani was sent right to the PI CU for precautionary measures to monitor her calcium levels which can be affected during surgery. Again, Dani was amazing! She was a model patient, never complaining and obliging the nurses and doctors who came in and out of the room frequently through out our stay. Although we got very little sleep,
Dani's spirits were good and she even got a surprise visit from her favorite Disney Princess, Jasmine!

Our hospital stay was short and we happily came home that Wednesday. Dani has bounced back beautifully and is healing appropriately. Shane and I are just so relieved that this is over and that she is fine and more importantly that her thyroid was clean!

In regards to Shane, we found out right before Dani's surgery that he did not qualify for the clinical drug trial. What was explained to me by the oncologist is that, the drug co feels that Shane's disease is progressing at a 7% rate while the oncologist feels that it is progressing at a 26% rate. Obviously that is a huge discrepancy! While the news was disturbing, I had to put it aside until Dani's surgery was done and she was feeling better. In the mean time, Shane discovered another lump. He immediately went into action and went to have scans done here at Abington. What we know is that he is having more growth. There are no new spots, but the tumors that he does have are still growing. Shane contacted the oncologist and he needs to review these new scans. Dr Ball feels that he still will not qualify for the study we all want him on, but there is an alternative that we had discussed while at Hopkins. We just have to wait to hear back from the doctor. We did ask the Dr. why there was such a big discrepancy between his findings and the drug company's and this is how he explained it. The drug co. picks any 5 tumors in the patient and they can be big or small and that is what they base their answers on. The Dr, picked the 5 biggest tumors and that is what he based his facts on. He said he cannot predict which tumors the drug co will use. I do understand their methods, however I do not agree with them! So again, we wait. At least, Dani and Ethan are healthy and happy and no worse for the ware. For Shane and me its another bump in the road and together we will get through it.

In two days, Dani will be having her thyroidectamy.

We have to be at CHOP by 11:15, which means that surgery probably won"t begin until 1ish. It is looking like a very long day! She still doesn't know as of yet. We don't want to give her anymore anxiety than we have to. We will tell her tomorrow, and I am hoping that Ethan will be a big comfort to her since he has already been through this himself. I am extremely nervous for this week. Dani has been very clingy to me lately and I know that she will be even more so while in the hospital. But hopefully, everything will go as smoothly as it did with Ethan and she will be home by Wed night.

As far as Shane goes, we went to Hopkins a couple of weeks ago to complete a battery of tests and scans for qualification purposes for the clinical drug trial. Shane's oncologist seemed optimistic that he would qualify for the study. but we would have to wait and get the final word from the drug company as they have to review all of the data. On Thursday, I received a call from the Dr, telling us that the drug co. denied Shane. To qualify, the patient must have at least a 20% growth within a 13 month period. Shane's oncologist feels that he has a 26% growth and the drug co. feels that he has a 7% growth. Obviously there is a huge discrepancy! The Dr. wants to discuss other options, while I want to challenge the drug co. findings. However, this will have to wait a couple of weeks while Dani is taken care of.

As soon as we have info on Dani, I will blog more. Thank you all for your kind words and well wishes!