A Plan…Full Steam Ahead

Carter with SuperBear

Today we had our “family meeting” with the oncologist. We have so much faith in our team at CHOC and have been receiving great care for Carter. They took the time to answer our hundreds of questions. Matt and I are becoming quite the experts in hepatoblastoma. The doctors and nurses are starting to understand that there is no such thing as too much information for Matt and I. We were anxious for this meeting because this meeting is the pivotal moment to agree to the plan and begin treatment. And we aren’t wasting any time. Carter will have his first chemo treatment tonight.

Carter’s chemo treatments will be on a 21 day cycle. The first three days of each cycle we will be admitted to the hospital for chemo treatments. Carter receives a chemo drug called Cisplatin on day 1. This drug is administered through a drip which is connected to his central IV line in his chest. They hydrate him first for four hours on an IV drip, give him an anti-nausea drug, then Cisplatin for another four hours. I’m hoping Carter will sleep through most of this tonight. We’ll see. On day 2, Carter will be resting and we will look for any reactions to the drug. And on day 3, Carter will receive two more chemo drugs. The first one being Vincristine and the second one is called Fluorouracil. These will be in pill form and a push into his IV line. The doctors told us Carter will lose his hair, and some other side effects include nausea/vomiting, loss of appetite, mouth sores, constipation, and possible hearing loss. They will watch this all closely, and some of the side effects have drugs he can take to alleviate them. This first time taking the drugs they will watch Carter for a couple days after, and make sure we are prepared to go home with all our new responsibilities. The doctors say we may possibly go home early next week. Then, our 18 days until the next treatment will include going to the clinic throughout the week and getting tests done to follow his care.

After two rounds of chemo, the doctors will do a CT scan to see if the tumor is shrinking. Most likely, they will do four rounds total before doing surgery to remove the tumor. The tumor currently occupies 2/3 of Carter’s liver. It is mostly on the left lobe of his liver, but does go into the right lobe. Therefore, it would be impossible to do surgery now. We’re hopeful the chemo will make the tumor shrink down to the left side only, which would allow them to remove the left lobe of his liver entirely. The liver can regenerate very easily, so if one lobe is removed it can grow back within months. If the tumor does occupy both lobes and does not respond to chemo, this is when a liver transplant is necessary. But this will NOT be the case with Carter…we are hopeful!! After surgery, Carter will have two more rounds of chemo to ensure all cancer is gone. We are hoping this is the plan, and everything goes this way…smoothly with no rough patches along the way.

Matt and I have been overwhelmed by the outpour for our little guy. The support is so appreciated and keeps us going. THANK YOU! Carter’s bravery, as well as all the other children on the oncology floor is miraculous. They are fighting for their lives, but just want to be kids. Carter has had fun going to the Play Room to paint, color and play. We’ve met some amazing kids and parents here at CHOC, and find comfort in hearing others stories. It just doesn’t seem fair that these kids are enduring so much at such an innocent age, they are stronger than many adults would be.