Neuroblastoma PathologyLymph Node BiopsyBone Marrow BiopsyCT ScanMRIBone Scan- MIBG Scan
We're done with all but the last MIBG scan. Doctors indicated that #1-#6 all point to the Neuroblastoma being isolated and not spread, but they still have to do #7 regardless just to be sure.
The MIBG scan is a 2-3 day process which we began on Tuesday with the injection of a radioactive dye (known as a cancer tracer). This material will cluster around any cancer cells and can then be picked up on a scan 24 and/or 48 hours later. Keira unfortunately has to be under anesthesia for the scan as they last 2 hours, which means that she cannot eat for 6 hours prior to the scan. Couple this with the standard hospital delays and it can make for a miserable day for a little one.
Yesterday, Keira had her first scan. We were supposed to go in at 10:30am, but by the time they got her into the scan, it was 2:30pm :( Needless to say, our little trooper was not in her best mood yesterday, but she got through it just like she has everything else.
We need to perform another scan today to give the dye enough time to disseminate in the body and compare it to yesterday's scan which can be thought of as a baseline. Hopefully this will be the last scan and we can finally get past the cancer staging.
Right now Ajji and Thatha (my parents), and Mom and Dad are trying to keep Keira distracted (and not thinking about food) until about 1pm which is when her scan is scheduled.
Once this gets done, we could be headed home today!
Our next steps looking forward will now be to focus on the OMA treatment schedule and this could begin as early as next week. We're scheduled to be back at the hospital next Monday, but at this point, we're anticipating all out-patient treatments, which will be a relief.