A surgery date, finally......

We have finally heard from the surgeons about what they are planning for Remington's surgery. He is scheduled for his tumor removal on the 16th of July. He is going to be the only one scheduled for that day. Remi's surgery is turning out to be much more involved than we were anticipating. Right now the doctors are planning on removing the 4th rib (the rib that has the tumor), as well as the rib above and below that rib. So... 3rd,4th and 5th ribs will be removed. They really want to be sure of getting all of the cancer. The pediatric surgeon has also notice some other spots on Remington's 8th and 9th ribs as well as down on his diaphram that he considers suspicious. He is not planning on removing these other ribs, but he won't be sure until he can get in there and see the spots. If they find anything on his ribs he will mark those areas and Remi will get a stronger dose of radiation at those spots. The diaphram will be checked out as well, if they see anything there thay will remove the suspect area and graft replacement skin in place. The surgery is scheduled to be 8 hours long. The doctors are figuring 3-4 days in ICU after surgery and then 10-14 days back up on the 4th floor in ICS. After he is released from the hospital he will have a 4-6 week recovery period before they will start the fun and games all over again. The plan is 4 more chemo treatments as well as 2 weeks of radiation therapy. (treatment everyday for 45 min). Keep in mind this is just a rough plan and not set in stone. We are counting on changes in the plan on a regular basis. Once again, thank you for all of your prayers and thoughts during this time in Remington's life. We appreciate it more than you can ever know. Take care and God bless.

Another Adventure

Remi is doing pretty well, all things considered. Right now his platelet counts are a little low, so we will not be starting chemo therapy today like we wanted to. We will have to see what his labs look like later this week. This round will be the 48 hour treatment. This is the heavy duty constant drip for 2 solid days.
Remington has had a new experience recently. He has now had his first ( and only hopefully) dog bite. He was bitten on his right leg right about calf height. He bled a little bit, but the bruise makes the bite look worse than it is. It is already healing and he has had no adverse reactions at all. He and we were pretty lucky this time. It is just one more bruise on his legs to go along with all of the other bruises from playing and running around. His energy level is not low at all. We will let everyone know when he will be going back in for treatment.

News from the doctors

After weeks of waiting, we have finally heard from the tumor board about what the next step is in Remington's treatment...... it's wait. The doctor's want us to have Remi go thru two more treatments and then they will take another picture of his tumor to check the size. They have determined that the tumor has shrunk by 80% so far. Remi is a victim of his own success. Because it has been reduced so much they want to see how much more they can shrink the tumor before he goes into surgery. If he stays on schedule, that means the first part of July will be his surgery date. At this time they are going to remove his third rib for sure, the ribs next to it will have to wait and see what they find when they get inside.
Remington's counts are up, that means today is the start of the next round of chemo therapy. This will be the 5 day course of treatment. If there is no side effects, Remi will go home tomorrow afternoon some time. He will then come in to the clinic for daily treatments for the rest of the week. We will try to be more proactive in keeping the blog up to date. Take care.

CT and Bone Scan

Remington's blood counts came up quickly and hence he was in the hospital during his 10th birthday. He has now completed his sixth chemotherapy treatment. He is definitely a Jackson and becomes a bit ornery when he does not eat and his blood sugars are low.

On April 8, 2009, Remington had a CT scan and a Bone Scan to measure the progression of the tumor. The CT scan demonstrated that Remington's tumor now measures 4 inches by 2 inches. The Bone Scan revealed there was decrease in the intensity in the 4th, 8th, and 9th lateral left ribs. ( less likely they are going to have to take his ribs). Now, we wait for the physicians to discuss when Remington will undergo surgery. The physicians will discuss Remington's case in the next couple of weeks.

Remington's spirits are high and he has a great attitude. Thanks for all the support.

Tumor Reduction & The Plan

Remington had a X ray of his chest performed with this round of chemotherapy. The tumor has shrunk another 50%. The tumor now covers 5 ribs instead of 8 ribs. Hey! The doctors have told us after the next round of chemotherapy he will have a CT scan. The doctors will be able to use the CT scan to measure the size of the tumor. Remington case then will be discussed will the members of the Tumor Board and a surgery date should be given. The doctors have lowered the medication dosage with his last chemotherapy round in hopes that we can start his next chemotherapy on March 30th the day before his 10th birthday.
We want to thank all of Reid School for the celebrating Remington birthday and Olive Garden for donating the food. Reid school raised $705.00 to pay for his treatments. Remington loved seeing all of the students wearing their clothing on backwards to help celebrate his birthday. We can't thank you all enough for the support it gives us. We have the courage, the confidence and a can do attitude to see this all the way.
We love you lots,
The Jackson Family

Waiting for the next round

Labs were drawn earlier this week and Remington's platelets are still down around 31. To start the next round of chemo therapy he needs to be at 75. His home health nurse will be coming by tomorrow morning to draw another set of labs. If his numbers are up high enough, Remi will start on Monday morning. That is the hope right now. If he is delayed too much longer, Remington will not be able to go to his own birthday party. We are planning on having it at Bouncing off the walls. Unfortunately, he will be at the bottom of his cycle on his birthday if he goes past next Wednesday before he starts. He could go, but he would have to wear a mask and could not play on the slides with his friends. That would really suck! well, let's keep our fingers crossed.........

Remi's first trip

We have made some progress with getting Remington and the family back on something closer to a "normal" life. We took a road trip down to Sedona Arizona to see Remington and Samara's Great-Grandmother for her 93rd birthday. Remi had labs drawn Thursday morning and we hit the road soon after that. We received a call from Primary Children's that afternoon when we were in sothern Utah right around Panguich. his platelets were very low and they wanted us to come in and get a transfusion. Obviously we could not go to Primary, so they scheduled the transfusion with the hospital in St. George. The family then diverted across the bottom of Utah over to St. George and found the hospital. They were waiting for us and completed his transfusion in about an hour and a half! Thank you James! We then continued our trip to Sedona, spending the night in Paige Arizona. The kids had a wonderful time in Sedona seeing their Great-Grandmother. She loved seeing us as well. The trip back to Salt Lake City was pretty uneventful and long. On the way we say the Grand Canyon as well as some old indian dwellings. Remington and Sam really liked that. Now it is back to the treatment routine and lab work. Remi is not too thrilled about that, but what can you do?