Good News and Bad News

Today we have some good news and bad news. Good news first! The tumor is made up of more benign cells than malignant cells. Malignant cells are the cancerous cells. Also, we donated tissue from the biopsy, blood, and bone marrow, to a Neuroblastoma Biology Study that researches and examines cancerous cells to determine whether or not the cancer is amplified. They call it n-myc; and Raylee's came back negative, or non-aggressive. This study will also look at the make-up of her genetic material or DNA in the tumor cells. Once the tumor is removed it will be donated to the same study. We hope it helps scientists learn more about this type of cancer. If the n-myc test came back positive then Raylee's treatment would have changed to an even more aggressive treatment plan.

Now for the bad news! :( As far as the oncology drs were concerned, Raylee had a good day yesterday. Since she had a 'good day' with treatment they wanted to advance her, which means move the next days chemo up 2 hours. This was the plan until Raylee snapped her central line. She thew-up on her favorite blanket & Jerry stepped out of the room for just a minute to throw the blanket in the washer; at this time I was home with Jorja. Well, Jerry was cornered in the parent laundry room by a mother whose daughter is a patient with cancer and she wouldn't stop talking to him. He was gone about 15 minutes. When he came back to the room Raylee crawled out of bed and her central line was snapped. This is super scary because the line is a tube that goes into her chest through a large vein into her heart. No air or bacteria can enter the line, if it does her life could be at risk. An IV team had to come in and repair the tube. The glue used to repair the tube takes about 4 hours to dry before any fluid or meds can enter it....this means chemo was delayed....which also means we will be here another night :( Jerry feels super bad he left the room. It's hard as parents not to blame ourselves for every thing that goes wrong. We learned a lesson though....never leave her in the room alone when she is awake. She doesn't understand the IV tubes and IV pole must follow her.

Blame and guilt are common feelings you feel. First you blame yourself for not knowing your child had cancer, then you feel guilty you didn't know, then anger. The social worker told us these are common and normal feelings. Did I ever mention the social worker checks on us everyday. Her role is to help us cope with all the stress, anger, guilt....everything you feel basically and to connect us to any resources we may need.