Scheduling a CT Scan

It's almost two weeks later and the lymph node is still enlarged! When Jonathan had his last scans / evaluation in February, it was decided that instead of getting scans every 3 months, we would switch to scans every 6 months since the tumor growth was so slow. Even though his scans would now be every six months, he would now receive a physical at the half-way mark in the Oncology clinic. This means that Jonathan will still be at LPCH every 3 months but it wouldn't be for scans, at least, that was the plan.

Since his physical was coming up, July 10th to be exact, we decided to ask if a CT scan could be scheduled, so that way we would have those results to review as well. An appointment was setup for June 30th to see his nurse practitioner and he also had labs and a chest x-ray done. His CT scan was setup for the following Monday, i.e. July 6th, with his MIBG scans occurring later that week, i.e. injection on July 7th and scan on July 8th.

I could see that the folks at the Oncology clinic were a little bit concerned, and the fact that an MIBG scan was also scheduled, and relatively quickly, was further proof. Now I cannot wait to review the results on July 10th. We fear the worse but hope for the best :).

Enlarge lymph node after Oncology Camp

The Okizu Foundation and it's annual summer camps are one of the kids favorite annual activities. Every year, Jonathan goes to Oncology Camp for cancer patients, and Arielle and Brandon go to SIBS (Special Interest Brothers and Sisters) Camp. Although we have not been consistent, for the past two or three years, we've started back going to Family Camp as well. We normally go to the 3 day family camp over the Memorial Day weekend, while the kids 7 day camps are normally planned for the beginning of summer, i.e. normally the second and third weeks of June. My thinking is that it's a great way for the kids to kick-off summer, and it leaves the rest of summer interruption free in case there is family visiting or we have to make road-trips.

This year, Oncology Camp was first, and as happened previously, Jonathan came back with a horsed voice. Coincidentally, Brandon came back with a sore throat the following week, so we know the kids main focus is on having as much fun as possible, which probably means not resting enough and "running down" their bodies. When Jonathan came back, he noticed / pointed out that he had a lump on his neck. This seemed very similar to the enlarged lymph node that he experienced last year which turned out to be a tumor. Our minds immediately feared that he had relapse, but we also knew that he was losing his voice. We were not sure if the lump or enlarged lymph node was due to his being sick or fighting some sort of cold, or indeed a relapse. I guess we were hoping it was due to him being sick, but we suspected it was probably due to a relapse.

I almost sent an email to his Oncology Team that Sunday night, but we decided to hold off for a day or two to verify whether it was indeed related to his being sick!