modify_evolution
Day 58- Not Alone
Casey and I met with her oncology team today to discuss the amputation, and how it's affected by her lung surgery.
Turns out, the nodules in her lungs weren't entirely dead. What this means is that the chances that there is more cancer in her body that we don't know about are higher, thus that it is more likely she'll get the cancer again after treatment ends. We knew that from the beginning though; that since her cancer had metastasized when we found it, her chances of surviving and her chances of not getting it again were very low.
So. The amputation. They can't justify putting it off anymore. She's got two more rounds of methotrexate, and she'll be getting the amputation the end of February/first week of March. All the soft tissue swelling is gone, but the bone tumor hasn't really shrunk a whole lot, and part of it still stretches across her spine. Her surgeon can save her left leg's nerves, but not the nerves that control bowel and bladder function. Casey will have a colostomy bag and catheter for the rest of her life.
While she's recovering from the surgery (a several-week stay in the hospital), she'll get radiation treatment on the shoulder she got biopsied. With osteosarcoma, they have to surgically remove or radiate any spots that even touched osteosarcoma. So, just to be safe, they're going to radiate that shoulder. It'd be no good to lose arm/shoulder function after a leg amputation.
In case you're new to my photostream: Casey can't get a prosthetic leg. The tumor is in her pelvis, and so they have to remove her right hip and the right half of her pelvis. They can't reattach her leg, as there won't be anything to attach it to. There won't be any muscles left to control a prosthesis.
However, everyone there believed she'll be able to go back to school in the fall.
Day 58- Not Alone
Casey and I met with her oncology team today to discuss the amputation, and how it's affected by her lung surgery.
Turns out, the nodules in her lungs weren't entirely dead. What this means is that the chances that there is more cancer in her body that we don't know about are higher, thus that it is more likely she'll get the cancer again after treatment ends. We knew that from the beginning though; that since her cancer had metastasized when we found it, her chances of surviving and her chances of not getting it again were very low.
So. The amputation. They can't justify putting it off anymore. She's got two more rounds of methotrexate, and she'll be getting the amputation the end of February/first week of March. All the soft tissue swelling is gone, but the bone tumor hasn't really shrunk a whole lot, and part of it still stretches across her spine. Her surgeon can save her left leg's nerves, but not the nerves that control bowel and bladder function. Casey will have a colostomy bag and catheter for the rest of her life.
While she's recovering from the surgery (a several-week stay in the hospital), she'll get radiation treatment on the shoulder she got biopsied. With osteosarcoma, they have to surgically remove or radiate any spots that even touched osteosarcoma. So, just to be safe, they're going to radiate that shoulder. It'd be no good to lose arm/shoulder function after a leg amputation.
In case you're new to my photostream: Casey can't get a prosthetic leg. The tumor is in her pelvis, and so they have to remove her right hip and the right half of her pelvis. They can't reattach her leg, as there won't be anything to attach it to. There won't be any muscles left to control a prosthesis.
However, everyone there believed she'll be able to go back to school in the fall.