He then asked about Eric's small seizure activity and was suspicious as to why they are occurring. He is putting Eric back on anti-seizure meds for a little bit. Although you can see scarring on the MRI it doesn't seem to be what is causing the partial seizures it's possible that there is some under laying inflammation that would not be visible on an MRI which maybe irritating the neurological to miss fire.
Next week Eric is scheduled to get new CT scans, meet with the bone marrow people, and get a hearing test done.
A week from Monday Eric will begin more chemo doing a Ve I P treatment of Vinblastine days 1, 2, Ifex and Cistplatin days 1-5. So one week of chemo and two weeks recovery. He will do this twice. (May 20-24 and June 10-14 being the weeks of chemo)
We will coordinate with the medical professionals who will be doing the autologous stem cell rescue (bone marrow transplant) during the second regiment. It will either be the week or second week after when they will give Eric drugs to help his body produce more bone marrow. Once he has a high amount they will remove it through his blood, a machine will separate the stem cells then return the blood to his body. Eric will then receive a very high dose of chemotherapy (not sure of the exact drugs right now other than Dr. C said they will probably be different then the Ve I P) which will hopefully whip him clean of any testicular cancer cells; obviously it will clean out his bone marrow as well so he will then be given his own stem cells back to boost him back up. Due to having no bone marrow means that Eric can't get sick or it maybe fatal even the smallest things. They will restrict visitation quite a bit. Even if someone is around someone who maybe sick they can not visit Eric. This includes myself. Luckily there is Skype, social media, and good old fashion notes & letters that can help Eric deal with the long period of isolation.
I'm trying to explain this the best that I can but if you go here you can visually see an example. I really like the information that this website has on testicular cancer. These stories of survivors are also good. The stem cell rescue and return is pretty intense. Eric will be hospitalized for 18-20+ days. Eric was glad to hear that he would only be restricted to his room and the bone marrow floor and not just a bed like he was in the ICU. It will be done at LDS hospital. When we meet the bone marrow people next week we will find out more information and a better time line of when things will happen.
How are we taking the news?
Of course it is hard to hear Eric isn't better yet but we are confident that Dr. Chandramouli has Eric's best interest in mind and is forming the best plan to cure Eric of this disease.
Other options?
Dr. Chandramouli gave us the option to fly out to Indiana to meet with the father of treating testicular cancer to see what his opinion would be and if we wanted to be treated by him (Dr. Larry Einhornd - Lance Armstrongs doctor) We don't see much difference in going to Indiana for treatment vs. staying here because the plan would be the same. Although in Indiana you are supervised by testicular cancer specialists Eric feels more comfortable being treated here. Dr. C will stay in constant contact with Dr. Einhorn and be advised by him on treatment Eric needs.
To end on a happy note because this little munchkin always brings a smile to everyone.
She is a good helper in the yard!
You are amazing, Eric! Keep up the fight! We think about you guys often and are praying you'll be buoyed up through this!
ReplyDeleteWith Love,
Chris and Suzette Lindquist