Nothing at Edmonton.
Next: a doctor in Toronto will be asked to - if she is willing - to do a review of Tom's file and the raw scans (not just the radiology reports) and give us a second opinion as to whether or not there are any other options available to Thomas.
We're swinging for the fences and pray we connect on this one.
We would surely appreciate your continued prayers. I don't like this nagging cough Tom has and hope that our 'friend' Mr. Ewing's is not on the move. Of course, I think you never let your guard down. It's been over three years of worrying about every physical symptom and living on high alert. I don't know if that ever goes away. When is a cold just a cold? I don't know if it ever is, once they utter that word into existence in your life. You know the word I mean.
Tom has dreams of a normal life. One where he finishes his education, marries a great girl, and has a family - without a wheelchair if at all possible. His dream is to be a (fabulously successful) video game designer and then on his property build a fancy pool house for Grandma and Grandpa Fahlman to live. And help with the kids sometimes. (His sisters like this because I used to
These dreams may make no sense to the doctor who simply looks at the statistics.
Statistically speaking, Tom should not even be here to have this conversation with us.
We hope this makes the doctor in Toronto curious enough to want to take the time to look into his case more closely.
To be honest, it took a great deal of persuasion and persistence to get to this stage, so we are going all in on this pitch.
Please also pray that we hit a home run.
Thanks again for checking in on us, and for your continued love and support.
Tom's Mom
Update April 18, 2012:
Dr. Abha Gupta in Toronto, a staff oncologist with a special interest in sarcomas and adolescent oncology, and a frequently published author on the topic of Ewing's Sarcoma, has agreed to review his scans and his file. Praying that she takes a full, open-minded review of Tom's file and will have some recommendations.
The cough has lessened, but the chest still does not sound totally clear. To get a more clear picture of what's going on, a CT of his chest will be done this coming Friday (April 20). Praying that the chest continues to clear and this is not an advance of the cancer.
Update April 20, 2012:
The scan was completed quickly and easily, and the radiologist only did one pass, without contrast. They didn't think doing a second one with contrast dye was necessary. Now, I am by no means a radiologist, but our experience has been that they typically use contrast when they need to diagnose or measure an anomaly - i.e., a tumour. So the fact they didn't think the scan with contrast dye was needed is to us a good sign. (Fingers crossed!). Meanwhile, happy to report the cough has essentially disappeared and we aren't hearing a crackling noise. Prayer works! Keep it up!
