Official Diagnosis

​We had a good day today - Noah's arm is healing nicely, so Dr. B. gave the ok to go ahead with treatment. We didn't actually have an appointment to meet with Noah's oncologist, but we stopped by her office anyway to see if our results were in. Thankfully we got to speak with her! Here is what we found out : the results of the lumbar puncture were clear of any cancer cells. The results from Dr. Burger at John's Hopkins were different from the original pathology report. He found that Noah's tumor is a choroid plexus carcinoma; we were told this is very rare. (WebMD reports between the choroid plexus papilloma and the choroid plexus carcinoma, "these types of tumors account for 0.4% to 0.6% of all brain tumors, 2% to 4% of brain tumors in children, and 10% to 20% of brain tumors manifesting in the first year of life. Papillomas outnumber carcinomas by a 10:1 ratio. ") Only 2 children in the past 8 years have been treated at Children's in Birmingham for this type of tumor. The same treatment regimen has been used on both children, and will also be used in Noah's case. We are confident in the ability of Noah's oncologist to choose the best treatment for him. We were told this is an aggressive, fast-growing tumor. The best form of treatment is surgery/chemotherapy. Since Noah has already been through surgery, our next step is chemo. He is scheduled to be admitted on Wednesday 12/30 to begin his first round of treatment (of at least 6). Each round will require a 3-day stay in the hospital, then 4 weeks later he will go through another round, and so on. Also with his first treatment he will have another MRI to see what kind of residual tumor is there....we're praying there will be NONE! If they do in fact find any "leftovers," they will wait until after round 3 of treatment to go in again, with the hopes that the chemo will have reduced blood supply to tumor (since it is so vascular) and will be easier to remove. Now, you may remember that after the last MRI Noah's neurosurgeon commented that he believed they may have removed most of the tumor. I realize that he has to choose his words wisely, and that this next MRI will reveal better how much tumor he actually removed...but we're still believing that it's completely gone! Back to the treatment: we have been given some information on 3 different drugs that will be used in Noah's treatment, and the side-effects that most likely will follow about 5 days after treatment. We are asking that you now pray not only for Noah's tumor to have been completely removed, but that the chemo will not have the typical affect on his body and it does on most children. We are asking God to keep him healthy, energetic, strong, etc. throughout the duration of this treatment.
Today was a sobering day, but a good day. Noah responded well to all the medical staff, he did great during the long haul back and forth to the hospital, he even lasted through about 30 minutes of our church's recognition dinner tonight. When we finally arrived home, he played the drums, "sang" and "played" his guitar, hit the baseball off the T a few times, ate some ice cream, hammed it up for my mom's new video camera....you would never guess my little man was ill. And that made it a good day.
Once again, thank you for your prayers, support, and love. Our story should print in the new "Athens Now" this week for those in our community that haven't heard our story. I pray Noah will continue to bring encouragement and hope to those who are searching for it...and I pray he will point many to the One True Source of hope - Jesus Christ. May God bless you! 

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Burn after surgery, excised and stiched