I'm going to break my rule about keeping my private family business off the net. Since the relevant family members have not felt a need to keep this private, I'm going to dump it on the world or at least on my handful of readers.
My nephew who is 2 years old was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma in August. It was an advanced tumor and is know to be very aggressive. At the time of diagnosis we were told that the survival rate at 5 years is around 50%. His treatment has been unimaginably aggressive. Chemotherapy, surgery and preparation for a bone marrow transplant. There have been all the usual complications with the poor little guy spending much of the last month in the hospital with fevers, GI problems, an abdominal infection and so forth.
Today we got the worse news. His latest staging scan reveals bone metastases. I don't know many details but it sounds like the hospital that is treating him feels that his current treatment has totally failed and they are looking for new protocols. It seems likely that if they go ahead, they will need to go out of state for treatment.
I cannot imagine how this all is for my brother and his wife. They just had a baby daughter a couple of weeks after their son was diagnosed. The family has basically had to split in two with my brother in the hospital with his son and my sister-in-law home with the baby and holding down the job that provides the essential health insurance. My brother who is self-employed has put his career on hold to do nothing but care for his son.
Some days life just seems so cruel. This is one of those days.
6 comments:
I am so sorry about your nephew. Does he have a caringbridge or other webpage? Carolyn Wing grandma to Laura Stage IV neuroblastoma carepages.com page name LauraVDB
carolyn_wing@yahoo.com
Carolyn,
Thanks for your kind thoughts. Yes my nephew has a Caring Bridge site. I think his is stage IV too. I hope your granddaughter is doing well. From your blog it sounds like she is doing pretty well at present. I will see if I can look up Laura's page. Carter's is:
http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/carterkronmal
I'm very sorry. This is a very rough time not only for your brother and sister-in-law but for the entire extended family. May you all have the strength and grace to face what comes.
That sucks. I was screened and I am on the BMT registry (my sister has leukemia). I wish there were something tangible I could do to help.
My prayers and hopes go out to your nephew and his family. I can not imagine how difficult this all has to be.
oh poor little boy, this most be so hard for everyone in the family.
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