Figuring it out

Bit by bit we are learning what Anya's treatment will look like. We know the chemo side of things because our pediatric oncologist, Dr. A is fabulous. Anya loves her and she has been excellent about explaining things to us and being open to questions at any time. Anya also has an ophthalmologist/ocular oncologist who we haven't had as much communication with. This is the doctor that performed the exams under anesthesia for both Anya and Reese. We asked him some questions on Friday, but when your baby is waking up from anesthesia, it just really isn't a good time to talk. We hope to get more answers soon.

We know that the chemotherapy will shrink the tumors, or at least, that is the desired effect. They don't, however, get rid of the tumors and for that Anya will receive either lasers or cryotherapy (freezing) directly on the tumors. For this to happen she will, of course be under anesthesia. We already have her next exam scheduled for June 18th. During the exam the ophthalmologist will check to see how the tumors are reacting to the chemotherapy. He claimed that in his experience, they always respond very well, meaning that they shrink significantly. He then decides during the exam whether or not to treat the tumors with lasers or cryotherapy, or possibly he won't treat them and will wait longer. There seems to be a tricky balance here because sometimes after direct treatment with lasers, the chemo can't get into the tumor as well. So, they want the tumors to be as receptive to the chemo as possible, yet they still need to do what they can to get rid of the tumors.

Anya will likely feel pain after these treatments, "similar to if you burned your hand on the stove" is actually what the doctor said. I don't know how long that feeling will last. I also don't know how often she will be examined and treated. We are guessing that it will be monthly. Likewise, we don't know how often Reese will be examined, but it will be more often than we originally thought. For her, we will go into the eye doctor's office in two months for another examination, this time not with anesthesia. And will likely continue to do that regularly along with exams under anesthesia until we get the results back from the genetic testing, and even then there will be more exams. In this case, you most certainly can never be too safe.

To close on a good note, Anya has been feeling great. In fact, if I hadn't been at the hospital with her and seen the chemo go into her body or seen the tumors on her MRI, I would never guess that she is sick in any way. Her energy is good, she is eating as good as ever, and she is happy as could be. Sometime this week is when we expect her hair to start falling out, which will be a clear reminder to us all of what is going on in her body.

We learned this last week that giraffes come in all shapes and sizes. We'll be sharing more photos with you to show you too.