I’m sitting in a recliner next to Bryce’s hospital bed at University of Colorado Hospital’s Anschutz Inpatient Pavilion, room 1120, where Bryce is sleeping and snoring. Today will be day three of chemotherapy. It has been a rough week, and every day seems to get a little bit scarier.
We visited the melanoma specialist Wednesday morning here in Aurora, Colorado. He looked at Bryce’s chart, x-rays, scans and labs, then he looked Bryce right in the eye and said, “You might live for 2 months.” It was a very frightening, sobering moment, where I couldn’t breathe for what seemed like minutes. Bryce was so terrified.
He compared the original chest x-ray with Monday’s PET scan, and determined that the tumors had almost doubled in size and number. In just 2 days!! The original plan, which included five biochemotherapy drugs, changed to three chemotherapy drugs. Bryce’s lungs are too diseased to handle the other two drugs. The doctor thought he saw a small tumor on Bryce’s heart on the PET scan, so he sent Bryce to have an echocardiogram. That test confirmed the tumor, but in two days the tumor had doubled in size. It was now 6 cm. Because of the heart findings, he checked Bryce into the inpatient oncology ward just to be safe. The chemo was scheduled to start the next day, Thursday.
Bryce had a CT scan of his chest Thursday morning to make sure the tumor had not eaten away the pericardium. If it had, the chemo could shrink the tumor and leave a hole in his heart. Thankfully, his heart was intact. Unfortunately, the tumor had grown to 11 cm—in just one day!! Bryce’s poor heart is squashed pretty flat, but it's beating.
He has completed 2 days of chemo, and he feels nauseous and weak. He may lose his hair, which would look pretty cool. If things go well, we may go home Monday or Tuesday, only to return in 2 weeks for more treatments.
Both mommies are here, so we have good support. Bryce is so loved! Keep the prayers coming!!!
We visited the melanoma specialist Wednesday morning here in Aurora, Colorado. He looked at Bryce’s chart, x-rays, scans and labs, then he looked Bryce right in the eye and said, “You might live for 2 months.” It was a very frightening, sobering moment, where I couldn’t breathe for what seemed like minutes. Bryce was so terrified.
He compared the original chest x-ray with Monday’s PET scan, and determined that the tumors had almost doubled in size and number. In just 2 days!! The original plan, which included five biochemotherapy drugs, changed to three chemotherapy drugs. Bryce’s lungs are too diseased to handle the other two drugs. The doctor thought he saw a small tumor on Bryce’s heart on the PET scan, so he sent Bryce to have an echocardiogram. That test confirmed the tumor, but in two days the tumor had doubled in size. It was now 6 cm. Because of the heart findings, he checked Bryce into the inpatient oncology ward just to be safe. The chemo was scheduled to start the next day, Thursday.
Bryce had a CT scan of his chest Thursday morning to make sure the tumor had not eaten away the pericardium. If it had, the chemo could shrink the tumor and leave a hole in his heart. Thankfully, his heart was intact. Unfortunately, the tumor had grown to 11 cm—in just one day!! Bryce’s poor heart is squashed pretty flat, but it's beating.
He has completed 2 days of chemo, and he feels nauseous and weak. He may lose his hair, which would look pretty cool. If things go well, we may go home Monday or Tuesday, only to return in 2 weeks for more treatments.
Both mommies are here, so we have good support. Bryce is so loved! Keep the prayers coming!!!
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