Needless to say today was long, we arrived at Children's at 7:30am and Georgia was discharged by about 10:30am then we waited, ate, waited, napped, waited until mama couldn't wait anymore so I called and asked when we would hear something. About an hour later I got a call from the nurse practitioner on our team to let me know that she didn't have any information but that the oncology, hematology, orthopedic and radiology folks were meeting to review Georgia's scan, my stomach sank, if there was nothing there, then there wouldn't be anything to meet about. I was told that our head oncologist would be calling either later tonight or in the morning.. we waited some more then the phone rang. The gist is this - the mass is still there, perhaps slightly smaller but there none the less. There is a fluid pocket in the mass which is often seen when cells have died. To determine if the cells in the mass are alive or dead Georgia will need to have a third biopsy done. Our oncologist is working on getting a hold of the orthopedic surgeon who did Georgia's initial and most invasive biopsy, he is very highly regarded and we hope that he'll be able to do it this time around. Likely this will happen within a weeks time.
Assuming the cells are dead then we stay on track for transplant - some details of that, although tentative became clearer this evening. Typically with an AML solid mass radiation is done on the specific site prior to transplant, they are planning on 11 doses on Georgia's leg. From there we are looking at about six days of chemotherapy, a day of rest then transplant, if all goes according to the tentative plan Georgia will receive new bone marrow just after the first of the year.
I don't know how I feel, I wanted it to just be gone and it isn't but a mass the same size that is dead is better than a smaller mass that has living cells. Radiation comes with some big concerns, exactly where is the tumor on her leg - on or near a growth plate? Our oncologist said that it didn't look like it but gave the discalimer that she certainly wasn't an orthopedic specialist. Radiation can weaken the bone so there will be conversation in the future about what all of this means. When she was going over the proposed schedule she said, you'd be home for the holidays... yes, I thought but right now that doesn't seem like a big win, I just want to get this over with, waiting through the holidays while Georgia is getting out patient radiation doesn't exactly put me in the holiday spirit. Mostly I'm just so tired, life exausts me right now and I don't see an end to that any time soon.