The fast track to Recovery

I am almost at a loss for words. We have all known that Cody was strong and a fighter but he has completely blown all of us away. When they were first giving us information about his surgery we were told he would be in the ICU for 7-10 days and then moved to the regular floor for another 2-3 weeks depending on how well his recovery was going. A mere 11 days after surgery Cody was released from the hospital. The doctors and nurses have all been impressed with how well Cody is doing. One in fact said that she wished all her patients were like Cody, her job would be a lot easier. She usually has patients that are not eating for 3 weeks after surgery

Cody is doing really well and feels pretty good. He is glad to be out of the hospital. He still has to be careful moving around since he was cut the entire length of his stomach. He still tires easily, after all his body has been through a lot and it will take awhile to regain strength. Cody still has a feeding tube and will have it for 6 weeks or so. He is eating solid foods but he can't eat a lot he only eats 1/4 to 1/2 cup when he does eat during the day which is why the feeding tube is necessary. Our parents have to hook up the feedings now that he is out of the hospital and he has the "food" running for up to 14 hours at night. He does get nauseous sometimes still and when he does they have to unclamp his tube and hook a bag up to it to allow it to drain. He gets pressure in his stomach and the acids in his stomach make him nauseous still so they unclamp to help releive some of the pressure but he is really doing amazingly well.

They have several appointments on Monday including Labs, Chest x-rays, Appointments with the Oncologist Dr. Pete Anderson, and one with the surgery department. They also have an appointment with Audiology on the 15th to test his hearing again. One of the main side effects of the chemo is hearing loss so they want to check his hearing to see if it was effected. Once they meet with the doctors on Monday they might have a better idea of what the plan for the future holds. We know he needs more chemo and radiation and they are still taking about sending them to Sloan-Kettering Sloan Cancer Center in New York for 8H9. For more information on that study you can check out the link below.

http://www.mskcc.org/mskcc/html/2874.cfm?IRBNO=09-090

Here is a brief overview of the study for the website above.

Purpose :
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the safety of different dose levels of the radiolabelled antibody 8H9 injected into the lining of the abdomen or peritoneum to treat patients with desmoplastic small round cell tumors (DSCRT) or other solid peritoneal tumors. This medicine is an antibody which binds to certain tumors, including DSCRT. Radioactive iodine is bound to 8H9 to deliver radiation directly to the tumor to kill tumor cells.

Right now it is just the waiting game. Waiting for Cody to be feeling better. Waiting to find out where they go from here. In the meantime we are grateful for the blessings we have been given and we will continue to pray for Cody's recovery and pray that they are able to kill all the cancer and that it will never come back.