The Roadmap

Monday Cody had lab work and a chest x-ray which looked good. Finally there is no fluid in his lungs. They also had a consult with one of the doctors with surgery and they are very happy with Cody's progress. They met with Dr. Anderson as well and he was also impressed with Cody's progress. He called Cody resilient. Dr Anderson layed out the roadmap so they now have a plan. Dr. Anderson has compared this cancer the last 3 visits with him to Zombies. He says we've killed it now we have to make sure it's dead and stayes dead.

Cody has to return on Friday for more blood work and if his counts look good they will start chemo on Monday. Cody will need to have chemo every 3-4 weeks for the next 6-12 months (Preferably 12 months but it all depends on how well he does with this course of chemo. The first dose will be given at MD Anderson and the rest will be done in Salt Lake City as an outpatient. Cody will be getting Irinotecan IV through his central line and Temozolomide which is taken orally for 5 consecutive days. At least this time around he can go in get the chemo over a few hours and leave. He won't be stuck in the hospital for a week like before. He also needs a dose of Radiation which will be done at MD Anderson 2 months after the 1st round of chemo. They will need to fly back to Houston for that. It looks like he will only need one dose of radiating as of now.

Cody still has a long road ahead but he should be able to get back to most of his normal life activites now that surgery is out of the way. The doctors keep stressing the fact that he needs to live a normal life. This next course of chemo isn't as rough as the first and his counts shouldn't drop to nothing like they did with the other chemo medications so hopefully he'll be back to school, playing basketball, and bowling soon. Once he's fully recovered from the surgery of course.