Pathology report and the fight begins!

The pathology report came back tonight and we met with Dr. Stern, Julia’s oncologist. The mass is confirmed as a reoccurance of the Wilm’s tumor. The challenge iswhere the tumor is located and how large it has grown. It is pressing against her trachea and right lung. They are not sure what the tumor is growing on and it needs to shrink before the entire course oftreatment can be determined. Julia will begin chemotherapy right away. The drug regimine will be different than whatwasused the last time – stronger drugs and a longer course oftreatment. Chemo will start tomorrow andJulia will get daily treatments for the next five days. They need to give the first few rounds of chemo through an IV. There is too much risk in the surgery for placing a port right now. They will schedule the port placementonce the tumor gets smaller. There areso manyunknowns, but wedo know thatthis tumor grewquickly (there was no sign of it 3 months ago) and we know that the drugs are going to workeven faster to kill these cancer cells. It is going to be a long road, but Julia so strong and so brave. She is going to beat this.