Max has to have chemotherapy – probably for as long as 6 months.
We got to GOS and settled Max into the ENT ward. It was felt that because of his trachy, and the uncertainty over the state of his airway, that he would be better off on the Peter Pan ward rather than the Lion ward (oncology) as they are more able to deal with his trachy and any problems that might arise as a result.
We then had a chat with the oncologist.
The tumour is obviously a lot larger than we had imagined, and it is threatening to compromise his lower airway. It is pushing the various vessels and nerves in his neck aside, and is squashing his voice box. We are lucky that we caught it when we did.
The chemotherapy drugs will attack the cells that are multiplying too quickly, and cause the tumour to shrink – unfortunately, it attacks all cells that divide quickly, and thus his hair follicles will be affected, so he will loose all his hair, and presumably his beautiful eyelashes as well. The next 6 months are not going to be easy.
On Monday they are going to do a number of checks, to take a close look at the tumour, and also to ensure that he doesn’t have any more of these tumours anywhere else. As these investigations are going to involve a general anasthetic, we hope that he will (finally) be able to get his gastrostomy (the tumour is also pushing against his ng tube). We are expecting him (and Silvs) to stay in GOS for the next week, and then to have weekly chemotherapy sessions as an outpatient, hopefully at St George’s as it is so much closer than GOS.
The oncologist did say however that, despite the hard beginning, the long term prognosis is positive – better than for our initial fear of papillomas which never really goes away. Hopefully, in time, the tumour will go away completely – alternatively, it will become small enough to become operable. Obviously his hair will grow back as well.
Having taken all this onboard, we went out to get something to eat. After we had our starter, the nurse looking after Max called us to say that he had gone blue while having his feed. They stopped the feed, and his sats returned to normal, but they took a chest xray to check. We finished our meal quickly and went back in to find that the little chap was basically fine.
It is clear that the tumour is beginning to interfere with his existing airway.