Ok...so here is what I found out today as far as I am able to understand it right now. Jude has stage 4s neuroblastoma. It is in his bone marrow. Stage 4s is not as bad as it sounds....it is not stage 4. Here is the definition from the American Cancer Society...
Stage 4S (also called "special" neuroblastoma): The child is younger than 1 year old. The cancer is on one side of the body. It may have spread to lymph nodes on the same side of the body but not to nodes on the other side. The neuroblastoma has spread to the liver, skin, and/or the bone marrow. However, no more than 10% of marrow cells may be cancerous, and imaging tests do not show spread to the bones.
When they initially did the bone marrow biopsy it came back negative but Dr. Shimada in San Diego saw something and wanted to reexamine it. When he did this he found clusters of neuroblastoma on the edge of the bone marrow. That is what categorizes it as Stage 4s. Chemo is not needed at this time but if there are any changes, we will immediately do chemo.
So...not the news I wanted and expected to hear but it is definitely not as bad as it could be. And I am thankful for that. My mind is not fully wrapped around this right now, in fact Brad is talking to Dr. Regueira right now to help us further understand what this means moving forward. I will post more as we know and understand more. Thank you for your continued prayers.
Stage 4S (also called "special" neuroblastoma): The child is younger than 1 year old. The cancer is on one side of the body. It may have spread to lymph nodes on the same side of the body but not to nodes on the other side. The neuroblastoma has spread to the liver, skin, and/or the bone marrow. However, no more than 10% of marrow cells may be cancerous, and imaging tests do not show spread to the bones.
When they initially did the bone marrow biopsy it came back negative but Dr. Shimada in San Diego saw something and wanted to reexamine it. When he did this he found clusters of neuroblastoma on the edge of the bone marrow. That is what categorizes it as Stage 4s. Chemo is not needed at this time but if there are any changes, we will immediately do chemo.
So...not the news I wanted and expected to hear but it is definitely not as bad as it could be. And I am thankful for that. My mind is not fully wrapped around this right now, in fact Brad is talking to Dr. Regueira right now to help us further understand what this means moving forward. I will post more as we know and understand more. Thank you for your continued prayers.
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