12/21/2007

Scan week

Yesterday and today we scanned - MIBG and MRI. Since I was off work as of yesterday, I went with Max to the MIBG on Thursday. He did well, except towards the end when he had a little meltdown on the full-body scan. However, that's nothing that a cheap plastic dinosaur the wonderful techs (ie, Melissa) keep around for just such a moment.

So, for the news everyone is waiting for.... the damn spot is still there on the T11 vertebrae. This is my read during scan, but it was clearly still there. I couldn't tell if the spot was larger or smaller than before. As well, no new spots either, which would be expected. We're meeting with the head of radiology to get a better idea of the interpretation of the data than the written report can provide.

Still, not the ultimate outcome we were hoping for, but at the worst we're stable with minimal, refractory disease.. But then, the outcome we'd most like to hear would be, "cancer gone and looks like its never coming back," but those are not words a rational NB parent ever expects to hear. But in this holiday season (since we just watched 'The Polar Express'), ya gotta believe!

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and all the blessings of the winter holidays to everyone!

12/17/2007

Fab photos



A friend of Neil Hutchison's is going to partipate in the RAAM (Race Across America) again this year. As part of their fundraising efforts, they wanted a picture of Sam and Max, in order to put some faces to their efforts.

Neil and Margot, Sam's parents, are friends with this amazing photographer. We met her on Sunday afternoon just east of La Jolla in a county park. You'd never know there was a 4-lane highway 100 yards away. It's quite a lovely place to be in the winter, with large, stately oak trees and lots of mud and leaves to get dirty in.

Deb Schwedhelm Photography [deb@debsphotographs.com] is her name, should you want to contact her. I'll be posting some additional pics taken last weekend by our family photographer Shannon Boyd, who is equally talented at capturing our family in a most favorable manner.

12/15/2007

Lab Rat?

The WSJ article on Sam Hutchison ran in today's (Saturday) Wall Street Journal. It's a Page One article so hopefully it will bring some good attention to our cause! You can click here to read the story for free.

12/04/2007

Persimmon season

Please read today's (December 4th) post from Lucas Tran's website. His mom Thy wrote it. It's sadly beautiful, and puts into perspective what important this time of year.

Lucas became an angel on October 16th.