We finally got to do an MRI on Rach this past week. We did not get the news that we were hoping and praying for. Rachel's cancer is still slowly growing which means that the chemo has not stopped it. Our main goal for chemo in the first place was to at least stop the cancer from growing until she is old enough to receive radiation treatment at 3. We have more chemo options that we are considering. All of them are harsher drugs than before but they will hit the cancer from a different angle. Rachel's cancer, PNET, is not curable with chemo alone but the chemo can effectively control the cancer and will help when radiation is received. The problem with chemo in dealing with brain cancer is that the brain has a blood barrier that protects it from foreign substances- that does not work in her favor! We knew that this is going to be a fight but we had hoped that we were at least on the right track. As long as Rachel can tolerate chemo we will keep trying. So far, she has handled it well for a kid her size. She is definitely a fighter and is very stubborn and we hope that she continues to be. Those character traits are what she needs to get through this! She has not shown regression in development so we are hoping that means the growth is small. She is getting a feeding tube on Tuesday. We chose to do this because Rachel has been weakened by her lack of appetite and she is extremely thin. We want her to be strong and the only way for her to gain weight is for us to intervene. She will be in the hospital this week, and depending on which treatment we do from here, should get more chemo within the next week as well. She will also have a kidney test on Monday. This week will be a hard one for her so please keep us in your thoughts and prayers.
