From Dawn about Braeden:
Ok, gang, I promised to post test results when we got them. Unfortunately, they aren't exactly what we'd hoped for. First the great: Braeden's bone marrow aspiriate and biopsy came back clear. His abdominal CT was normal. His bone scan was perfect. Next is the mixed bag: his 24 hour urine came back showing his catecholamines still slightly elevated (they were pre-transplant as well). They are, however, MUCH MUCH lower than last May! {Catecholamines are substances that are in urine, but are elevated in a large percentage of kids with neuroblastoma} Dr. Mageed and Dr. Axtell were not concerned about this at that point, they just said we would likely need to watch Braeden more closely than originally thought. Wednesday Braeden had his MIBG scan. This is a nuclear med scan that uses MIBG, as substance absorbed by neuroblastoma cells, to "light up" areas of concern (i.e. where there are neuroblastoma cells). Dr. Axtell called this afternoon to tell me that Braeden's scan came back with a new "brighter" spot near his collarbone on the right side (there should be a bright spot on each side, but his right side is brighter than the left). He needs to have a CT scan done of that area to rule out a problem. We are hopeful that it was just an issue of body position in the scanner. At this time, Dr. Axtell isn't worrying, so neither are we, but we wanted to let you all know so you can all be praying about this! We so appreciate our prayer warriors! Braeden should be having his CT in the next week or so, we will keep you all posted. Thanks, everyone!