Pre-Radiation

This morning Rosalie had her pre-radiation appointment. It involved building a form-fitting mask and a CT scan, so she needed to be under anesthesia. First, they built her mask which looks like a very sturdy fish net that has been shrink wrapped into the shape of her head. Then, with the mask holding her in position, they placed her under the CT and took a scan. The next step will be for them to map out her radiation plan by converging today's CT with her prior MRI. This way the radiation oncologists will be able to radiate the tumor site or the tumor "bed."

Again, Rosalie was a trooper. We are happy that she has a central line (Broviac) because she does not need to use the scary mask each time she is anesthesized. Instead, I can just engage her in a quiet activity as they inject the propofyl into her line, and she falls right asleep.

When she wakes up she is very droopy and loopy. But it wears off quite quickly.

If Rosalie's neutrophil count is high enough, we will begin radiation on Wednesday. If not, we'll begin the following Wednesday.

For those of you who have recently joined our blog, Rosalie will undergo conformal radiation, not full-cranial/spinal radiation as is the standard for older children. Because Rosalie is so young, they do not like to radiate the entire brain and spine because of the devastating long-term effects such as cognitive disablities and endocrine/hormonal issues. On the other hand, they know that medulloblastoma is highly sensitive to radiation - so we'd like use what might be considered our best weapon. Our hope, of course, is that the radiation will zap any microscopic tumor cells while sparing the healthy tissue. Rosalie is enrolled in a Phase III clinical trial which is studying this sort of radiation in children with medulloblastoma ages 8 mo.---3 years. As a parent, this is incredibly scary, but it also offers an amazing amount of hope. Even high-dose chemotherapy has not proven to be terribly effective at preventing medulloblastoma from reoccuring. I recently read an article about why pediatric cure rates are so much higher than adult cure rates. One of the main arguments was that children, who are treated at cancer centers, have greater access to clinical trials. Adults, on the other hand, often do not want to enroll in clinical trials or do not have access to them. This article helped reinforce our decision to use this treatment protocol.

Thank you all for your continued prayers and support.

Love,
Carolyn