I received this update today: If you haven't read it on caringbridge.com, here is Zack’s story: Zack's battle began 12/28/05 with the diagnosis of Wilms Tumor (a childhood kidney cancer). The tumor and his right kidney were removed on 2/22/06 (where the diagnosis changed from favorable histology to diffuse anaplastic). After eleven and a half months of chemotherapy and twelve radiation treatments, he was shown to be cancer free and in remission. While his scans on 2/1/07 were clear, his scans on 5/1/07 showed a liver tumor. Surgery (a liver resection and small bowel resection) was done to remove the tumor on 5/3/07. After an eleven day stay (seven in ICU), Zack was discharged from Phoenix Children's Hospital on Mother's day (5/13/07). Ten radiation treatments followed at Banner Good Sam. Then came the UMC Tucson experience: surgery (6/4/07) for pheresis catheter placement, six weeks rescuing Zack's stem cells, a 44 day admission (7/26/07) for six days of high dose chemotherapy and a stem cell transplant (8/3/07), discharged for week with readmission for a week for a line infection and paracentesis (2.6liters removed), surgery (10/22/07) which turned out to be an exploratory lap. with appendectomy instead of a liver rescection (no malignancy found), emergency surgery (10/28/07) for bowel perforation, another surgery (10/29/07) to resect the bowel and prep for a colostomy, 11 days in ICU (9 days on a ventilator)/26 total days for this admission and discharged home for Thanksgiving with an "open" wound and a colostomy. Follow up CT scan on 12/18/07 was clear though still a couple of spots left from the abscess. On 1/10/07, it was determined by a hearing test that Zack has mild to moderate bilateral sensorineural hearing loss as a result of medicines used for his transplant and treatment (Carboplatin). He received loaner hearing aides on 3/19/08 to see if insurance approves coverage for his own. Surgery has been postponed to reverse the colostomy (and revise the scar). The CT done 3/24/08 showed an increase in the size of the "abscesses", but no sign of tumor recurrance. Next follow up scan, end of June. This is from Zack’s CaringBridge site. Unfortunately the follow up scan did show a tumor recurrence. Zack will be back in surgery today at 2 PM. The family is asking for your prayers. You can read journal entries from his mom about everything that has happened this week on the "Journal" page. There are also bracelets for sale to help raise funds for the Schumann family. You can find a photo, description and info to purchase by clicking here. |