Abby's Journey Archive

In the past two weeks we discovered that we have a relative who is a pediatric oncologist and works at Rainbow Children's. I talked to her today, and she had good news for me. Abby is not the typical ATRT patient. Most ATRT patients have already had the tumor spread all over. All of her scans so far are negative (CAT and MRI, spinal tap has not yet been done). She is strongly recommending that we go for a second opinion, and one of the top pediatric oncologists in the country, who is at Children's National Hospital in Washington, D. C., has said that he will see her. So we might be taking a trip. :-)

This site is for kids with ATRTs. Lots of good information and discussion here.

What a day. Praises and prayer requests abound.

First, the praises. We came home. What a great praise. Thank God we are home.

On the drive home from the hospital, I asked Abby what she missed most about being home. She said "I miss Josiah, Daniel, and Elizabeth." What joy that brought to my heart. Thank you God.

She also said she was glad she didn't have to pick her menus anymore. So I told her "no problem, we'll just tell you 'here's what's for dinner!'" :-)

Third praise: the bone scan is negative. That's a lesson for me from God I am sure. Scripture says not to borrow trouble, each day has enough trouble of its own. (Matt 6:34) This is a good memory verse for me.

Now the prayer requests: We met with Dr. Panchoosingh and Dr. Abella (I'm starting to think of them as A&P :-) ). The diagnosis came back as an Atypical Teratoid/Rhabdoid Tumor, or ATRT. This is an extremely rare type of tumor, highly aggressive, and resistant to treatment. There are survivors of this type of cancer. If it does not respond to treatment, however, Dr. Abella's words were "12 to 18 months is a good run."

So please, please keep praying. We already have so much to give God the glory for. What a wonderful testimony it would be to His power if He would heal Abby of this.