Matthews Cancer Adventure

Best Clinic Visit Ever!

Well, first of all I apologize for such a long delay since the last update.

Matthew’s journey through the first cycle of Immunotherapy started out smooth as silk. However, after a few days he started experiencing the nerve pain they had mentioned would happen. He actually seems to have a pretty high pain threshold but even with that he needed to take advantage of the on demand pain medication periodically to keep things at a manageable level. Then a few more expected symptoms came along. Everything seemed to happen a little later than the doctors expected, but it came along none-the-less. We thank God that Matthew fared well. He did develop a fever from one of the meds that took a few days to go away but once it was gone it was GONE!

Then the rains came!!!!!

Most of you may have been aware that Houston got its share of rain not that long ago. A storm front just kept the rain coming until much of the Houston area was under water or the threat of being under water from flooding. Sadly this kept me from being able to get to the medical center to pick Matthew and Mom up and also affected the ability of the pharmacy to make home delivery of a necessary post chemo medicine. Combine all these factors and Matthew ended up with a few extra days stay in the hospital. A Saturday release turned into a Tuesday release. Matthew wasn’t overly happy with the extra time but he dealt with it like a champ.

Then came the drive home. Wow! He was so excited and his “going home” music mix seemed extra special this time.

The time at home has been great. Matthew has been able to get more homebound schooling done and he even got to invite sweet Emma out to his uncles house as we all gathered to visit his Uncle Craig who was in town on business.

And in due time we had to have another clinic visit. As you can see from the picture at the top (with his Physicians Assistant) all went very well. His hemoglobin numbers were higher than they have been since we started this “Adventure”. And the P.A. was smiling when she saw his platelet number since this treatment usually has an effect on those and his have actually gone up since treatment ended and not down. We couldn’t be happier and give God all the glory for these great numbers!

Thank you all so much for your prayers, love and support.

Immunotherapy Begins

We go in for the 1st cycle of Immunotherapy today. It lasts 5 days.

The blessing is that there shouldn’t be any nausia this time!

However, during the treatment could cause some nerve pain and possibly diarrhea. They will thankfully be keeping Matthew on pain meds and they have preemptively had him on something for the possible diarrhea.

When Matthew heard what this treatment entailed he responded with his usual “down for the adventure” attitude. We thank God for the faith and strength he has given our remarkable young man.  And we pray for God to make this part of the “Adventure” as smooth and effective as possible. May the Immunotherapy target only the cells that need to be ellminated and leave all the healthy cells and tissue alone! May He bless Matthew with little or no pain and no other side effects!

The great news!!! … as soon as treatment is over whatever pain and diarrhea will go away immediately.

2 cycles of this, more MIBG scanning, and if the immunotherapy is effective they can decide to do up to 4 more cycles, if needed, before considering the radiation treatment in Ft Worth.

Have a blessed day in the Lord!

And … Happy Eastertide! He is Risen, Indeed. Alleluia!!!

Happy Easter. He is Risen Indeed. Alleluia!

Many people have been asking how Matthew is doing since we came home Sunday. I have figured out that the words I might use to describe how he is doing pale in comparison to showing a picture. This picture is when Emma’s family invited us all over for a wonderful Easter dinner (awesome people – lots of fun, food & games) the day we came home!! That says it all. It says exactly how he is doing!

Since then Matthew’s gone places with buddies, fished at our lake with friends,  gone to the movies with Dad & is currently cooking dinner with Emma.

Thank you all for the continued prayers & support!

May the Lord bless you and keep you!!!

The Bass Brothers 

After a long 12 day stay in the hospital for recovery from his 11 hour tumor removal surgery Matthew was excited, as always, to get home however this return home came with the added excitement of getting to open his birthday present that arrived just after this 12 day stay started.

Big brother Jesse came over to help Matthew get oriented to the bass. Many thanks to Jesse, Christi, Kelly and Meemaw for helping to make this birthday wish come true.

We are thankful that, though there were a couple of minor hiccups at the end of the stay, they did release us to come home. Now a few more weeks of ‘taking it easy’ aND then on to the next steps.

Matthew will be moving on to 2 cycles of what they call Immunotherapy before we head up to the Dallas area for the radiation therapy. This is a different order than originally planned due to the longer recovery from surgery. But this is the will of God so we thank Him and praise Him and give Him all the glory!!!

Thank you all for your continued prayers and support. This is quite the Adventure!

Should He Stay or Should He Go?

That is the question we are asking and (not so) patiently awaiting an answer to.

It has been quite the adventure getting through the post surgery recovery. Many expectations exceeded and then a little concern about Matthew’s hemoglobin. But the last two checks of his bloodwork have been quite good, as far as we can tell, so we are understandably curious when he will be released to go home. What are the doctors looking to have happen before they will discharge him? We hope to find out shortly.

Sweet Emma has stopped by for a visit and good friend Ross is on his way for a visit too. These visits mean so much to Matthew and are such good medicine.

Thank you all for your continued prayers and support!

“Buzzing Around”

Update from Mom: “When they said the goal of the day was to walk, I thought they meant across the room. They let him decide the distance & Uncle “Buzz” was here to see him walk what Chris measures to be 100 yards!”

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Thanks Uncle “Buzz” (Dave) for your visit and thanks also to big sister Christi for being their with such love and support!

Thanks be to God for how well Matthew is doing! He has heard what the doctors, nurses and caregivers want him to do and is right on top of it. And exceeding their expectations!!

The doctor (surgeon) and his OR head nurse both stopped by to check on him last night after they finished yet another long surgery for another patient. WOW! They are very pleased with Matthew’s recovery progress. We are so thankful to God for the means He works through.

As parents it is very humbling to go through this Adventure and see all the people who are praying daily for Matthew and supporting him on this Adventure. To God be all the glory!!!

I have said it before but can’t say it enough …

May the Lord bless you and keep you!

“Exceeding Expectations”

Well, by the grace of God, Matthew was ready, willing and able to sit up, do some leg movements, and stand for 5 minutes only 18 hours after the end of the nearly 11 hour surgery! The Physical Therapy folks said that they didn’t expect him to do that until the next day. He exceeded their expectations!

Today, Friday, he has been up sitting in a chair for over an hour, this too exceeding the PT folks expectations.

Soon he will be asked to get up and take a few steps … any guess how that will go?

Mom has described him as our “Humble Warrior”.

We are humbled by him.

All glory be to God and our sincerest thanks to all the doctors and caregivers at TX Childrens Hospital, and to all you who are praying for and supporting Matthew on this Adventure!

Glory be to God!

Thank you Lord for the means you provided to rid Matthew’s body of 99.9% of the Neuroblastoma tumors! What little remains will be attacked by the MIBG treatment in April.

Dr. Nuchtern, surgeon, with Dr Glass, anesthesiologist, and all the staff, especially Donald, the surgery liason, did an amazing job. Thank you Lord for this skilled group of care-givers.

He is in recovery and all his vitals are good. He understandably is in some post-operative pain but the nurses are getting that managed and we hope to go to a standard room soon.

We thank you for your continued prayers and ongoing support!

Today is surgery day!

The doctors are hard at work removing the tumor. Matthew is stable and everything is going well.

Donald, our surgery liaison, is amazing. But he will be the first to tell you that it is God working not him. He keeps saying Matthew is covered in the Blood (of Jesus).

To God be all the glory!!!

Please keep Matthew in your prayers. We know that God has given him the best caregivers!

Thank you for your continued prayers and ongoing support!!

May the Lord bless you and keep you!!!

Surgery is a go …

Well, we are set for surgery.
We were waiting for word from the doctors office and trying to make plans for Spring Break and the phone just wasn’t ringing. We were given several indications that this week wasn’t going to work out but we hadn’t received the final official word. We were making tentative plans for Spring Break and yet we couldn’t lock anything down without confirmation from the doctors office. The waiting to hear was not helping so Janet got very persistent with her calling them to get a “go tomorrow” or a “wait until next week” and we finally got the word. Surgery is tomorrow. Surprise! … well sort of.

This news means that Mom has taken Matthew for pre-op blood work today. Our hope and prayer is that the numbers will be amazing today so they can come right back home … Surgery will likely require some blood products no matter what, so we pray for a good type and cross match and that the Lord will bless not only whatever Matthew needs tomorrow but also the people who give of themselves to allow this and other surgeries to happen.

We ask God’s blessing on the surgery tomorrow. May he bless the surgeons, and caregivers, with all the skill, knowledge, patients, stamina and discernment they need to get every bit of infected tissue and pave the way for the radiation treatment next month to knock this stuff out of him. The recovery time from surgery will be about a week in the hospital to be sure that when they send Matthew home he can return to “life as normal”. Which largely means many dates with sweet Emma!!!!!

The photo  above is of a gift the sweet Emma brought home for Matthew from their bands trip to the MFA National Festival.

Matthew has adjusted to the change of plans in typical Matthew form 🙂
God bless this young man!!!

Thank you all for your continued prayers and ongoing support.