Update...

Well we had our meeting with the surgeon and our Dr. this morning. Many of you may remember that I had talked to the surgeon before we went to NY. Unfortunately Diane couldn't make that meeting. I came away from that meeting feeling good about what he said. Today, we both had a chance to sit down and talk to him. I can't speak for Diane but I think she feels more confident that he gives Cody the best chance of getting through this. He seemed to have many of the right answers when asked by Diane. He explained that when he first starts the procedure he will explore many lymph nodes to see if there is any sign of tumors starting in other places. If there are signs that too much cancer is present in other places then he will probably won't proceed. Often times small tumors are present but they don't show up on the scans. It was agreed by all of us involved today that we proceed ASAP with the surgery. Cody will then have to wait about 6 weeks before he can have any other treatments such as chemo, radiation or antibody treatment. We will know in 4 to 5 days whether his liver is going to get through this. Again, the doctor says that Cody's liver is already showing signs of regenerating so he is fairly confident that this will work. He is, if not the best liver surgeon on the east coast, one of the best. Dr. Abu-Ghosh is comfortable with him so that goes a long way with Diane. We both trust Dr. Abu-Ghosh immensely.
So here it is. Cody goes in on Tuesday morning for surgery at Georgetown. He could be intubated for a couple of days after the procedure and have a feeding tube for a couple more days. It is essential that he gets the nutrition needed to help his liver heal.
Do we feel totally confident that this will go without a hitch? Of course not. This is a very complicated and risky surgery. But, we feel that we have the best person performing it and it is absolutely the right choice. Will Cody be cancer free after this? Probably not and he will have to endure more treatments when he is able. The cancer Cody has is one of the absolute worst childhood cancers known to man. We just pray that he gets more time and they find a cure before it possibly comes back. History says it probably will return. But one thing I can say, "this cancer doesn't know who it's messing with." "Our boy is one tough dude!"