Vanya's big success!!!

So today was the big day. Vanya has gone through two rounds of Chemo and it was time to check and see what's going on inside. We went to Children's Hospital in Minneapolis today and just had one success after another. Some days it's the little miracles that mean the most.

Today, we arrived at the hospital just as the snow started to fall steadily. We found a good parking spot and went to the first floor radiology department where our day began. Evan was awesome right from the get go! He was happy and playing while we took his vitals. We sat and played together looking at lights and toys, smiling at Mom and Dad all morning long. Our biggest concern was sedating him for the MRI. The doctors office had called us previously and warned us that they will need to keep us for an extra twelve hours for observation.

We really did not want to put him under for this test. As soon as we were in talking to the nurse that was our first concrern. We really did not want to get stuck at the hospital for an extra 12 hours. Well, just as the radiology doctor came in to talk with us about the proceedure Evan decided to relax and fall asleep on my shoulder.  He slept as she talked and we continued to discuss what our options were regarding getting released before the 12 hours were up. The attending nurse came back in looked at Evan on my shoulder and asked if he was asleep. She scooted us out of that room while he was still asleep and into the MRI for the test.

As I layed him down onto the bed he started to wake up a little. The radiologist tech shut off the lights right away and there were "stars" shining in the ceiling panels...such a cool idea! Evan was so calm and enthralled by the stars in the ceiling that the tech was able to place the necessary straps and guards on the kiddo and get the pictures we needed with barely any problem and most importantly NO Sedation!!!

After the pictures were taken we had a couple of hours before the next doctors appointment and so we had a chance to get some lunch. When we got back to the office we found out some better news, that the Tumor has shrunk in size!!! When we first got scans on the tumor it was...according to the official description, "...a large upper abdominal mass that is centrally located and extends to each side of the upper abdomen, left more than right. It measures up to 7.4 cm in greatest transverse (horizontal) dimension x 8 cm in anteroposterior (front to back) dimension x 5.7 cm in cephalocaudal (vertical)dimension.

Our new dimensions are 5.8 x 3.8 x 5.2 In hopes of better illustration Mat made this chart to show the change in size of Evans tumor. The view is front and side dimensions.

Long story short we had a very good day and it only took us three hours to get home in the snow storm, we made it home safe and are feeling very blessed at the moment.