August 8 - Treatment Plan
Sharing our latest update. It’s a long one.
Hudson continues to do fantastic following surgery. Truly, if you didn’t know what’s going on, you wouldn’t know. He amazes us every day.
Hudson was seen by St. Louis Children’s neuro-oncology on Tuesday to discuss the plan of action. He also saw audiology to have a baseline hearing test due to the location of the tumor. His hearing is good, and considering his age, he cooperated well for the test!
On our way home from Children’s, we heard from St. Jude’s. They accepted him as a patient, but informed us their protocol is different than the one at SLCH, which left us with a huge decision to make, and honestly, a pit in my stomach. Thankfully, we were able to connect with 2 separate peds/neuro oncology providers from other amazing institutions. With the help of their professional opinions, the research that is available to us, and loads of prayer, we’ve decided to pursue treatment at St. Louis Children’s Hospital. This is not a decision we’ve taken lightly, but we feel confident in the choice that we have made. We are choosing the path that we feel will give Hudson the best chance to beat this cancer, and we’re trusting in God for the rest. We are so incredibly thankful for the guidance we’ve had in making this decision - we know God has placed people in our path to help us.
The plan at St. Louis Children’s is a protocol called ACNS0333, which requires 2 rounds of induction chemo (inpatient for ~1 week, home for 2 weeks), followed by 3 rounds of high dose chemo coupled with stem cell rescue/auto transplant (inpatient for ~1 month per cycle with 2-3 weeks off between cycles), followed by focal radiation for around 6 weeks. It’ll be an intense and brutal process. I am terrified of what he is going to endure and the side effects he may experience. I hate the thought of how much time our family will have to be apart from one another. But we have hope that, on the other side of this all, he’ll be a survivor.
Our treatment journey will resume on Thursday next week, when he’ll have surgery to place his central line and a lumbar puncture to collect a sample of CSF. The lumbar puncture will help to complete his staging. After his surgery, Hudson will be admitted for his first round of induction chemo. Please pray specifically for Hudson’s CSF to be free from disease. This will improve his prognosis.
We know God is using our boy for something big. We know He has a plan and a purpose for Hudson. We continue to place our hope and trust in the Lord and to lean on Him for strength. Please continue to pray for Hudson’s healing and for our entire family as we begin his treatment.
Jesus, we trust in you.
