WOW......

I don't know where to begin so let me start in the middle of the story. The last time we checked in, I believe Zachary was set for surgery on Tuesday of this week. Well.....that didn't happen.

I will tell you at the beginning of this story that my perspective on time is very, very warped so forgive me.

About two weeks ago Zachary began to get very weak and tired by midmorning. This led him to go and see Dr. Joyce who is our local oncologist. What she discovered was that his white blood count and platelets were VERY low (read almost gone.) Also, his spleen had grown to twice the normal size. He had a bone marrow biopsy and determined that he was making platelets, but something in his body was eating them.

He was admitted to Bloomington hospital with the goal of having him ready to have his next biopsy surgery. The biopsy is so critical to his treatment because after a whole round of chemo (6 cycles/12 treatments) he still has cancer growing in him. Why?? What is causing it?? We still don't know. While in Bloomington hospital, he also started having fevers of over 105 that took a long time to get down.

We had chosen a surgeon in Indianapolis at the IU Medical Center to do the biopsy. After discussing Zachary's case with our oncologist, they decided that the risk of infection was far too great to proceed. On top of that, his oncologist said, 'He is getting sicker every single day.' Things were not looking good on any front.

If you read the subject line, it says Team Zachary. Because of the input from many, many people, we knew that the place we wanted to get Zachary was the University of Nebraska which specializes in lymphoma, and specifically to Dr. Julie Vose. Dr. Joyce called the University of Nebraska and got him admitted as a patient.

Things moved very quickly after that.

Because Zachary was so sick and weak there was no way that he could just jump in a car or plane and get to Nebraska. Our dear friend and physician Corinna Repetto set up a Med-Evac jet to take him to Nebraska which turned out to be the best of everything.

We arrived in Omaha on Tuesday morning at the University of Nebraska. The moment he was wheeled onto the oncology floor a lovely woman named Pam said, "Hi, I'm Pam and you're mine." That started our journey on the 7th floor. Our appointment was at 11:00. At 10:58 Dr. Julie Vose walked in with three residents. 'Hi, I'm Dr. Vose." She looks like a beauty queen, didn't introduce herself to anyone but Zachary and just oozed confidence--not arrogance.

We don't have lots of medical information right now but it looks like--subject to change--that he will have a laparoscopic biopsy surgery on Thursday. Two days after the surgery they are hopeful of having diagnostic results. They were going to remove his spleen but have decided to wait. They were going to put another stint in for his kidneys but decided that maybe the first round of chemo in his new regimen might shrink the tumor enough so he won't need it.

Mostly, I have been impressed by what they haven't done. If his fever is under 104 they just leave him alone making him so much happier. They are doing a laparoscopic biopsy instead of cutting him open again. They may have to put a stint in but maybe not....

I know you have a lot of questions that I haven't answered but mainly I want you to know that on Monday I wondered how in the world our son was going to survive, every day getting worse. Today, I totally believe that we have him at the right place and that this medical center is going to provide Zachary with the best chance he has for a cure.

"I'm walking on Sunshine, and don't it feel good."

All my love,

Ann