Results: 18-Month Scans / Tests

Caroline had her 18-month labs, tests and scans over the past few weeks.  She got a hearing test, COVID test, blood work, Neuroblastoma urine marker tests, a CT scan, and an MIBG scan. Fortunately, the COVID test was negative, and her hearing is now back to normal levels in both ears (an improvement from her 15-month check-up).

All of her labs/blood work looked fine, and the urine marker tests used for early detection of a relapse showed no cause for alarm heading into the 2 big scans this week.

The MIBG scan showed no evidence of disease and was marked as a "Curie Score" of zero, which is the best possible score for that test. 

Caroline’s CT scan looked ok overall, except for one new “non-specific” 6mm spot in her liver.  The radiologist and her oncology team think it's most likely a non-cancerous Hemangioma, which is defined as:

“A liver hemangioma (he-man-jee-O-muh) is a noncancerous (benign) mass in the liver. A liver hemangioma is made up of a tangle of blood vessels. Other terms for a liver hemangioma are hepatic hemangioma and cavernous hemangioma. Most cases of liver hemangiomas are discovered during a test or procedure for some other condition. People who have a liver hemangioma rarely experience signs and symptoms and typically don't need treatment.)”

The plan to address this new development is to image the area again with another CT scan in 6 weeks, just to make sure it’s nothing more, or getting bigger, changing shape, etc.  We will update the blog again after that scan.  

Obviously we were hoping to get an "all clear" call, and not have to go back for any scans until April, so this is a little unnerving, and waiting another 6 weeks for the CT Scan causes anxiety, but we are thankful the MIBG and other tests looked OK.  This journey has definitely kept us humble and continues to remind us to live for today.

On another note, a HUGE thank you for all the generous donations during September Childhood Cancer awareness month. Caroline and her fundraising partners raised over $3,000 for cancer research! While the COVID lockdown has really put a damper on the ability to do large-scale, in-person fundraisers, cancer doesn’t lockdown or stop, so we are very grateful for the online support during these unprecedented times.  Thank you for the continued prayers!

All The Best,
The Lantz Family

#carolinestrong

#ftgf

Getting IV access, which she had to keep in overnight.

COVID test (required for sedation)

Expert at waiting in Radiology

MIBG Nuclear Injection Prep

MIBG Nuclear Injection

CT Scan - getting contrast injection

CT Scan

Waiting for the MIBG Scan

Always wants to drive herself into the OR/Scans!

MIBG Recovery