Neuroblastoma is Genetic

Because of the Unknown Son's battle with Neuroblastoma, we try to keep abreast of new developments in treatment. So, we were pretty interested in this news piece. A group of researchers have identified a group of genetic markets that predispose someone to getting the disease. Since both the Unknown Son and his cousin had the disease (and it's rare to see two cases in the same family), I like to think that the samples they took from them played some small part in the discovery.

You can read the news story and see a video segment that ran on the news here. It highlights John Maris, who may be the country's (and possibly the world's) most prolific Neuroblastoma researcher. Since he spearheaded Unknown Son's treatment at while we were at CHOP, we were glad to see him mentioned.

It's too early to see how this discovery will change Neuroblastoma diagnosis or treatment, but learning more about the genetic basis of the disease can only help. And it's pretty cool.

Some Disturbing News

The Unknown Household just got some disturbing news. As I just wrote, Unknown Son has had some stomach issues lately. We thought it was just severe constipation, but we has an additional scan done today just to be sure.

The ultrasound revealed a mass of approximately 2 inches in length near his right kidney.

Unfortunately, without further tests, we can't tell if this is a recurrence of his original cancer, a new cancer, or just a benign mass. So, we go in for more tests tomorrow - an MRI, a bone marrow sample (he's mildly anemic), and a consult with his local oncologist and a surgeon. After that, we will likely have a biopsy on Friday or Monday. Until then, we won't know much, so it's still early to panic.

We're big believers in the power of prayer. So if you have a minute, send one up for us.

And we'll keep you posted.

More Good News On the Cancer Front

As I've mentioned previously, the Unknown Son was diagnosed with neuroblastoma shortly after his 4th birthday. He was successfully treated at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Memorial Sloan Kettering in New York City, and Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. We believe he went into remission about 3 1/2 years ago (see this previous post for more details, and an explanation why we can't say exactly when). But, since there was still one spot on his leg that showed up faintly on the scans , we continued to go to back to CHOP for quarterly checkups. We were fairly sure that it was a ganglioneuroma rather than active cancer, but we still had to play it safe.

We just got back from the latest checkup. This time around, U.S. had his first totally clean scan. So, we can be a lot more confident now that he's in remission.

Nice to get an early Christmas present, eh?

Posting Will Be Light

Posting has been light for the last few days (and probably will be for the next few) because of a death in the family. One of my nephews (my younger sister's son) passed away this last week. He was diagnosed at age 4 with neuroblastoma, a relatively rare form of childhood cancer (there are only a couple hundred cases a year in the U.S.). He went into remission after a year or so, but the cancer recurred about 2 1/2 years ago. He put up an amazing fight, but unfortunately, there is no known cure for recurrent neuroblastoma.

So, we will be at the wake and funeral for the next couple of days. Please keep my sister's family in your prayers as they go through this terrible time.

Good News On The Cancer Front

Well, Unknown Son had his quarterly checkup, and it was good news. As I mentioned in the last blog post, he has one spot that continues to show up on his scans. But, since it's the same as lthe last few times, his oncologist is even more convinced that it's not active Neuroblastoma cells, but merely a ganglioneuroma, which is basically the "ghost" of active cells. So, we continue on as before and come back in a while for another checkup. the good news its that we now go to an every 6 months schedule (up from every three months). so, we don't have to go back to CHOP until November.

The kids (and their folks) had a great time in Philly. We went to the "hands-on Franklin Institute on Tuesday after Unknown Son's injection (they injected the radioactive dye on Tuesday and took the scans on Wednesday). The Franklin Institute is always good for kids (of all ages, like 42 and 48). This time around they had a "human body" exhibit. U.S. got the biggest kick out of the 2 1/2 story high human heart (he ran up and down through all the chambers about a dozen times), while Unknown Daughter got the biggest charge out of the exercise bikes that were accompanied by a Bug Bunny-esque opera.

So, it's back to regular life. Since the semester is done, there are no students around, and I get to catch up on all the things that slipped through the cracks. For today, I'm mostly doing some setup work on a large options data set that I've been working with lately. The entire data set has over 300 million observations which is way too big to work with in its entirely. So today I'm mostly figuring out which data items (and observations ) I need to cut into a smaller data set so that it'll be more manageable.

As my friends say, it's time to put on my Alpha Nerd hat.

Another Neuroblastoma Checkup For the Unknown Son

As many of you regular readers know, the Unknown Son is a cancer survivor - he was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma on his 4th birthday, and went into remission about 2 years ago or so (he's now 8 3/4 years old). The nature of his particular cancer is such that we *think* he's in remission, but there's always the possibility that he's not. This is because he still has one spot on his leg that shows up very, very faintly on the scans (almost a "ghost" of a spot, actually). Most likely it's what's called a ganglioneuroma, which is a non-malignant, (non-harmful) cell mass that the neuroblastoma tumor often changes into on its way out. But it could also possibly be an active neuroblastoma site. Either way, it has no effect on his life as it now is.

Unfortunately, the only definitive way to tell what the spot is is to cut a piece of the bugger out and look at it under a scope. Since it's extremely small, this isn't feasible (biopsies aren't as simple and easy as they seem on ER). So, we go back for checkups at Children's of Philadelphia (probably the best place for Neuroblastoma research and treatment in the world) every three months or so. If the spot gets bigger, it's probably active Neuroblastoma and we go into full blown treatment mode. If not, it's a ganglioneuroma, and life goes on.

Well, it's that time once again. So, we schlep the family down to Philadelphia, stay at the Philadelphia Ronald McDonald House (kind of like kid heaven), go to CHOP for tests, and do the usual stuff. After Unknown Son's injection today (they give the radioactive market 24 hours before the scan), we're going to the Science Museum, and then I'll sneak away to the Penn Bookstore for a couple of hours(yes, I'm a nerd - but you knew that).

And then tomorrow U.S. gets his scan, we talk with his oncologist (who is one of the top two or three Neuroblastoma specialists in the world), and then head home.

Stay tuned.