TeamJoey.org - February 27, 2006

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What is Ewings sarcoma?

- February 27, 2006 -

Hello All,

     I just wanted to give a quick update on our meeting with the surgeon, Dr. McGrath, today. He took an X-Ray today so we could see how the bone looked originally and how it looked today. It was night and day. The original X-ray showed the bone disintegrating as the tumor started to turn it into soft tissue. Today, the tumor has receded so much that the bone has mostly re-grown. The original X-ray had all these little marks in the middle of the bone which is where is was deteriorating and the area was spread out to 11 or 12 cms wide. Today it was all solid white and a more appropriate 9cms or so. Dr. McGrath said that things were going as well as we could have hoped they would. We will get a more complete picture on March 28th when we get the MRI done. They are no longer even discussing an amputation. The surgery
would involve removing the fibula and some of the surrounding muscle and he also said it was probably about 50/50 whether he would need to take out the peroneal nerve. Losing the peroneal nerve can lead to having a drop foot. He said even if he did remove it that in his mind it wasn't a a real big concern because he said that someone in Joe's age group will most likely adapt to it. And McGrath said that if he has problems down the line that when he is around 5 or so there is a surgery they can do to tighten the tendon which would help alleviate any trouble. He actually introduced us to a guy around my age that had recently had surgery similar to Joe's and who lost the peroneal nerve. He had a brace on his foot but said it really didn't bother him too much. He said he doesn't even need to always wear the brace but was really wearing it today so Dr. McGrath wouldn't yell at him.
     The surgery is tentatively scheduled for April 4th but could be moved back to April 11th if Joe's blood counts etc. haven't bounced back well enough from the chemo. It will probably involve 5 days in the hospital but McGrath said that there won't be any need for any rehab or anything like that afterwards.

Tom