Good Report Card From Dr. Olson

Prior to round one of chemo - Left and Right Eye.


Prior to round two of chemo - Left Eye.

Prior to round three of chemo - Left and Right Eye.

Prior to round four of chemo - Left and Right Eye.

Drew has now completed his fourth round of chemo. Each round gets easier, and I would say this round went the smoothest. We got excellent news from Dr. Olson, the eye surgeon - The right eye looks great. The tumors are dormant and his vision is in tact. Good news on the left eye too - The vitreous seeding has almost completely regressed. This is the area of greatest concern. The picture above shows a large mark in the front of the left eye. This is almost all scar tissue. There is only a small part of the tumor attached to the scar tissue. The scar tissue will not shrink or impair vision. The tumor in the back of the left eye has shrunk into a small crystal ball. This is one of the most favorable regression patterns. This is amazing because this is the only tumor not treated by laser or freezing. It has also pulled away from the optic nerve, which limit risk of the cancer traveling outside of the eye. Dr. Olson will treat this tumor with laser next round. Unfortunately, this tumor will probably not shrink much more. It will go dormant, however, it will remain in his 20/20 vision. This means there is little hope of having any 20/20 vision in the left eye. The up side, his peripheral vision in his left eye is good. Dr. Olson thinks he will come out of this will relatively good vision and there is a 90% chance we will save the left eye. We have now turned a corner to being very optimistic of his prognosis. We are relieved and ready to battle the next few rounds. It looks like Drew will be one of the success stories. The best news we have gotten since we started this process.

Next steps - We will go see Dr. Engel, the doctor who originally diagnosed Drew, for a vision check. Over the next couple of rounds of chemo we will start to access the vision he has in both eyes. We will at some point in this process fit him for glasses. He will wear glasses for the rest of his life to protect his good eye. This is extremely important. He will complete the full six rounds of chemo. In May we will start the process of watching and waiting. For several months after chemo ends he will go in for a eye exam under anesthesia. When Dr. Olson feels things are all dormant, he will spread the eye exams out to two months apart, then three months. For the next three to four years he will have eye exams under anesthesia every three months. When all is clear, he will be considered in remission. For the rest of his life he will regularly see an eye surgeon, opthomologist and an oncologist. The oncologist will monitor him for long-term affects of chemo. With regular visits to these doctors our hope is Drew will become a normal, happy, healthy kid. There are blue skies to come for him, and he will be here to enjoy them!