A's surgery

Well here we really go, they phoned today with the time for A's surgery. He is first case, so we have to be at the hospital at 6 am. I hope it won't be too long of a wait as we can't feed him after midnight. It really brought it home to me that it is going to happen. We have had a bit of a reprieve staying at J's and enjoying Easter. It's so hard to believe my little man is going for major surgery tomorrow. He looks so healthy. For those of you who don't know here's the plan as far as I know. A has stage I hepatoblastoma or liver cancer. Tomorrow they will remove 1/3 to 1/2 of A's liver. He will have a stable IV line, and a bile drain put in. He will have a nasogastric tube for feeding for awhile. He will probably be sedated for awhile also. For the first few days he will be in ICU, where I can visit but not stay overnight with him. I am unsure of visiting restrictions right now. Then he will be moved to general pediatric ward, where they supply a cot in his room for me to sleep with him. If all goes well recovery is expected to take a week, then he will be moved to oncology where he will have his first round of chemotherapy. If this goes well he will be in the hospital about a week when hopefully we can take him home.

A's prognosis is very good because we caught this very early, I thank god for his doctor's. They diagnosed A with Beckwith Wiedemann Syndrome, which then put him on the protocol to check his alpha feta protein levels every 3 months. A is very healthy, most would say thriving, he is 34.5 inches and 40lbs of love and smiles.

Thank you all for your care, concern and support, it has been invaluable to us at this time. We will try and keep this as updated as possible.

Carrieann Marcicki

c/o Alexander, Clint and "The Godfather"