Evan's right arm is stable with the plates and screws firmly attached. He has a better than expected range of motion and virtually no pain or tenderness. He has full feeling in the arm demonstrating no resultant nerve damage. He continues to impress the surgeon.
Evan had stated to Meghan that he feels his right arm is now shorter than his left but the surgeon was able to show us that the difference if any is miniscule and it must be the way Evan uses the arm as opposed to any anatomical differences.
The surgeon still has concern for the upper portion of the ball of the humerus as there is no growth plate there. The screws that attach the donated cadaver bone are still firmly in place and the "halo" effect has not changed from four months ago. The halo effect is caused by the loosing of the screws because there is no bone growth and as the ball deteriorates the screws will loosen resulting in the need for surgical intervention.
One very positive item in saving the upper portion of the ball is that it engages and stimulates the glenoid to grow with Evan. The glenoid is the socket in which the ball is attached and allows Evan the movement he has which as stated earlier is better than expected. The lower portion of the humerus by the elbow has totally healed with signification bone attachment to the cadaver bone.
Evan has had total regrowth of his hair and has had two haircuts since cessation of Chemo. He has also gained a few pounds and looks really healthy. His port is flushed every month and we hope to have that removed at the one year mark since end of Chemo. He has had two CT scans with contrast that demonstrate that he is a NERD. The Oncologist is so impressed with his progress that he is delaying further CT scans until there is a concern or year marks. The CT scans have a fairly good dose of radiation and there must be a balance in exposure so there is no further encouragement of cancer cells. Continued blood work will be the norm looking for a reason to do a CT scan.
It is totally amazing to me that his surgery was on 03/21/2014 and one year and one month later he is in a totally different position; one of a little boy finally returning to a normal childhood. He is forever changed because of what has occurred but I feel that the end results will be positive for him and not negative due to family support.
So I know that I haven't updated the blog in awhile but as the saying goes, "no news is good news" certainly holds true here. I will update when we have significant milestones to report.
