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Angel and Trevor are expecting their second child. Due to Placenta Previa, the pregnancy is high-risk. Although the little one isn't due until November 1st, they are anticipating an early delivery by C-section within the next few weeks.
A few weeks ago, Kenzan, their 4 year old daughter, started having sleep problems and was crying though the night and they did not know what the reason was. When they took her to the doctor, she noticed that her pupils were not equal in size so a CT scan on her head was ordered . This came back normal, so the doctor advised that it may be stress-related and prescribed Melatonin to help her sleep. This worked for them for about 5 days. Then the crying started again.
The next day, Angel ended up in the hospital due to complications in her pregnancy and was kept for observation for a few days. Kenzan continued to cry inconsolably every night, even after Angel was home from the hospital. By this time, Kenzan had also started to walk slightly hunched over as if she had a stiff neck from possibly sleeping wrong or something. She didn't want to do much of anything except lay down and and she didn't want to go anywhere. Angel and Trevor knew this was not normal for Kenzan, so she was once again taken to the doctor.
The doctor could see that Kenzan was hunching down through her shoulders and, although she said it didn't hurt, she would flinch when the doctor gently probed the area. She decided to order an MRI and they were able to get her in early the following morning. This was Wednesday, September 12th. The MRI was scheduled to last 2 hrs and within a very short time the technicians came back and told Angel and Trevor that they had found a very large mass on Kenzan's spine. They said they wouldn't be sure until tests were run, but it appeared to be a Neuroblastoma. This is a tumor that is generally malignant and they would need to transfer Kenzan to a more advanced hospital for diagnosis and treatment.
One of the facilities that was suggested for treatment was Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake City. Angel and Trevor chose that facility since most of Angel's family lives in the northern Utah area and they knew they had a lot of support there.
Initially the doctors felt it was not a good idea for Angel to travel in her condition so the plan was for Trevor to come to SLC via Life-Flight with Kenzan and Angel would need to remain in Missoula until after the baby was born. Luckily, her doctor knew that this was not the best course of action for them, so she told Angel to get on the plane to SLC with Kenzan and the care for Angel and the baby would be transferred to SLC. They all arrived safely and Angel has been doing well since her arrival. Trevor and his parents drove down to SLC that day to be with them also.
The doctors and nurses at Primary Children's are amazing and caring people and there is so much support and assistance for all the families of these little warriors. They immediately started to work on a plan for getting all the necessary tests and scans to be able to make the proper diagnosis.
After all of the tests and scans, the were able to give a preliminary diagnosis of High-risk Stage 4 Neuroblastoma. The final results for all of the tests will still probably take another week, but they are certain enough that they have the proper diagnosis to move forward with her treatment plan now. This will include chemotherapy, surgery, radiation treatments and 2 bone marrow transplants using her own marrow and extracting her stem cells. Once this is completed, they will follow up with additional therapy to be certain they are able to kill off any neuroblasts that may be hidden. This entire process will take approximately a year from start to finish.
They have started the first round of chemo and so far she is doing well. If there are no complication or adverse reactions with the treatment, she may be able to go home to stay with family in Utah until they start the next round of chemotherapy.
Kenzan's scans came back good! Now she will just need to have her antibody treatments once a month for 6 months! They will finally be able to head back home to Montana after her first antibody treatment. They should get home just in time for Kenzan to start kindergarten.
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