Christian's PPB Cancer Journey

After Christian completed the treatment for his first diagnosis and was said to be cancer free, we regularly followed-up with scans to monitor for any new growths or tumors. He was cancer free for one year when they found new tumor growths in November of 2022. The day after the scans, we got a call to come to the clinic to meet with Dr. Rosenblum. The scans showed that there were a few new tumors in the right lung again. We were told that there was a new course of chemo medicine that we could try along with surgery again and possibly radiation. We were also told that his original surgeon was no longer with the hospital. We met with Dr. Rosenblum in his office to discuss the new chemo plan. He also introduced us to the new surgeon at the hospital. After talking with the new surgeon, we weren’t sure about her approach and decided to get a second opinion. We reached out to surgeons at Columbia, MSK, Boston Children in Mass. After talking to the solid tumor team at Boston Children Hospital, they told us that they were too booked and busy to take on our case. We met with the head surgeon at Columbia and Dr. Danzer at MSK. We felt very comfortable after meeting with Dr. Danzer and agreed with his approach. We then discussed how our meeting with Dr. Danzer went with Dr Rosenblum. We all agreed on the plan going forward, chemotherapy to prove the tumor would respond to treatment and shrink the tumors sizes before undergoing surgery. This course of chemotherapy required the placement of a double lumen chemo port which was placed on December 23^rd, 2022. His first cycle of “ICE” chemo started on December 27^th, 2022. Each cycle of “ICE” chemo was administered over the course of 2 weeks in the hospital and required getting the chemo meds, IV fluids, blood transfusions, and GCSF shots. After completing 2 cycles of this chemo and repeat scans, the tumor was responding to the treatment, so it was decided that it was time for surgery. His second surgery was on February 23^rd, 2023. During this surgery, Dr. Danzer performed a middle and lower lobe wedge resection. There were also several areas of questionable tissue that were removed. This surgery was seven hours long. Post surgery he had a chest tube and an epidural. The epidural stayed in until discharge. The day after his surgery, the nurses at MSK had him up out of bed moving around. Their goal is to get him up and moving around as much and as quickly as possible to promote healing and help him to recover. He had a lot of fluid coming from his chest tube. Christian spent eight days in the hospital recovering from surgery before being discharged. 

MSK sent out piece of the tumor, several lesion samples, and a piece of his diaphragm out for pathology. His “ICE” chemotherapy began again on March 17^th, 2023, after which he completed another four cycles of “ICE” chemo. On April 1^st, 2023, Christian had a fever, so we rushed him to the ER at Westchester. During his workup, they noted that he had an increased heart rate, and respiratory rate that triggered an alert for possibly sepsis. He was started on a course of antibiotics. They performed a chest X-ray and found a hazy left lower lope and thought he has pneumonia. They also performed an echocardiogram and found his tachycardia to be normal and were discharged on April 3^rd, 2023. We spoke with Dr. Danzer on April 4^th, after being discharged to give him an update. He requested us come to MSK to repeat chest CT. We scheduled his Chest CT for April 6^th. During his visit to MSK, his heart rate was still elevated. The chest CT showed that there was fluid in his chest. Chrisitan was admitted to MSK and scheduled to meet with an “IR” doctor. The IR doctor met with us to discuss the placement of two “pigtails” to help drain the fluid from his chest wall. On April 7^th, the IR doctor placed two pigtails. These pigtails stayed in for seven days before the pigtails were removed and we were able to be discharged on April 14^th. We then followed up with another repeat chest CT on April 19^th and met with Dr. Danzer. Everything was good at today’s visit. Christian was admitted on April 21 to Westchester Hospital to begin Cycle 4 or ICE chemo treatment. This cycle was typical of the prior cycles of treatment. On May 3^rd, prior to discharge, they did another chest CT scan and found his middle lope of his right lung collapsed and fluid build-up around the lung. Surgical team rushed to speak with us and wanted to place a chest tube, but we notified them that this was an ongoing issue that his surgical team at MSK was aware of that he had just had two pigtails place for a week three weeks prior. We immediately called MSK to speak with Dr. Danzer. He instructed us that a chest tube was not needed and that we should do repeat scans in three to four weeks to reevaluate. We began cycle 5 inpatient on May 15^th and was discharged on May 25^th. Cycle 6 began inpatient on June 2^nd, and we were discharged on June 16^th. During this admission, a complete set of repeat scans were performed on June 15^th. Everything looked good on these scans. We performed weekly blood work and chemo-port flushes. Scans were repeated on Sept 7^th. Again, everything looked good, so they said he was cancer free. Dr. Danzer and Dr. Rosenblum both agreed the chemo-port could be removed. His chemo-port was scheduled to be removed on Oct 25^th.