Aidan Update 6/16

Dear friends,

I am happy to say that Aidan is finally home. He was released late Monday night after spending another 2 weeks at Children's.

His lung surgery went okay. They were able to remove 1 of the 2 nodules. The one that remains was deeper in the lung tissue and to remove it, it would require complete resection of the lower lobe of his right lung.
Pathology report came back that it is indeed fungus. Etiology is still pending, but aspergillus is suspected. He is on two antifungal agents.

This infection will impact stem cell transplant...
The transplant team will not begin treatment until he is on 4-6 weeks of antifungal therapy and demonstrating favorable improvement via CT scan. We are not in a good place here as that is too significant of a delay.

The plan now is to have a CT scan in 2 weeks to view his response to the meds. If it demonstrates improvement, Aidan will take an oral chemo medicine at home for 5 days which will remain in his system for 4 weeks. That should buy us enough time to move to transplant without incident.
If, however, the scan shows worsening or no improvement in the fungal infection, we may have to consult surgery to have it removed so that transplant isn't delayed any further. Of course it is our hope and prayer that he shows good response to the medicine. I cannot imagine having him undergo another surgery. He has been through too much already.

We had some positive news on Monday. Aidan had his brain and spine MRI and it looked as well as the last scan. That was all we could have hoped for.

We are hoping to stay out of the hospital until transplant. It would be nice to have him enjoy some time at home.

Thank you for your continued well wishes and prayers.