Stephen's Story, Part 3: Chemo for Christmas

Five days after the Christmas concert at the elementary school, Stephen had his first surgery. The brain tumor itself was inoperable. This was surgery was necessary for his cancer treatment. It began at 10am.

The surgery was to install a central line, in this case a double-lumen Broviac catheter, into his chest. The oncologist wanted to have direct access to Stephen's circulatory system for admistering chemotherapy drugs, and a second line for drawing blood or injecting any secondary medications which may become necessary. The catheter was a long Y-shaped length of silicone tubing, with portals on each of the “arms.” His chest was opened, and the “tail” of the Y was inserted into the superior vena cava, where the drugs would enter his heart immediately as they were administered. The “arms” would hang outside of his rib cage, and were taped down to his chest when not in use.

This image is a double-lumen Broviac. A Google image search will show you what it looks like when implanted, but I'm going to refrain from posting another family's sick child on my blog.

Stephen's oncologist, Dr. Shah, ran a computer program designed to select a very patient-specific treatment protocol. His particular form of cancer, and the particular location of his tumor, was exceedingly rare. There was no proven treatment – the best we really could do was contribute to ongoing research and hope for the best.

At midnight that same night, Stephen had his first chemotherapy treatment. From what I've read and been told, chemo itself is usually relatively quick and painless, although the side effects are really unpleasant. A midnight treatment would allow him to rest through the night. Instead, there was an emergency. As the drugs were administered, Stephen's jaw locked. His eyes began to bulge. The muscles throughout his body tensed, and his back arched. Finally, he stopped breathing. The drugs were way too strong, and Stephen's small body couldn't handle them. An emergency crew responded, and administered epinephrine.

But the treatment had to be continued. The drugs were diluted and immediately re-administered over a longer duration, and thankfully, this extreme reaction never happened again. The chemo was repeated on the 21st, and again on the 22^nd, and after a day of rest, Stephen came home for Christmas.

Christmas morning, our family arose from a clatter. We sprang from our beds to see what was the matter...

...to find his entire 6^th grade class, many of them carrying band instruments, playing and singing Christmas carols on the sidewalk in front of our house.  In the cold.  In the rain.  I hope Santa was very, very good to all of them that year. What an amazing bunch of kids.




Click here to read the other installments of Stephen's Story:
Stephen's Story, Part 1: A Flashback
Stephen's Story, Part 2: Wait, what?

Stephen's Story, Part 4: There goes the hair
Stephen's Story, Part 5: Radiation and Ronald
Stephen's Story, Part 6: A Happy Birthday
Stephen's Story, Part 7: Great Danes and paper cranes
Stephen's Story, Part 8: Promises
Stephen's Story, Part 9: The Long Journey
Stephen's Story, Part 10: Requiem


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