We had a change of plans...no surgery today. Since there are lesions on Eve's left kidney which are considered to be pre-disposed to cancer, the oncologists want to be sure that they have explored all options before removing the right kidney. There is most likely a large Wilms tumor in the upper part of her right kidney, but the lower part is questionable as to what it is, whether it be Wilms or nephroblastomatosis (not yet cancerous lesions that may or may not turn into Wilms).
Eve was sedated and given an MRI a few hours ago. The oncologists here at Duke have been assessing her case with oncologists all over the country, and everyone is weighing in before they proceed with anything. From what we understand, there are two basic options that they are debating- either remove the kidney and then give chemotherapy, or start with chemotherapy to try to shrink any questionable lesions, hoping to salvage part of the right kidney instead of removing the whole thing. If the left kidney were clear of lesions, they would simply go forward with removing the right kidney, but knowing that one day she might have to have part of the left removed, everyone wants to be sure they can't save any of the right.
A geneticist came in a few minutes ago to check out Eve and see if there were any obvious signs of some syndromes that some people with Wilms have. While she didn't see anything in her examination, Matt, Eve, and I will be getting genetic testing done on Thursday to find out if there is something abnormal with her genetic make-up. It takes several weeks before getting results, so we won't find out anything before then. Of course, this very well could be just an isolated case of Wilms unrelated to any syndrome, but they want to be sure. One of the doctors theorized that the cells in Eve's kidneys were abnormal in utero.
Again, we appreciate all your support and will update more when we find out the results of the MRI.
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