We returned to Melbourne on the 6th of March for another EUA and a third attempt at 2nd round IAC. The EAU revealed no new tumours and the active tumour looked much the same as last month. Unfortunately, the IAC was again unsuccessful. The radiologist managed to get the guide wire into the ophthalmic artery, but every time he got the catheter in, the artery spasmed and pushed it back out. This attempt didn’t go for as long as the previous month.
We returned to the hospital and met Isla in recovery. She vomited a couple of times again this month and managed to get it all over herself, her new soft toy we bought for her and me! It’s tricky to get a 14 month old to take small sips of water and just have 1 or 2 blueberries when she can see the whole pack!! I think she probably just ate and drank too much too quickly when she was still feeling groggy from her GA.
The recovery nurses were actually going to let us go without being admitted overnight, which would have been lovely, but we were pretty sure our doctors still wanted Isla admitted overnight to monitor the wound in her groin. I think if we were local it would possibly have just been day surgery, but since we were travelling the next day they like to monitor Isla overnight. The nurses double-checked this and we were admitted. Garreth took the hospital shift again, while I had a night off at Ronald McDonald House. There is always some sort of confusion on the ward and nobody is ever quite sure what to do with us, but eventually we were discharged and flew home on Friday afternoon.
We left Melbourne this time feeling pretty deflated that they still couldn’t get into the artery. The Friday we flew home was actually our 10yr-wedding anniversary; so we thought we might have been due to have some good news. The next day was the 1yr anniversary of Isla being diagnosed with cancer. So all in all it was quite an emotional and draining week.
We will be back in Melbourne at the start of April for a regular scheduled EUA. The doctors will come up with a more concrete plan after that examination, but it is likely that we will have a break from IAC and attempt it again in a few months time. The tumour is still only growing slowly so we have time on our side. Isla’s first round of IAC, at 11months old, was the youngest they have attempted in Melbourne (and therefore Australia) - I believe. Obviously, as she gets older/bigger her arteries get bigger and the procedure becomes slightly easier (8 May 2021 - Radiologist later mentioned age wont make a huge difference, as we are talking about tiny arteries already and they aren't going to grow significantly bigger). So hopefully the tumour continues to only grow very slowly and we have the opportunity to try IAC again in the future, when it will hopefully be more successful. There are still a few other options they may want to try, but at this stage I think it is likely that we will just leave it for a few months. The doctor mentioned we are still not at the stage to start thinking about removing her eye. That will only really become a consideration if there is a risk of the tumour spreading beyond the eye, which is certainly not the case for Isla at this stage.
© Alison Davey 2021
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