Schroeder (Peterson) Family

Friday, November 13th Noah was admitted to the ER in La Crosse because his family felt that something wasn't quite right.  Tests were done, and an MRI was scheduled for Monday, November 16th.  The MRI showed that Noah has a mass on his brain by the Pituitary Gland that is causing fluid to back up.  

Wednesday, November 18th Noah was readmitted to the ER, but this time in Rochester.  

Friday, November 20th Noah had brain surgery at Mayo in Rochester to relieve fluid pressure on his brain and collect a small amount of the tumor for a biopsy.

Sunday, November 22nd Noah was able to come home.

Wednesday, November 25th the biopsy results confirmed that it is germinoma (brain cancer).  However, the exact type was not determined.  

Friday, November 27th Noah had a surgery to implant a chemotherapy port in his chest.  He also had a lumbar draw to remove fluid from his spine to determine which type of germinoma it is.  

Monday, November 30th the results came back to determine that it is pure germinoma - great news! :) 

Wednesday, December 2nd Noah had his first day of chemotherapy.

Wednesday, March 10th found out that Noah will not be starting radiation March 22nd as originally planned. 
Noah’s team at Mayo Rochester was not comfortable starting radiation, because a marker in Noah's spinal fluid (Alpha Fetoprotein), was not where they expected it to be. 

~Everything is more complicated for Noah because along with the obvious cancer battle that he is going through, Noah has also found out that he has adrenal deficiency and diabetes insipidus, which makes it harder to make sure he has the proper steroids and medications. 

Friday, March 12th Noah began his 5th round of chemotherapy. This chemo was much more aggressive than his previous treatments and required Noah to stay inpatient for 11 days. There was concern that Noah’s stem cells would not recover after a 6th round, so Noah underwent a surgery to have a tube implanted and have his stem cells collected. This ten-hour total procedure would allow Noah’s stem cells to be used if necessary, as a “rescue dose” to boost his counts after his 6th round of chemotherapy. 

Noah had a procedure done to remove healthy stem cells in case a transplant is needed in the future.  These healthy stem cells were then frozen and saved, so they can be reintroduced to Noah’s body if a transplant is needed in the future.  

Sunday, April 4th Noah began his 6th round of chemotherapy. Noah tolerated this round much better than the previous round and was able to discharge from the hospital on April 10th.

Friday, April 30th Noah had another spine MRI and another lumbar puncture to see if the Alpha-Fetoprotein had been lessened all the way to 0 after the very aggressive 5th and 6th rounds of chemotherapy.

Tuesday, May 4th results from the lumbar puncture showed that the chemo did not work; Noah's numbers did not improve and had actually gotten slightly worse.  Due to these results, Noah would need to start a 7th round of extremely intense chemo to wipe everything out and then also have a stem cell transplant.  

Wednesday, May 12th Noah checked in at Mayo to monitor his heart, check his lungs, liver, hearing, and eyes to make sure he was healthy enough for the upcoming intense chemotherapy (about five times the dose he received in earlier treatments). 
Thursday, May 13th Noah underwent another surgery to replace his port with a Hickman line, which allowed for all the potential medicines Noah would need for chemotherapy.  
 
Friday, May 14th Noah was admitted to the pediatric transplant unit and began his 7th round of chemotherapy.  

Wednesday, May 19th Noah received his stem cell transplant. Thankfully Noah has an amazing doctor who had the foresight that Noah might have needed the stem cell transplant.  The healthy cells that were saved in March were now reintroduced and will combine with the very few cells left behind after chemo.  The transplanted healthy cells will hopefully keep reproducing more healthy cells. 

Friday, May 21st Noah became very, very sick.  He had no immune system and was suffering with just about every side effect you can imagine.  He had an infection throughout his mouth and throat that was so painful he was unable to eat or talk for days.  A feeding tube was placed so Noah could receive some nutrients; however, he kept puking it up, so they then put him on IV nutrients.  This went on for 8 terrible days, luckily the doctors were there to assure Lauren and Rob that although it is hard to watch, it is to be expected after a transplant.  

Sunday, May 30th Noah started to turn around and his fever and heart rate lessened, and he started to be able to talk a little bit.  His numbers started to look much better, and his cells were recovering! :) 
 
Sunday, June 6th Noah was able to come home! 

Tuesday, June 22nd Noah had another lumbar puncture and a back MRI

Wednesday, June 23rd results from the lumbar puncture showed that the chemo did not work; it was hopeful that Noah’s Alpha-Fetoprotein number would be at 0; however, it actually increased and is now at 15 (it was at 11 previously)

Thursday, June 24th MRI results showed that there are still a couple spots, but they have not worsened since the last scan

Proton radiation treatment will start on July 6th