Toby's Upcoming Surgery

Dear Family

Yesterday we began the initial steps in preparation for Toby's surgery on the 27th. The day began like so many others of late, but our destination was the donor room on the first floor of the hospital and not pediatrics unit on the 9th floor, we were there to harvest Toby's stem cells. In effect, we were saving some of Toby's stem cells for future use (hopefully we will not need them). The procedure is much like donating platelets, but instead of separating platelets from the blood, stem cells were collected.

Today, again, up to Sloan-Kettering, this time for a pre-surgery CAT scan, the scan this time is to determine how the 3 rounds of chemo have effected the tumor. For the scan Toby will be under "sleep medicine" for about 30-45 minutes. We are silently hopeful that the scans will show a diminished tumor and that the surgery will take place on the 27th.

We do not know what to expect in the days leading up to the surgery and the day of the surgery but we expect it to be difficult. The surgery as you might imagine will be invasive, lasting 8-10 hours, after which Toby will be in the ICU and then move to the in-patient unit until he is ready to come home. Unfortunately, once he is well enough to come home he will also be well enough for the 4th round of chemo.

As we are preparing for these next steps Mooki and I wanted to let you know that your support, e-mails, packages, prayers, donations of time and money have been very much appreciated. All of this said we will ask for something more- Yoram's schedule at Children's Hospital will limit his time here in NYC the week of Toby's surgery. Most likely Yoram will be here the day of the surgery, but we expect that he will need to be back in DC for most of that week.

Anna will be with us the for a week the first week of July and Catherine has offered to be here for a week beginning the 15th of July.We know it is very short notice but if any of you were considering coming to nyc the week of June 24th will be a challenging week for all of us.

much love

stephen & mooki