A DMSA scan for Romy today. Romy has already had GFR tests (kidney function tests) several times throughout her treatment, but today she also had a DMSA. This was an additional scan to check how much of the work each of her kidneys is doing so that the surgeons know which kidney is most precious to save when attempting to remove the primary tumour. If one kidney is damaged by the tumour the other will be compensating by doing all the work and the surgeons will know to be really careful with this kidney. Romy is really good at keeping very still for these scans. A sedative can be used to help children to keep still, but we opted to go without for this scan and she kept super still. The result of this scan indicated that one of her kidneys is indeed damaged by the tumour and the other kidney is doing 90% of the work. Surgery will have to be rescheduled for after high dose chemo as it is too risky beforehand.
-Helen
