Once we were home, we got into a rhythm for taking care of Brantley.  We had home health nurses come for a couple of weeks, to help with his surgical dressings and colostomy care. We did a lot of research into each anomaly that he had.  In total, there was 5.  His heart, his kidney, his spine, the mass and his Imperforate Anus.  Through the power of social media, we found support groups and doctors that were among the best.  Collectively, all of these things, were classified as Currarino Syndrome.  We ended up finding a doctor in Ohio that was a world renowned Colorectal surgeon.  We moved his primary care team of doctors to Ohio, at Nationwide Children's Hospital.  As we learned more, we figured out his kidney was not the issue, but rather his bladder.  There was a doctor in New York, that worked specifically with kids that had Currarino Syndrome, and related issues.  He treated Brantley and his bladder issues, which helped tremendously.  We now spanned 3 different hospitals for care, in 3 different states!  Unfortunately, even though we were rockin' and rollin' with surgery's and recovery's and Brantley was hitting all milestones, April 9th 2015 during a visit to Ohio, we were told Brantley's mass was growing back.  The mass he was born with was called a Germ Cell Tumor.  Typically, the tumor is removed along with the tailbone to ensure everything is gone, and that is all that is needed.  It does not usually grow back.  Brantley had surgery to remove the mass again.  May 28th, 2015 we found out that the mass they removed did not grow back the same.  It grew back as a malignant (cancerous) Yolk Sac Tumor.  That was a hard pill to swallow, but his oncologist felt that she was able to remove everything, so we stayed positive.  We continued to do routine blood work, to ensure the tumor was not growing back.  September 17th, 2015 we found that his tumor was growing back, again.  This time, his oncologist was going to remove it and place a port. 

The plan was to start chemo.