Ding! Ding! Round Two!

Well, I found yesterday that I am going to have to start Round 2 with my metastatic brain cancer. It turns out that my MRI from last week showed more areas on my brain. My doctor immediately called in a prescription for another anti-nausea medication and a steroid. And today, dad and I were on our way to Hopkins to meet with Dr. Lim, my brain surgeon and Dr. Redman, my radiation oncologist at Hopkins. The good news to this point is that the new meds seem to be working to control both the nausea (an issue I have been struggling with…I have lost over 20 pounds in three weeks) and the headaches (which became a problem on Sunday) plus this lower dose of steroid makes me hungry.

I don’t have a lot of answers right now. What they really needed was the MRI images so their staff of radiologists who work solely with brain oncology could dissect every area of the pictures. So, I picked the films up on disc from our local hospital and took them with us. Basically there are two spots at the top of my head that are inside the skull but are attached to the skull NOT the brain. There are also areas around the base of my brain. Their main concern is that there may be some thickening of the fluid that wraps the brain, or in laymen terms, the ‘saran wrap’ around the brain. Their team of radiologists will carefully review the films, and then they will give their more detailed descriptions to my doctors who will meet to discuss treatments and then present my case in their weekly brain tumor board meeting on Monday. So, I will probably not know a course of action until Monday or Tuesday of next week. They discussed several possible treatment options today, but I would rather wait until I know exactly what my plan will be before going into that detail. It can get pretty confusing.

I have two follow up appointments and a Faxlodex treatment scheduled at Hopkins on Wednesday of next week so I will be on campus if they need to discuss anything with me in the radiation oncology unit.

Although this isn’t good news, I am feeling better now that I’m not struggling with food and getting sick all the time. Plus the steroid has reduced any swelling and I am not having headaches. I am not able to drive which is the biggest pain in my side. However, I am blessed with retired grandparents who don’t mind taking turns coming all the way out here to pick us up and run us around in the mornings since Brad’s job requires that he go to work very early in the morning. I am also in good spirits as this time I am only fighting brain issues and not tied to a chair trying to recover from a fractured pelvis as well. I am doing great with my cane when I have to walk a lot and around the house I just go it alone! If only I could bend and twist….I would have the cleanest house in Berkeley County!

My dad is going to do our morning run tomorrow, getting the boys to school and taking me in to work so I can get some things done. Trent’s school has an early dismissal on Friday and we had invited friends over for a play date after school. He is so looking forward to it so we are going to continue with it! I hope to get to church this weekend and maybe try to keep the routine as normal as possible. Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers! I will update on our plan of attack as soon as I find out what it will be! Life doesn't stop...it goes on...and sometimes that can be a big comfort!