December Appointments Vol. 3

The biggest news of the day - the giant MRI now has a video screen so kids can watch movies while they lay there getting scans taken! Sada tried to draw out the MRI as long as possible, so the tech took 40 minutes - and that was with taking Dr. Daddy and his beautiful assistant on a mini tour of her brain so we wouldn't have to wait another hour to look at the scans with the surgeon.

General concensus was the spot seems a little bigger, so it has probably grown 10% or so in the past 4 months. The borders were a little fuzzy, and they weren't sure why, so it'd be really nice if that's because the tumor is dissolving and being absorbed by the surrounding tissue... the only way to really know is to have someone take a close look inside her brain again and that's last resort. The tumor still has to double in size before it would cause any kinds of problems with blocking cerebral spinal fluid or loss of balance.

The second little spot on her brainstem is more a spot than a blur - so it was probably left-over tumor instead of a little artery or vein "artifact" like the neurosurgeon has been hoping. It has a long way to grow before causing problems, too.

The neurosurgeon is going to send the scans on to other departments to get second and third opinions before setting us up for 3 month scans so he knows he has a couple others on board with her treatment (wait, watch and take it out when it gets too big). With her type of tumor, they kind of act like superballs - sometimes they act like you expect, and other times they bounce off the corners and end up stuck in the light fixture.

Sada did end up being a poster child on Primary Children's Facebook page to show off the holiday ice sculptures if you want to check it out, or just enjoy this one:

Merry Christmas!