March MRI

The last two weeks have been exciting - not in a good way. A few of Sada's original symptoms have slowly been making their way onto center stage (swallowing coordination, focus, eye movement, etc.) which put Mom and Dr. Daddy on high alert. After others started noticing, too, we called the neurosurgeon to see if we could move her next MRI up a couple weeks. After an hour on the phone, it was a no go. I couldn't exactly get any reassurances out of the nurse, either, so 30 minutes later I was back on the phone to confirm that Sada was on a cancellation list. She wasn't, but 45 minutes later an amazing radiology secretary found a cancellation 3 hours later that she could hold for Sada - SOLD!

Sada was in and out of the machine within 30 minutes and the on-call radiologist let us go back to the viewing room to take a tour of Sada's brain. Since her original tumor was removed, she's had two spots on the top and bottom that have been growing slowly (off and on) over the past 6 months. The lower spot grew by 10% from Dec to March (20% change is when they officially diagnose a tumor as having grown) and is now putting a little pressure on the brain stem - just enough to cause symptoms but not enough to stop cerebral-spinal fluid or CSF from flowing (no hydrocephalus). That's extremely good news because we've been refining and cutting back on all non-essential therapies and treatments for the past few months, and now this gives us enough time before another surgery is absolutely necessary to add back in the more time-consuming/boring things and really see how they affect the tumor (make it shrink, make it shrink, make it shrink, shrink, shrink).

Don't get me wrong - she really doesn't need anything extra growing in her brain. It's like adding 1 more person to a VW bug with 6 people already inside. In her case, the windows are still rolled down to get fresh air inside. And as long as the CSF keeps circulating, non-life threatening symptoms are manageable. Miserable at times, but manageable.

Best of all, Sada's all on board for not having anyone cut the invading cells out of her cute little noggin. She has been amazingly cheerful and remembers what's on her Have to, Want to, and Should do lists for the day and prioritizes pretty well. She also downs pills like a champ - even at 1am. Like they learned in Primary on Sunday, a positive attitude makes life a much happier experience!