Good News!
The results are in and Karen's liver has freckles. Essentially little bundles of blood vessels. Nothing abnormal and nothing to be concerned about. Needless to say we are very happy and very thankful.
We were also able to get Karen the needed Thyroid medication and so She is looking forward to beginning to feel energetic for the first time in a long time.
We will be placing this new news onto the ever growing heap of blessings we have experienced over the past year.
Thank you again for your ceaseless prayers on behalf of Karen.
I think we'll begin our Thanksgiving tonight :)
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Monday, November 19, 2007
After the appointment with Dr. Massullo last week he ordered a panel of blood work to be drawn in large part to verify the status of Karen's endocrine system (pituitary, thyroid etc.). This is a concern primarily because Karen's pituitary gland was radiated during her treatment and that tiny little gland acts as the control system for the rest of the endocrine system.
Karen's OBGYN called this morning to tell her that some of the levels that had been way off in the past were now very close to the normal range. There was (as usual) a significant caveat. It appears that Karen's thyroid may have pooped out.
I chatted with Dr. Massullo's colleague and he said that this can be very easily treated with thyroid medication. Anyone have any thoughts on this?
We'll discuss this with Dr. Massullo tomorrow at the same time we get the results from Karen's Liver MRI.
I'm hoping the new year will mark the transition into normalcy. No more "interesting" changes. All Hum Drum on the health front is the news we're hoping for.
In the meantime thank you all for your faithful prayers.
Dave.
Karen's OBGYN called this morning to tell her that some of the levels that had been way off in the past were now very close to the normal range. There was (as usual) a significant caveat. It appears that Karen's thyroid may have pooped out.
I chatted with Dr. Massullo's colleague and he said that this can be very easily treated with thyroid medication. Anyone have any thoughts on this?
We'll discuss this with Dr. Massullo tomorrow at the same time we get the results from Karen's Liver MRI.
I'm hoping the new year will mark the transition into normalcy. No more "interesting" changes. All Hum Drum on the health front is the news we're hoping for.
In the meantime thank you all for your faithful prayers.
Dave.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
We just found out that the next MRI will be this coming Tuesday at 7:45AM. This one will be a 45 minute long concert with audience participation. Karen will get to hold her breath in harmony with the MRI machine as instructed by the director (AKA technician). It promises to be a marvelous marriage of man and machine. Something akin to a blend of "Stomp" and synchronized swimming ... but without the water ... or the throngs of smiling people ... or the applause.
As always we are thankful for your prayers as to the result of the MRI.
A new update will be forthcoming on Tuesday.
As always we are thankful for your prayers as to the result of the MRI.
A new update will be forthcoming on Tuesday.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
This morning a subtle feeling of anxious anticipation mixed in and out of the normal momentum of the day. As any parent can relate, there is enough activity in a home with small children to keep ones attention from settling too long on oneself. However, I did catch my heart jumping periodically throughout the day. Thoughts of the unknown darted into my mind every so often alighting momentarily on all of the “what if” scenarios that seem to crop up each time we are about to meet with Dr. Massullo.
In the end, though, Karen and I had a very pleasant appointment with Dr. Massullo this afternoon. As you may recall from the previous MRI the tumors appeared to have diminished entirely in Karen’s brain and though there was some residual tumor left in her spine these had diminished to a varying yet significant extent.
The results of the most recent MRI showed that trend continuing. At this point there is no noticeable tumor left anywhere in Karen’s brain or spine save for some irregularities in her mid spine. These spots could be dead tumor tissue or scar tissue, but the most important fact to note about the spots is that they have not grown at all. We are hoping that these are simply bits of scar tissue that are the result of the radiation.
There was one “twist,” however. The radiologist did note more spots on Karen’s liver than on the previous MRI. Because the MRI Karen just received was intended to focus on her spine, only a small portion of the liver was able to be seen on these images. So Dr. Massullo consulted with a radiologist and agreed that in order to rule out any potentially bad news he would order an MRI of the abdomen with special attention to Karen’s Liver.
Spots on one’s liver are not terribly uncommon and could be a number of uninteresting things such as what Dr. Massullo called “blood blisters”, or it could be groups of blood vessels, or scaring from the radiation etc. All of these things would be benign and not life threatening. On the other hand there is an extremely rare chance that the cancer could have spread outside the central nervous system. The chances of this are very rare but for our sake of mind he is trying to schedule the MRI for tomorrow.
If, as we suspect and hope, the MRI of Karen’s liver shows nothing to worry about then Dr. Massullo will have Karen’s next MRI scheduled for six months from now and we’ll just have a quick phone call in 3 months to update him as to how she is feeling.
We thank you all for your continued prayers on Karen’s behalf and continue to be ever thankful for the unimaginably longsuffering love you have all demonstrated toward Karen over the past year.
We’ll be sure to update you all when we get the results from the next MRI (hopefully tomorrow).
In the end, though, Karen and I had a very pleasant appointment with Dr. Massullo this afternoon. As you may recall from the previous MRI the tumors appeared to have diminished entirely in Karen’s brain and though there was some residual tumor left in her spine these had diminished to a varying yet significant extent.
The results of the most recent MRI showed that trend continuing. At this point there is no noticeable tumor left anywhere in Karen’s brain or spine save for some irregularities in her mid spine. These spots could be dead tumor tissue or scar tissue, but the most important fact to note about the spots is that they have not grown at all. We are hoping that these are simply bits of scar tissue that are the result of the radiation.
There was one “twist,” however. The radiologist did note more spots on Karen’s liver than on the previous MRI. Because the MRI Karen just received was intended to focus on her spine, only a small portion of the liver was able to be seen on these images. So Dr. Massullo consulted with a radiologist and agreed that in order to rule out any potentially bad news he would order an MRI of the abdomen with special attention to Karen’s Liver.
Spots on one’s liver are not terribly uncommon and could be a number of uninteresting things such as what Dr. Massullo called “blood blisters”, or it could be groups of blood vessels, or scaring from the radiation etc. All of these things would be benign and not life threatening. On the other hand there is an extremely rare chance that the cancer could have spread outside the central nervous system. The chances of this are very rare but for our sake of mind he is trying to schedule the MRI for tomorrow.
If, as we suspect and hope, the MRI of Karen’s liver shows nothing to worry about then Dr. Massullo will have Karen’s next MRI scheduled for six months from now and we’ll just have a quick phone call in 3 months to update him as to how she is feeling.
We thank you all for your continued prayers on Karen’s behalf and continue to be ever thankful for the unimaginably longsuffering love you have all demonstrated toward Karen over the past year.
We’ll be sure to update you all when we get the results from the next MRI (hopefully tomorrow).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
