PET Scan Update - Good News

Harold had a PET scan earlier this week to check for tumors in the rest of his body. We met with our oncologist yesterday to hear the results. He came into the exam room, sat down at his computer to show us the report and exclaimed, " I'm getting good at this." 
"Good at what?" I questioned. "Logging onto the computer?" 
"No," he responded with a grin, "treating cancer. These are very good results!" 

And they were:

1. No new tumors
2. Most of the previous tumors are gone.
3. The two remaining are much smaller and even more importantly, they are less actively taking up the radioactive glucose used in the scan - an indication they are on their way out.

We all marvel at the progress Harold is making. The chemotherapy treatments appear to be working as well as the continued faith and prayers of friends and family.
 

Inches

The morning light is soft, buffered by a blanket of snow covering lawns, rooftops and tree branches. I try to gauge the accumulation by the snow precariously balanced on the needles of the evergreen bush outside. It's a good day to be warm and cozy inside. . .   

Harold’s been out of the hospital a week. The time has passed gently. We expected this recovery to be hard since Harold is essentially healing from three separate craniotomy incisions. Instead it’s continued smoothly with very little pain and almost no cognitive fog. This is in part because he's been able to take steroids to control swelling. Harold does tire easily so we’re taking things slow. 

We ventured out to attend church on Sunday. Harold was a bit self conscious about his incisions but decided he wanted to be there anyway. “You’d think by now they could just put in a zipper, ” a friend quipped as we entered the building. So much for sneaking in unnoticed. 

Yes, our surgeon has been rather busy the last few weeks cutting holes in Harold’s head; and as much as we are grateful for his skills, we hope he’s done for a while. 

I've paused again to look out the window. The sun is breaking through and it appears the snow has stopped. How much did we get? Three inches? Four? I take my ruler to find out, then begin to wonder . . .   How will we measure this cancer experience?  


How do you measure the chance to feel protected and loved by our Heavenly Father? How do you calculate the price our Savior has paid to feel our pain, to lift, to heal? How do you measure peace?

February 21, 2013

                                          _________________

Quiz for the statistically minded:

How many inches of stitches has Harold received and how would that number compare with the circumference of his head.

Some Almost Helpful Facts:

The average circumference of an adult male’s head is 22–24 inches. Harold’s is 24. He’s had five craniotomy incisions.

Overachiever

They call him an overachiever, a curve breaker. I just call him blessed.

Harold is again recovering better than expected. Yesterday’s surgery included two separate craniotomy sites. One on the top of his head and one on the lower back of his head.  We were prepared for more than normal pain. Instead he has experienced less. We were expecting temporary cognitive impairment or balance issues. There have been none. Granted we are in the honeymoon stage of post op before swelling causes problems but still, the doctors and nurses have him labeled. Harold is doing very well.

He got the overachiever title from the ICU nurses because he was up taking walks around the unit. When it came time for neurological exams, he did the testing then challenged them with some new tricks. He got the title of curve breaker from his surgeon who has now made five incisions in Harold’s skull. It’s not a record but he’s pushing the curve. When he was transferred to a regular room this evening his new nurses had gotten the word. Something extraordinary is going on here.

Yes, Harold has some labels. Some are deserved, some perhaps not. But this label is sure: Harold has been blessed and we are grateful.

Surgery Update

Harold is now resting comfortably in the ICU after a 5 ½ hour surgery to remove two more brain tumors. The surgery went very well. The two tumors appeared to be dead tissue, not active cancer. We will wait for lab results to confirm.

More details in the morning.

Recovering at Home

Harold has been home from the hospital for a couple of day and is recovering well. There has been much less discomfort this time and no cognitive impairment. He did have an amazing shiner of a right eye. That, along with an arc of new stitches, combined to make him look a bit tough. Elodie, our three year old granddaughter declared, “Grandpa is scary.”
     

Harold sleeps a lot, which is a good thing. He needs to heal as much as possible before going back into surgery on Monday. At that time he will have two more tumors removed.

Between naps we take walks.

 “So how far are we going today,” I cautiously asked as we started our morning walk.

I’ve learned to check these things out because with Harold . . .  well, it’s just good to know. A couple of weeks ago I found myself in the middle of a steep jungle hike, already tiring and then overwhelmed by the realization that the only way out was up. So now, out of a new sense of self preservation, I asked the question.

Before Harold could even answer, I stopped and laughed at my ridiculous concern. After all, he’s the one just recovering from major brain surgery. I should be ok. And I was. We walked a mile and a half.

Update

Harold has done great today and has been moved to a regular room. He's walking with little assistance, talking normally, eating well, and generally looking for mischief - in other words, he's about back to normal. So far the recovery has been easier because he's not dealing with as much post operative swelling.

The plan is to go home on Monday.

Surgery Update

The surgery went well today but was different than originally planned. First, it was delayed by several hours. Seond, only one tumor was removed. Still, it seems things turned out as they should.

A pre-surgery MRI revealed increased swelling in the tumor sceduled for a February 13 gamma knife treatment. Surgical removal became the better option. We hoped it could be removed today with the other two but discovered that none of these tumors are located near each other. It would require three seperate incisions in Harold's head. While surgically possible, it's not a great idea as it would cause too much brain trama in one day. 

Instead Harold's surgeon chose to remove the most complex tumor and will remove the other two in about 10 days. It was really the only choice.

Todays tumor was located just above the right eyebrow and was resting on the optic nerve. Surgery started around 4:30 pm and was completed some time after 8:00 pm. It was successfully removed with no apparent damage to Harold's vision. When I saw Harold around 9:00 pm he was able to talk and respond normally. His surgeon felt things had gone really well. Since it is the weekend, we won't know the result of the labs on that tumor until Tuesday.

Right now we are in the ICU but should to be moved to a regular room in the morning. Things are going great.

The day was longer than expected but passed calmly. I am greatful for the company to two friends, also unexpected, who shared this journey today.