Well, Kayla decided to be a princess for Halloween, so she wore her costume and brought her plastic pumpkin for trick or treating. Most of the nurses and staff were dressed up and had a bowl of candy by their station, so as Kayla got checked in and accessed, she was able to trick or treat along the way. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures. . . I was busy carrying around an infant car seat, diaper bag, and bag of stuff to keep us busy all day, etc.
We went in to talk to Marnie and have the usual check-up. Marnie was optimistic that Kayla would make her blood counts that day and be able to have her chemo. . .but when the numbers came back her platelets were at 86. Sigh. I was happy that her platelets had come up so far from last week (58). They need to be 100, so I think she'll be good for next week. Marnie did tell me that she'd talk to Dr. Hansen about how long we just wait for her counts to go up or if he would want to start a lower dose of chemo. She called me back later that day and told me that Dr. Hansen wanted to wait until her platelets were up to 100 and do the full dose of chemo.
Marnie also told me about the Brain Tumor Conference that went on last week. She started out telling me that at this particular conference, everyone who was supposed to be there was there (. . . except for Dr. Hansen, who was on vacation), where normally not everyone makes it. There were oncologists, neurologists, radio-neurologists, ophthalmologists, probably other types of doctors, nurses, school teachers, the music therapist, and just about everyone who can possibly help out with every situation that someone with a brain tumor might need.
So, this group of highly trained professionals spend time talking about each case. They looked at Kayla's MRI and spent a lot of time discussing her condition. What they found from the MRI is that her tumor has shrunk so much that it is almost GONE. Her optic chiasim, where the main mass of the tumor is, is "nearly normal." Kayla the small spots or tumors along her entire optic nerves, which is what caused the doctors to think she has neurofibromatosis, are COMPLETELY GONE.
Optic gliomas typically do not change in size very quickly. We have been told many times not to expect to see any change in size until we are comparing MRIs from a year to a year and a half apart. So far, it's been 6 months and both MRIs have shown a decrease in size that is very noticeable. Especially this last one where the tumor is almost gone. The group at the conference could not come up with any real explanation. They talked about a possible mis-diagnosis and that it might be something else. But, no one could think of anything else that it could possibly be. The only suggestion came from the radio-neurologist: "the treatment is working."
I can think of a few other explanations. . . back at the beginning of this whole experience, our bishop gave Bryson and I each a blessing. He told us that we would see miracles throughout this journey. We totally have. I know that the many many prayers you all have said in our behalf have been heard. THANK YOU!! I am very anxious to see what the next 6 months have in store for us.
P.S.
We also celebrated Kayla's 5th birthday on the 30th! Happy Birthday sweet girl!!
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