HEADING HOME

Amy has been doing much better the past two days.  She felt so good yesterday that she was pretty sure Dr. Surgeon would release her today which was spot on.  She's heading home.  Mom Carlson will be staying with her in Lawrence tonight and tomorrow and friends will likely be taking over after that.  Her pain is under control.

Yesterday she had Physical Therapy to see if she could manage at home...walking up and down stairs and what not.  She manages that just fine although she does have some balance problems.

The type of tumor she has is a rare tumor called oligodendroglioma which occurs in the cells that produce myelin, the fatty covering that protects nerves. They grow slowly and usually do not spread into surrounding brain tissue.  From a prognosis standpoint this is a very good tumor to have if you must have one.  Her surgeon and oncologist suspect that a portion of the tumor has become an anaplastic oligodendroglioma (a more aggressive type of oligodendroglioma) and the biopsy will confirm or negate his suspicions.  Should the tumor have reached that stage, chemo will be indicated and possibly radiation.  We have found out that they prefer to wait as long as possible for radiation treatment, so we shall see.

 MRI scans pre-op.  The black portion is the vacant spot from removal of the first tumor and the white areas are the new growth since her first operation.  The very fluffy area on the far left side is the "suspicious" part that the surgeon was most concerned about.  He resected all the other new growth "while he was in there."  Looks horrible but as Amy says "No dain bramage!"

Stay tuned for more...