What We Know

She did it!  She got that boy graduated and celebrated him in style on Saturday.  And yesterday she had a full and active Mothers' Day.  She opened her iPad (finally!  Esphyr has been waiting and waiting, but Mom insisted we wait) and the kids were happy to give tutorials.  Then we went out into the beautiful day and Mom joined in the Frisbee game (with Dad spotting).  She was amazing at catching for only using one eye.  (She's still having the double vision, so she's been using her painter's tape patch, which is a cheerful blue (see above).  I love it.)  Then we grilled out and and ate out under the pine trees.  Her appetite is good-- she enjoyed the burger and the sweet potato fries.  :)

Treatments should start this week.  She is opting for the longer course of radiation (five to six weeks) because it has a better chance of being more effective both in the short and long term.  Dr. Breneman and Dr. Morris decided not to do the chemo concurrently, so that will start after the radiation.  Dr. Breneman said that yes, of course, she can take a break for the wedding.  (Allie & Red wed June 14th in Virginia!)

One thing we learned is that there may or may not be tumor cells in the spinal fluid.  There were no cells present in the spinal tap (nor in the spinal scan, which would not show the fluid but shows that there are no spinal tumors), but there were protein levels that indicated that there might be.  At our last visit on Tuesday, May 6th, Dr. Breneman explained that the protein could be elevated because of contact with the known tumors.  This was encouraging to be because I had thought that it was a given that there were tumor cells in the spinal fluid.

So that's the latest.  Sorry I have not been keeping up as well as I should.  This is the end of my semester, so I have been grading many essays and answering lots of emails.  But I will finish up this week and hopefully keep you better informed.  Thanks all of you for your kind thoughts and words.  They lift us all but especially Mom.  As we were leaving Bloomington, Dad and Mom started singing "Cat's Cradle."  I just sat in the back, listening and thinking.  How lucky we all are.  All of us.

Love and gratitude always,
jk