Saturday, August 1, 2009

Update

I am sorry I didn't update sooner but after I posted Thursday night I had a meltdown with looking through pictures and just being scared. It was so bad I crawled into bed with my son and I woke him up. He saw/heard me crying and put his arm around me and told me "Mommy, it will be all right." Which of course made my crying worse. I mean to have your child comfort you when it is happening TO him! Children are amazing.

He came through the surgery wonderfully. It took less time then I thought it would which was another plus. The Doctor said he got all the tumor. A WAY plus. And the preliminary results is the tumor is a pilocytic astrocytoma. (yes a big word-- thankfully it is written down! :D ) All his stats have been good and they are keeping him comfortable and I think his pain is getting better as he sat up at one point last night where before even if you moved his head/neck he would cry out in pain. It kinda of scared me though and I asked what is wrong he said nothing. I asked if he was in pain and he said no. What a relief! So he is doing far better then I had antipated. Though I think I (we) always anticipate the worst but I try to hope for the best.

The next 72 hours (well less as the surgery was over about twoish yesterday) is the most crucial. Please pray no infections set in. He does have an MRI today at ten to check his brain fluids inside. He still has his shunt to help drain when the pressure gets to be too much. The doctors said the tumor has been in there at least six months so for a good part of that his brain fluid was not draining properly so his body does need to re-adjust and sorta learn to regulate the pressure like a "normal" little boys body does.

I had friends who said don't google what they thought it was but last night I decided I couldn't wait. It turns out this is a fairly benign tumor and when the doctors get all the tumor a full recover is typically (90% which in medical terms I think is way high for anything serious for survival rate) expected and the norm. I just LOVE the word Benign. That is not to say they won't do radiation but it sounds like chemo will not be necessary. The final results take 72 hours but I do not expect the pre-limenary results to change.

I think that is all for an update right now. And I thank everyone for their prayers. God is Good.

3 comments:

laterg8r said...

so glad he is doing well :)

nomorelittlemonkeys said...

I'm still praying for your son!! I'm so relieved the tumor was benign, and they were able to remove all of it! I didn't want to share this on the board, but my sister had a brain tumor when she was little, and had to have surgery to remove it. They know so much more about these things now with all the modern technology. That is good news for your son!

Unknown said...

Thank God the tumor was benign! I'm praying for your son and you and your family. {{hugs}}