Thursday, February 12, 2009

A Moment to Breath

So, we just returned from Boston this evening, and luckily our trip was fairly uneventful. We went down last night and stayed at the Ronald McDonald house; our appointments with the oncologist team were this afternoon. The final pathology of the tumor came back as expected with a slight twist. It wasn't a cancerous tumor, but there were two different types of tumor cells in within the tumor. Apparently that is pretty rare, but both types are non cancerous (meaning it won't spread to other parts of her body) and very slow growing types of tumors. That is very good news! There aren't any good types of brain tumors, but the type Sammy has is certainly the type you would choose if you had to.

The next part of our conversation surrounded what type of follow up treatment the team recommended...I am happy to report that at this time the recommendation is NOTHING! Well, maybe saying nothing is a slight exaggeration, as they will do follow up MRI's every three months to make sure the tumor doesn't come back, but we are in a much better situation than we had expected! When I spoke to one of the doctors on the phone last week she indicated that Sammy would "probably benefit from further treatment" and since Sam is too young for radiation, I had assumed she meant chemo therapy. When you first get a diagnosis of a brain tumor, you think it is the end of the world and chemo doesn't seem so bad, but at the point we are at, the thought of my little girl having to go through chemo really breaks my heart, so I was so happy they want to hold off on any further treatment.

At this point, there is certainly a chance the tumor will start to regrow, and that treatment might be necessary in the future, but we don't have to think about that for another three months. We have a few moments to breath!

Stay tuned, I will continue to keep you all updated on Sammy's progress, as well as how we are doing as a family.

Thank you!!!

3 comments:

  1. Fabulous news!!! I am so happy for her. Continue your positive attitude and she will continue to be happy. Your positive vibes and strength have played a major role in her success!

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  2. Dave and I got the update from Grammy who got it from your mom the very next day. YEAH!!!!!!!! I am so happy that you can relax and breath and just enjoy the rest of the winter without further treatment. We will always keep you in our prayers and are very happy about the good news. We love you guys.

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