A Glimmer of Hope

I always knew that being with Brian would be the ride of my life.

The MRI technician scared the begeezes out of us both when he politely handed Brian the CD of his brain and said...do you have an appointment with your doctor. Brian replied...yes, in a few minutes, and are you trying to give me a heads up? He, of course, said no, that he just wanted to be sure.

So I thought I might throw up for the next 30 minutes while we were driving across town to Ellis Fischel and while we waited to see Dr. Anderson. Brian and I have an on-going joke to see how fast we get in; granted, it isn't all that funny. Brian figures we can measure how bad the situation is if we get to butt in line in front of anyone. They sort of had the red carpet rolled out, but there were no trumpets to greet us and no police escort, so we were hoping that might mean we were still in the clear.

I'll admit though, Dr. Anderson wasted no time in coming to see us once he knew we were in the building. I wonder if it is like when Elvis would arrive, except the only autograph Brian gave was to give permission for them to bill the insurance.

The abdomen was what we expected...several subcutaneous tumors within the abdomen, a mass behind the left kidney in the cavity that holds the kidney, a tumor on the right adrenal gland (which by itself is not a huge deal, but is now a concern since he doesn't have his left adrenal gland), and a mass at the base of the fluid pocket. The fluid pocket itself has greatly decreased, and hopefully Brian can get the drain out soon.

Then came the MRI news. Dr. Anderson must have felt that we would be shocked, although he hadn't lived with Brian in the past 5 days with this significant weakness. I told him, just give it to us because we already know something is going on.

Then came the glimmer of hope we have prayed for, the feeling of a loving God wrapping His arms around us. Dr. Anderson told us that there are no new spots on the brain. What appears to have happened is the 1/2 in. lesion that was treated with stereotactic radiosurgery in January is growing and/or is swelling. There does still appear to be cell death, so it is unclear what is exactly going on, but we know it needs to be taken care of. Brian also has significant edema on the left side of his brain, which likely accounts for his leg issue. The doctor prescribed him decadron to help with the swelling, and he expects Brian to make a full recovery from this, probably seeing improvement in a day or so.

So now what? Brian is scheduled to be admitted to the hospital tomorrow morning. He will have a craniotomy (brain surgery) on Friday morning, and stay in the hospital for 2-3 days. He is thinking up some cool things to tell people that he done to his brain, so I think he is taking it well. As far as surgeries go, this is relatively minor, compared to the awful surgery he had in February. The side effects are minimal, as we are talking about an area about one inch in diameter. Any issues that might arise will likely be able to be corrected. He'll have to go bald for sure, with having the chunk of his skull removed. Most of you know Brian used to be very particular about his hair. But again, it is another battle wound in the war on melanoma.

In the meantime, Dr. Anderson has the wheels rolling on Brian's next treatment. It will take some time and research to determine where and how he will get the drugs, depending if there is a trial, and if Brian qualifies. This treatment can also be administered through Dr. Anderson's care, although it is unclear if the drugs will be covered by insurance for use with melanoma. These drugs are the ones I've been researching, and the same treatment options Melanoma International dug up for me. Unfortunately, it will take some time (4-6 weeks) to get it going. But Brian will need a decent amount of time to recover from the craniotomy and also get stronger from being so weak over these past few months. Luckily we can multitask and have the craniotomy while getting all our ducks in a row.

Hopefully, Brian will be home by Sunday night for Father's Day. I'll try to post again over the weekend if I have Internet access.

Peace,
Jenni

Pray without ceasing. And in all that you do, know that God is with you.