Somebody's Listening to Us!

We had our appt at the Duke Clinic today at 2pm. We were in a regular doctor check-up room. For some reason, I thought we'd meet in a more formal room. The PA Steve Silverman spoke with us for a long time. First thing out of his mouth was "tell me everything you know about this tumor". As I proceeded to tell him what I read and what I heard, he told me if it's true or false.

Good news: He said that Harold's tumor was "non-enhancing", which means that it wasn't looking for food and air to grow aggressively. He also said that the pre-op MRI indicated a Grade 2 tumor because there aren't visible blood vessels coming off of it. But, because the biopsy came back with Grade 3 "indicators", they have to treat it as a full-blown Grade 3 tumor and be more aggressive in the treatments.

He answered all of our questions too...but I've thought of some more for tomorrow. He said that the primary brain tumors are less than 2% hereditary. And that Harold's blurry eye will get better as his swelling goes down too.

Treatments: Harold will begin radiation and chemotherapy the week of the 27th. Radiation will be Mon-Fri and the Chemo will be in a pill form every day of the week. Once Harold is established for radiation, the visits won't last 10-15 minutes each time. This will go on for 6 weeks. Then he will take 3 weeks off to allow his brain to heal. Then he will begin the chemo pills again for 5 consectutive days each month for 12 months. Harold will have lab work done each week and they will fax the information to Duke. Also, he will have MRIs every 2 months for the first year.

Overall, Prognosis is GREAT!! Dr. Annik Desjardins also came in to talk with us and told us basically the same thing. She went over the side effects of the treatments more in detail, but nothing alarming. Constipation may be the biggest problem of both. But we all know Harold is full of sh** anyways. She wants Harold to remain active and walking like he's been doing. He can go back to work (without lifting anything over 10 lbs) but needs to listen to body. If he gets tired (which is normal), he needs to rest and not over-do it. He got approval to go fishing next week. And he can go hunting (without a gun)...hahaha.

Oh, and they asked if we wanted more kids in the future, I don't know who answered that question faster! I certainly can't handle any more stress! He said that if we did, we'd have to go to a sperm bank as soon as possible . Harold said..."not gonna happen". Well, atleast we agree on something.

Plans for tonight include a MRI. We'll be leaving the motel in about 30 mins to head over to the Lenox Children's Hospital for a scheduled MRI at 7pm. Then tomorrow morning, we have an appt at 9:30am at the Brain Tumor Center. And Steve will review tonights MRI with us. We also meet with a child-life specialist, who will help us with any questions that the boys may have and how to deal with the stress with the boys. I'm looking forward to meeting her.

Hopefully, we'll be heading home by noon.

This is all I can think of right now. I'll post again later tonight.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS!!