Quick Update…

This week is definitely not turning out how I expected it.
David’s Neuro-Oncologist met with the Tumor Board and after an exhaustive review of David’s current condition they all came up with a new recommendation for a treatment plan.

Since there is actual tumor activity, the surgeon felt that because it’s in such a “prime” location for surgery, they should go in and get any new growth out of there. This way the drugs will be more effective and have to work a lot less. This surgeon is phenomenal and we are blessed to have him in our life. Many nurses have told us that we are very lucky to have him because he is renowned in the field and extremely good. He’s pretty high up there at Froedtert and I guess having him solely handling one’s surgery is quite impressive. He’s grown quite attached to David in the last year and we know he will do everything in his power to kick this thing. So, if he says we need to do surgery. We trust him.

Also, David’s Radiologist got in on it too. I have no clue how many people were at this meeting discussing David…but it sounds like a quite a few. But the Radiologist wants to use the balloon. I don’t have too many specifics on this yet. But I do know David has wanted this since he was first diagnosed. I don’t think the first hospital offered it because it was such a new treatment and during his last surgery in June of 2006 this particular surgery wasn’t conducive to the balloon. But things have changed and it’s becoming more mainstream and they feel it will work extremely effectively on this tumor. The basic gist of it is that they will insert a balloon in the hole where the tumor was and insert radioactive seeds into it. This is very exciting since when he was first diagnosed they said he would only be able to undergo radiation once. Since irradiating the head is not a good thing. His first radiation a year and a half ago was pinpointed…but it still got swaths of his head. Now that they can go in and target a very specific and small spot, he can have a 2nd radiation treatment without as much concern for his brain and what these treatments will do to it. I have no clue if he will then begin the snazzy chemo I discussed in my last blog or not, so I guess we’ll all just have to wait to find out more specifics.

We go in Tuesday to meet with our Neuro-Surgeon to discuss the game plan so to speak and set up the surgery date. I was not expecting this and I’ve had some major freak out moments today. But we’ll get through this like we get through all the other crap we’ve been through. I wouldn’t say David is excited about this latest development, but he’s happy about the current “Plan.” He’s always thought this balloon thing would be good for him and we both have really good feelings about this new Chemo treatment.

Unfortunately we know the drill when it comes to these surgeries. Dave is getting mentally prepared and when he gets in the “zone” he comes at thing head on and he kicks ass. He always does extremely well in these surgeries and tends to recover at a surprisingly rapid pace. And when he gets his mental state ready, fired up and optimistic like he is now, he does phenomenal. I’m trying to get there…but I’m not quite there yet. I have every confidence that he will sail through this surgery and the new treatment plan. It’s just really hard when Dave goes under. The waiting while he’s in surgery, the days watching him sleep in the ICU and the following periods of uncertainty are hell. So…I shall take a deep breath and try to calm myself before the ensuing storm.