We went on a ski trip with friends this weekend (to Wisconsin) and had a blast! Sarah and I hadn't been skiing for eight years and of course it was the first time for the boys. They learned quickly and Ben even went down some black slopes -- although that really scared us since he just went as fast as he could, without turning until the bottom. Sam liked skiing so much that he was inconsolable when I told him it was time to go home. :) But, we are all exhausted and I'm sure our muscles will be sore for days...Sarah gets Taxol-Carbo treatment #4 tomorrow. It's been a tough week in Cancerland: Sarah developed a headache last Tuesday that pretty much stopped her in her tracks. At first we were worried that she had a brain hemorrhage since we'd been warned about it (related to the pituitary met) so she went in to get it checked. A rapid CT showed it wasn't a hemorrhage but she also got results from a more detailed brain MRI which was done last Monday and it showed that the pituitary met had grown slightly (not good - we were hoping to see size reduction due to the chemo). Since there is not much room near the pituitary gland, the docs believe that this small size increase is probably causing the headaches. She's now taking the steroid Decadron to control any swelling/inflammation and it made the headaches go away for now, but we've got to decide what to do about the pituitary met now. Options are radiation surgery or conventional surgery. We'll be talking to the neurosurgeon at University of Chicago cancer center over the next week to discuss it.
It feels like we're back in limbo again, unfortunately a familiar feeling now: we hope that Taxol-Carbo is pushing back Sarah's cancer, but all we know today is that her tumor markers are not down yet and her brain met didn't get smaller. We won't really know how effective this stuff is until we get a liver MRI done which is planned for around 2.5 weeks from now. That's a long wait, but these days Sarah and I both try to avoid worrying too much until we actually have test results or other new information.
4 comments:
The skiing looks like it was terrific! I'm glad you had a chance to enjoy yourself before the uncertainty and scariness of this last week set in. Continued love and hugs from the south ...
What a great family vacation. glad you had that time. And we'll continue to send healing thoughts to you from here!
Jen
I am blown away by Ben doing a black! Oh my gosh. Those boys don't mind the cold at all? On the pituitary front, is the gamma knife procedure available at all? It may not be, but I've heard promising things about that. Thinking of you and imagining how frightening the possible hemorrage must have been. XXOO Eone
I haven't been skiing in several years, but I do remember being dusted by 4 year olds heading straight down the slopes at break neck speed...
Sorry to hear about the headache and the uncertainty. I hope the news you get in these next few weeks is good. I'm thinking about you all and wishing you well, as always.- sharon
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