Today I went for an MRI of my brain since it's been over three months since my first round of them. (I was glad to see that my high school classmate was again doing my MRI!) I was also very lucky that they rescheduled my MRI so that immediately following it, I was scheduled to see my neurosurgeon to get the results. We found out that the new MRI shows three different small spots of concern to him. He thinks one COULD be a blood vessel based on where it was but that the other two are spots that they are going to have to watch. He was going to talk to the radiology oncologist to look at the results and then in 4-6 weeks, I will go back in for an MRI and follow-up appointment with him.
This, obviously, was not the best news we could hear... in fact, when the doctor walked out of the room, we may have heard an explicit come out of Kurt's mouth! :) I asked if they found these spots on the next MRI, what would be the next steps. He said that they could again do the stereotactic radiation (with the halo and a one day radiation therapy) or they could do a full brain radiation - which scares me a bit also because of some of the capacities you can lose from having full brain radiation too much over a period of time.
I like to think there is ALWAYS some good in dealing with bad situations or news - I am glad to see that the three spots are all on the right side of my brain. This means that it should not affect my speech as that is what the left side of the brain is responsible for!
We also heard the good news that the drug that I went down to Detroit to get on a clinical trial for was FDA approved today. (The drug's name was Vemurafenib which has now changed ... if you are able to view my Facebook page, I have a link to some information for that!) The thing that the doctor in Detroit said was that neither Yervoy (Ipi) or this drug have been tested or watched to see how they react to someone with metastatic melanoma of the brain (or brain tumors that are melanoma). He did say that Ipi has a higher molecular "build" so it would take longer to get to the brain to work on those tumors... but did not say that he thought it couldn't get to the brain. We are hopeful that with further treatments, we might start seeing some results on my brain.
Of course, I am anxious to drive again some day so I asked the question of how long I would need to be on Keppra (which is an anti-seizure medication). They are sending me for an EEG tomorrow to see if I previously had or currently have had any seizure activity. He said he would call me within a few days after that test with the results - but didn't really give me any definite ideas on when I would be able to drive! :)
Next Monday I am scheduled to see my oncologist for a follow up visit after my 2nd treatment. I will be asking her once again if I could try to go back to work - even if it is only one week on and a few weeks off. I'd like to get some type of normal back in my life... and with that, I think it would be good for me!
For now, I will be praying that those spots were just "spots" and they will be gone in a month! Thank you to everyone for your concern/care/prayers/etc.
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