Brian Brown

alrighty, so my mom has made it through her first weekend at home…she is slowly getting a little better on her feet and is enjoying being in the comfort of her own home….she is still in no pain, not feeling any pressure in her head or anything like that…she is just pressing forward….so today (monday) she went to her first DR’s appt today and we still don’t have the pathology reports back yet…my mom said she is going to call Emory tomorrow and track the results down…so what happened at the DR…they agreed that the best thing to do from this point forward is to check my mom more often…they are going to check her every 3 months to make sure nothing is going on…they are still discussing the radiation option but if she requires any, it will probably be something they call gamma knife and it should just be a one time thing…another thing discussed was how rare this is…they were saying how rare it is for Thyroid Cancer to end up on the brain (we are assuming that is what happened-testing will confirm that)….they did some research through the Mayo Clinic and there are only about 15 documented cases in the past 50 years where this has occurred….this certainly explains why we heard the answer a lot, “i don’t know.”  they haven’t had  a lot of experience dealing with this type of a thing…she is still going to take it one day at a time…we will see what happens.

So, I went and visited with my mom for a little while today (saturday)…she was doing well.  She said she was able to rest during the night but was a little uncomfortable because she always sleeps on her left side…the problem here is that the tumor was on the left front side of her brain so laying on her left side is a small problem…she said she was able to position herself in her recliner so that she was comfortable enough to sleep…she said she was in no pain and hadn’t felt the need to take her pain medicine (that’s awesome!  4 days after brain surgery no pain!!!) and was doing well with all the other meds she is having to take…she said she wasn’t feeling any pressure or anything…the area is slightly (and i mean slightly) swollen but that is to be/was expected…she has to go to the DR on monday and is hoping the biopsy results will be in so we can confirm what we already suspect…she is moving fairly well with her cane and is looking pretty steady on her feet…she is in good spirits and plans to keep trucking along, whatever she has to face…she still hasn’t gotten her taste back for her diet cokes but maybe that will come in the near future…just keep praying for her that everything will heal well and all test results will come back in her favor!

ok, so her first night at home seemed to go well…she said she was able to get some rest and she ate some breakfast this morning…she was going to eat some soup for lunch that she really likes…one bad thing though, her taste for her caffeine free diet coke isn’t quite there….she loves those things but said they aren’t tasting right at the moment…hopefully that will change so she can get her drink of choice…she has an appt on monday with her doctor to discuss a whole lot of stuff i guess and has scheduled an appt to have the stitches removed for April 10.  She is just going to take it one day at a time and continue to improve.  My mom has mentioned how grateful she is for all the well wishes that are coming from everyone as well as the prayers that have been lifted up.  I think she knows that there is no way she would be doing as well as she is if God wasn’t in it….we will just continue to improve and move forward….my mom is a trooper and will continue to battle anything that comes her way…thanks again from our family for all your prayers, calls, cards, flowers, food, everything….it means a great deal to us.

ok, it looks like we are going home!!!!!  we should be leaving around 700PM and then we will have many follow up appt’s in the coming weeks.  She has an appt with a radiation oncologist next week to determine if any treatment will be needed for the brain area…she will have the stitches removed in the next 14 days and then many other appt’s to come i’m sure….thanks to everyone who’s following her journey….it’s been an interesting roller coaster the past few days and we will no doubt have a long road ahead…everyone has been amazed by her progress thus far and I believe there is no other explanation except for the fact that God intervened…we might not post updates daily now but keep checking every couple of days to see her progress

Alright, it’s 240PM and we have still heard nothing from the oncologist…so, no new updates except for the fact that I am reminded that i am totally going to brown bag it if i’m in the hospital…the cafteria is amazing to me but the junk they bring you in the room looks like vomit…she is eating it though and is ready to get out of here…there is a slim chance she will be able to go home later tonight but tomorrow morning seems a little more likely…it all depends on when the oncologist gets in here to speak with her…stay tuned.

It’s 1030AM and the physical therapist just left…she did some exercises and worked on balance…she was a little shaky with some of the balance stuff and walking around (which i would think is expected after having your skull cut open) so she will have to have someone with her for the first few days of being at home…that way, if she wanted to get up and walk around someone will be with her…she will also walk with a cane for the first week or so once at home…still haven’t heard anything from the oncologist so we will continue to wait for that.

So it’s 730AM and a neurosurgeon came in about an hour ago.  He removed this drain deal that had been attached to her head.  Not a whole lot of new info, still hoping to see the oncologist today and see what they have to say…the surgeon mentioned something about maybe even being able to take her home later today (we will see?).  She again is going to be resting today because you aren’t able to get much sleep during the night with people coming in and out of your room all through the night…keep checking back and I’ll be posting some new stuff (as I know it) later today.

We have results for the MRI that was done this morning and that confirms that the DR did pretty much get everything…The thought is still the same, it looks like he was able to remove the entire tumor.  It’s 1030PM right now and my mom looks good…still speaking well, she was able to get out of bed and move around a little this afternoon…so we are encouraged…i think the oncologist is supposed to come by tomorrow to talk about treatment options…the thought now is that she will require some radiation but we aren’t sure, so we will just wait and hope the oncologist comes tomorrow to let us know for sure…i’m actually hoping that he will shed some light on the biopsy as well….we will just wait and see…we are taking baby steps forward at this point but we are moving in positive directions…i guess that’s all for now…i’ll update tomorrow morning sometime to let you know how her night was…thanks for following her story.

OK, so the DR came into check on my mom around 3PM today and he really had no new information…He said he was encouraged by her color, her ability to speak, and how aware she was of things.  We asked if this tumor is related to her Thyroid Cancer that she had in 1976, why did this grow so fast?  We have determined that tumor has grown over the last 12 months or so and understand it is pretty aggressive.  She had a full body scan a year ago because some blood work came back saying, “hey, there’s a problem.”  However, nothing was detected in the scan.  Basically, she went from nothing to a golf ball on her brain in 12 months-not a good sign-  So, her Thyroid Cancer was very slow growing and then this, which is probably related somehow to the Thyroid, was growing quickly….I hope that makes sense…at any rate, the DR doesn’t know…he said sometimes things are different.  He really had no new info, he just wanted to check on her.  He said they are doing a biopsy on the tumor to determine what it is and if treatment will be needed over the next coming months.  He said the MRI done today will also be able to tell he he removed the entire tumor.  We have a long road ahead…we took a huge step because she survived the surgery, and nothing negative has taken place since…Will update more as we know more.

it’s about 815AM and she made it through her first few hours in ICU….they are taking her for another MRI now and then she will be back shortly…she was able to know who we were when we saw her after she first got into ICU…she was able to talk a little and seemed to know what is going on…since the tumor was toward the front of her brain, they didn’t have to shave to much hair…i know she will be excited about that…i’ll update late tonight on the days progress…thanks for everyone’s encouragement…she appreciates all the prayers!