My Superhero

So does everyone remember when this happened? How could you forget, right?

Anyway... I haven't really posted anything about Chad's brain in awhile... mostly b/c there wasn't anything to post... and no news is good news... well there's news but don't worry, it's not that bad

I'll back up... right after surgery in the OR they did an MRI to see if they got it all... The doctors saw a small shadow, but thought that was due to the surgery so they left it be.

At the end of July Chad had a follow up MRI and appointment. The first appointment was canceled but they rescheduled for last Friday since the doctor saw something they wanted to discuss. We headed into the appointment knowing kind of what was going on - he saw a small shadow on his MRI and wanted to talk about it.

The doctor explained that there was still a small shadow that he (as well as the "tumor panel") believes is a tumor that either is residual or newly developed (they all leaned toward the first). It's about 4mm in size (compared to the 6cm mass that was there... look at that on a ruler to really put it in perspective) They want to treat it (although not treating it was an option).

The two other options they gave us was surgery again to get the last little bit and this other procedure called a gamma knife. Basically it's a machine with 132 radiation beams all centralized at one point (the tumor.) The doctor thinks it has an 80-90% chance of working. There hasn't been much research done one his type of tumors since they usually get it all in surgery... but everyone thought it was a great option.

Chad decided on the gamma knife. We met with a radiologist to discuss the option further. And that confirmed it was the direction we wanted to go...

We even got to see the machine... The gamma ray nurse was very enthusiastic. It's the only gamma knife machine in St. Louis, very state-of-the-art, and brand new (they called it "hot")

What does a gamma knife procedure entail exactly?

The whole procedure will take about half a day. We will go in that they will put Chad into a head ring (this will be the suckiest part of the day for Chad) They will have to numb his head in order to put the head ring on... this will be pinned to his skull... (doesn't that sound fun?!?) He will then have a MRI and CT Scan... This will be to pinpoint the exact location of the tumor. Then the radiologist and neurosurgeon will work out exactly what they want to do, exactly where the beams will go, and how long they will radiate him. After that they take him out, they take off the head ring and will watch him for a bit. Then he is done and I can take him to lunch.

It all sounds very high-tech and cool. I really think this is the best option for Chad. I mean who would want to go through surgery again within the year?!?

The date of this procedure will be September 8th (next Tuesday) I will let everyone know how it goes.

Oh... and to explain the superhero title... we all joked about how Chad was Wolverine since he healed so quickly and grows hair like crazy... well now he's going to get gamma radiation and turn into the hulk... :)