mayo clinic

when we drove into town on Tuesday night, the memories came flooding back. it had been 9 years since we had been to Rochester and in an instant it felt like yesterday.

we met with dr. Johnson, (neurology/oncology) and dr. Atkinson (neurosurgery).

dr. Johnson did a full neuro exam to look for any deficits.
dr. Atkinson talked about the concerns and the plan for surgery.

here is what we know from the neurosurgeon:
-the tumor is about the size of a large grape. located in the right frontal lobe, just above his eye. other than his clean scan in 2014, we don't know how long it's been there or when it started growing.
-primary brain tumors (those that start in the brain vs. traveling to the brain from another source of cancer) are difficult to treat. they are not a nice round ball of tumor. they have finger like structures that stretch out from the tumor into healthy brain tissue. therefore it is impossible to get all of a primary brain tumor.
-unfortunately in the last 25/30 years there has not been a whole lot of progress treating brain tumors in adults.
-he was surprised that cody made it 9 years before it came back.
-there really is no cure for these brain tumors. they just continue to treat as long as they can.

the plan:
-he will have a "planning" MRI on june 22nd
-surgery has been scheduled for june 23rd
-surgery is estimated to last about 4 hours with a hospital stay of 1-3 days
-by removing the tumor they are able to biopsy and come up with a diagnosis
-a treatment plan will be made after we know the pathology report

often times when tumors recur, they come back more aggressive and at a higher grade. his initial diagnosis was gradeIII anaplastic astrocytoma. it would be our biggest nightmare for it to have changed to a gradeIV glioblastoma.

so that's what I know for the facts. i'll have to save the emotions for another post. if you have any questions, feel free to comment and i'll try to answer the best I can.

most importantly though, cody needs your continued prayers.