Well the day is almost over and I am looking forward to the time off. We have had a crazy couple of weeks.
Our plans are to hang out at home and have Thanksgiving dinner together. I think we all need family time! We want to get as much of that time in as we can before Tracy heads into surgery. I know that it will be quite an adjustment for everyone but we are willing to do it in order to enable Tracy to have a full recovery.
We definitely have a lot we are thankful for. One of those things being all of our friends and family and the support we have received.
So…. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!
Love,
The Hammonds
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Monday, November 23, 2009
Update on the Tumor
Well it is Monday and I said I would post an update after the appointment with the Neurologist. So here it is!
As suspected, the Neurologist said it is an Epidermoid Cyst and therefore the tumor is benign. However, that was about the only good news we received. The Neurologist said that the tumor is quite large. The cyst is larger than a golf ball but smaller than a tennis ball. So you can only imagine the size of this thing. According to the doc, Epidermoid cysts are congenital. This means he has had it since he was in the womb. Throughout time, the cyst has slowly grown so large that it has been affecting his balance, vision, hearing and giving him major headaches every day all day!
The risk with a cyst (tumor) this size is that it is basically encompassing his whole left cerebellum and is putting pressure on the brain stem. The brain stem controls all major functions such as your heart, breathing, etc....The cyst is putting so much pressure on the brain stem when you are looking at the MRI, it shows the brain stem going straight through the spinal column and up the neck but once it reaches the area near the tumor it forms a backward "C" shape so the brainstem is seriously out of alignment. This makes surgery very difficult because the brain stem is in the path of the cyst. So they have to be pretty precise when removing the cyst from that area.
The neurologist is also worried about the cranial nerves. The cyst has grown through and around some of the cranial nerves. The cranial nerves control facial expressions, eye movement, tongue movement, swallowing, taste, hearing (auditory equilibrium), chewing, and so on. Basically these nerves control movement from the shoulders up. If any of these nerves are compromised, he could lose movement on his left side. So this again is something that makes the surgery more complicated.
After going over all of our options, it seems the best resolution would be to remove as much of the tumor as they can without compromising any of the cranial nerves. I think the neurosurgeon would have preferred surgery right away, but admitted this was going to be very complicated and wanted to get a team of specialists together to evaluate his condition and collectively determine the best possible course of action. He has stated the surgery will take a minimum of 8 hours but could take as long as 12 hours with 2 days in the ICU. Once moved from the ICU, he will have an additional 4-5 day stay for observation. Of course this is based on a "near perfect" scenario. If he does have complications, the stay could be up to a month.
There are also risks of the toxins and fluids stored within the cyst leaking into the spinal fluid and filtering into Tracy's bloodstream and causing "chemical meningitis." I know… it sounds bad. We were a bit freaked out too. The word "meningitis" brings a lot of scary things to mind. The doc said that if this happens it can be flushed out with antibiotics and such but it will cause him to be violently ill.
So where it stands now, Tracy has an appointment tomorrow to test his hearing to see if there is already nerve damage. I don’t think his hearing is selective anymore! The neurologist told us he will call on Monday…hopefully with a game plan. Obviously there is a lot more that we had discussed with him. It was information overload! But this gives you the gist of his situation.
Even if the surgery goes well, his brain has to expand into the space that the tumor occupied and the brain stem will have to reposition which can affect some of his functions during this process. If they cannot get the whole tumor out, he will have to have regular MRI's to continually track the growth of the portion that remains.
We have a long road ahead of us but are staying positive!
Thanks again to everyone for your well wishes and prayers. I hope to post often and let everyone know how Tracy is doing.
As suspected, the Neurologist said it is an Epidermoid Cyst and therefore the tumor is benign. However, that was about the only good news we received. The Neurologist said that the tumor is quite large. The cyst is larger than a golf ball but smaller than a tennis ball. So you can only imagine the size of this thing. According to the doc, Epidermoid cysts are congenital. This means he has had it since he was in the womb. Throughout time, the cyst has slowly grown so large that it has been affecting his balance, vision, hearing and giving him major headaches every day all day!
The risk with a cyst (tumor) this size is that it is basically encompassing his whole left cerebellum and is putting pressure on the brain stem. The brain stem controls all major functions such as your heart, breathing, etc....The cyst is putting so much pressure on the brain stem when you are looking at the MRI, it shows the brain stem going straight through the spinal column and up the neck but once it reaches the area near the tumor it forms a backward "C" shape so the brainstem is seriously out of alignment. This makes surgery very difficult because the brain stem is in the path of the cyst. So they have to be pretty precise when removing the cyst from that area.
The neurologist is also worried about the cranial nerves. The cyst has grown through and around some of the cranial nerves. The cranial nerves control facial expressions, eye movement, tongue movement, swallowing, taste, hearing (auditory equilibrium), chewing, and so on. Basically these nerves control movement from the shoulders up. If any of these nerves are compromised, he could lose movement on his left side. So this again is something that makes the surgery more complicated.
After going over all of our options, it seems the best resolution would be to remove as much of the tumor as they can without compromising any of the cranial nerves. I think the neurosurgeon would have preferred surgery right away, but admitted this was going to be very complicated and wanted to get a team of specialists together to evaluate his condition and collectively determine the best possible course of action. He has stated the surgery will take a minimum of 8 hours but could take as long as 12 hours with 2 days in the ICU. Once moved from the ICU, he will have an additional 4-5 day stay for observation. Of course this is based on a "near perfect" scenario. If he does have complications, the stay could be up to a month.
There are also risks of the toxins and fluids stored within the cyst leaking into the spinal fluid and filtering into Tracy's bloodstream and causing "chemical meningitis." I know… it sounds bad. We were a bit freaked out too. The word "meningitis" brings a lot of scary things to mind. The doc said that if this happens it can be flushed out with antibiotics and such but it will cause him to be violently ill.
So where it stands now, Tracy has an appointment tomorrow to test his hearing to see if there is already nerve damage. I don’t think his hearing is selective anymore! The neurologist told us he will call on Monday…hopefully with a game plan. Obviously there is a lot more that we had discussed with him. It was information overload! But this gives you the gist of his situation.
Even if the surgery goes well, his brain has to expand into the space that the tumor occupied and the brain stem will have to reposition which can affect some of his functions during this process. If they cannot get the whole tumor out, he will have to have regular MRI's to continually track the growth of the portion that remains.
We have a long road ahead of us but are staying positive!
Thanks again to everyone for your well wishes and prayers. I hope to post often and let everyone know how Tracy is doing.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Tracy's Status
Tracy has been having constant headaches and dizziness for the last couple months. He has been to the doctor several times, each with a different result. He was tested for all kinds of things. The best the doctors could come up with was sleep apnea. After treatment for the sleep apnea (CPAP machine) he still didn't feel much better.
He went back to the doctor and complained about dizziness and a constant headache. His doctor did a few simple tests (like walking one foot in front of the other). He failed miserably. She then sent him for a CAT scan. The CAT scan was supposed to take about 20 min, but it took about an hour and a half. That was his first indication that something may be wrong. The scan tech said his doctor should contact him with the results in a few days. He barely made it to his car before his doctor called him and said he needed to get an MRI as soon as possible.
The next day I took him for his MRI appointment. His doctor made a special request that the on call radiologist immediately read the scan and contact his doctor. The on call radiologist said they found a "very large" tumor on the left cerebellum that was "most likely malignant".
Later that night, his doctor called and said she had just received a call from the radiologist. He had told her that after looking further and in more detail at the MRI film, he feels that there is a possibility the mass is an Epidermoid Cyst. This was good news because epidermoid cysts are not malignant, but the neurosurgeon will have the final say on Monday.
So now we just have to sit and wait until Monday to find out if this is bad, or VERY BAD! I will update on Monday after we see the neurosurgeon and have more info.
Thanks to everyone for all the prayers!
He went back to the doctor and complained about dizziness and a constant headache. His doctor did a few simple tests (like walking one foot in front of the other). He failed miserably. She then sent him for a CAT scan. The CAT scan was supposed to take about 20 min, but it took about an hour and a half. That was his first indication that something may be wrong. The scan tech said his doctor should contact him with the results in a few days. He barely made it to his car before his doctor called him and said he needed to get an MRI as soon as possible.
The next day I took him for his MRI appointment. His doctor made a special request that the on call radiologist immediately read the scan and contact his doctor. The on call radiologist said they found a "very large" tumor on the left cerebellum that was "most likely malignant".
Later that night, his doctor called and said she had just received a call from the radiologist. He had told her that after looking further and in more detail at the MRI film, he feels that there is a possibility the mass is an Epidermoid Cyst. This was good news because epidermoid cysts are not malignant, but the neurosurgeon will have the final say on Monday.
So now we just have to sit and wait until Monday to find out if this is bad, or VERY BAD! I will update on Monday after we see the neurosurgeon and have more info.
Thanks to everyone for all the prayers!
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