Happy Friday everyone!
It’s hard to believe that it’s been one week since we saw the results of the CAT scan and we began on this journey! It feels like forever for us. It’s amazing how your life can change in an instant. One minute you are putting on lipstick getting ready to go out for the evening (our plans before the ASAP CAT scan order on Friday, May 29th) and the next your mascara is running from the tears shed from the news of a tumor. Good thing I don’t spend a lot of money on expensive makeup! :)
A good day for Sam today! He was taken down for another CAT scan to view the fluid/pressure in his head and to see how his body was coping with the draining of spinal fluid. Everything looked great and they think they will be able to remove the drain tomorrow sometime. I think this will be great for Sam as it will be one less thing to which he is tethered. His pain control was great today too and he was awake more today than any other day post op. He, of course, is full of meds and doesn’t remember much about what has been going on..such as doesn’t remember his sponge bath yesterday, doesn’t remember going down for the CAT scan this morning. He’s been eating well too-some broccoli, grilled chicken, a few strawberries, applesauce. So happy to see that. He actually just finished his dinner and is resting now. :)
Positive thoughts and lots and lots of prayers are needed for Sam as we did receive the pathology report late this afternoon. When we heard the news, I asked the doctor to call the oncologist right away, as I was interested in talking with him. He is away this weekend, (hey, oncologists need breaks and vacations too! I think we will see him Monday) but he did talk to our resident neurologist on the phone to get the scoop on Sam. He was very pleased to hear that during surgery they were able to get a total gross resection (got it all according to the CAT and MRI scans) and that it has not been found in his spine. I told him that I had heard that Dr. Shi (Dr. She) was a positive doctor (Thinking that he gives positive words to everyone), and the resident neurologist said he was, but was also specifically positive about Sam’s case. We thought this was great news. I then kissed Dr. Kim on the cheek, which he totally wasn’t expecting! HA! (I kissed him because the diagnosis that Dr. Kim had given me based on the test results was “Debbie Downerish” compared to what the oncologist Dr. Shi had given. You’d have kissed him too!) Then Dr. Boaz, Sam’s surgeon (he’s next on my kissing list) came down to check on Sam and his drain and we shared with him Sam’s pathology report. (He had been in surgery again today and hadn’t seen it.) He felt positive as well. It sounds like we will have a road ahead of us with chemo and radiation, but can’t speculate too much since we haven’t spoken with Dr. Shi or Dr. Pradhan, the other oncologist. And so we digest this news. We have to be careful not to go to a dark place and speculate and imagine the terrible things. And we ask that you don’t either—we want positive thoughts for Sam and prayers for Sam. Please pray for him. Please do. Every day, every night.
We can’t wait for Sam to continue to heal and to get his silly little personality back. The heavy meds are masking it these days and I crave to see his infectious smile and the twinkle in his eye. Soon, I’m sure.
Thank you so much for supporting us during this time. You all are AMAZING and we really don’t know what we would do without you. Truly. Each and everyone of you. And even the people that we haven’t met yet who are praying for Sam…thank you!
In the meantime, I’m picking out a new shade of lipstick-maybe something in a brighter shade of pink-so that when I kiss the next few doctors, everyone will be able to see my happiness. I think I’ll grab a new tube of mascara while I’m at it, this time waterproof, as I’m sure a few more tears will be shed, but I hope and know they will be tears of joy!
Love and hugs,
Ery, Jere, Jack & Sam
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