From Lori, March 17:
It is two weeks after brain surgery and Anthony has been recovering well. He got the staples out last Friday. The incision is healing up quickly, and he is not in any pain. Everyone who has seen him post surgery is amazed at how great he looks. The body is truly amazing!
The goal of the surgery was to restore some function to his left hand. During the past two weeks of recovery, he has had good days and bad days. So, the jury is still out on whether surgery helped his hand. We are definitely holding out hope for improvement over time.
The results of pathology are in.
There were five samples in all submitted for review. Two samples were from the frontal cyst, which was mostly blood and fluid; however, the cyst wall contained some atypical cells that were suspicious. The next samples were collected from the corpus callosum tumor, which revealed there is viable tumor present. When compared with the biopsy from 2005, the tumor looks very similar except there has been a significant change in one area called MIB-1 Labeling Index. The MIB-1 index is used as a marker of cell proliferation in tumors. The lower the percentage of cancer cells in the evaluated area, the better. For Anthony's tumor, the MIB-1 index has grown from 2% in 2005 to 12%, which means the tumor has been upgraded from a Grade II to a Grade III. The pathologist did comment that it was difficult to assign a grade, but felt it was consistent with progression.
Obviously, this is not great news, but the neurosurgeon feels that we don't need to do anything wild yet because the tumor has been acting fairly stable since progression was noted on MRI last June. It certainly isn't behaving as an aggressive Grade III.
So, what's next?
Anthony will continue on oral chemotherapy for now. He will get another scan in a month and take it from there.
Anthony is already back at work part time this week and last. Next week, he will resume working full time, and start riding his trike to work. Luckily, the weather is getting warmer and it is staying light longer--something we can all rejoice in. We are looking forward to a trip to Cancún at the end of April for a week. We continue to feel grateful everyday because each day is truly a gift.
-Lori
