Old Man Tumor

For those of you checking, the call came in about 3:45 today. The news wasn't what we were hoping but it was good news. I preface the actual report with this because it may be difficult to understand when I give the actual report why this is good... you'll just have to read the whole thing.

The MRI showed that there was no change in the tumor. Hold on... don't lose heart yet... this isn't all bad. Of course we were hoping that this tumor would have drastically reduced or even disappeared and because that isn't the case we will have to wrestle with our disappointment, but hear me out this isn't bad.

Biology was never my subject so I will explain this the best I can and others can fill in the blanks through comments if they feel inclined. Basically it goes like this. Think of cells like people. When people are young and immature they are full of energy and potential; they could become just about anything they put their minds to. As we grow though our focus narrows and we settle on a vocation (which seems to be something that is done later and later in life these days... I always thought that's what college was for). Cells, like people, mature and when they do they settle down into a career path. Chemo is designed to go after the young whipper-snappers, not the old fogeys.

So, that said, the chemo didn't have an effect on the tumor because it has settled down, matured, and decided to be whatever it is. This means that the tumor won't really be growing or changing much if at all. In the long term this is really good as whatever tumor they leave is not likely at all to do anything since the cells are so mature... older folks don't seem to adapt very well to change you know. In the short term all it means is that surgery is in our future... our very near future. There is little to no chance at any more chemo because it won't have an effect on the tumor.

We are still waiting to hear from the surgeons. They will need to look at the MRI and decide what they want to do. In addition, because the tumor does intrude into the spinal canal, the neurosurgeon will also be consulted. The most likely scenario is that the tumor that is in the spinal canal will simply be left. It isn't doing anything to Andrew now and won't in the future. More than likely we are looking at surgery some time in the next two weeks. They will remove as much tumor as they can and leave what they think is too dangerous to remove (because of its proximity to other organs). More than this I will have to leave to those who know more.

As for us... its a mixed bag. We trust Dr. Waldron implicitly and so we know that when he says that this isn't bad news, that he believes that. We also don't have much of a paradigm for an unresponsive tumor being a good thing. If anything it feels like the fog is lifting and soon (Friday probably) we will see the end of the road. After his surgery he will still have scans to check on what remains about every three months for the first year, but the possibility of reoccurrence is slim to none. 9 weeks ago we were looking at 8-10 months. 3 weeks ago we were looking at 4 months. Now we're looking at just a couple more weeks. I know many of you may wonder whether or not your prayers have mattered since our specific requests weren't granted, but when we take the calendar and look not at today but widen the lens to see the last two months, you see the word 'MERCY' written in big letters.