Renewed hope
I'm over exhausted and way over extended, so the bare facts is all you're going to receive tonight:
When I finally cornered Dr. Sultanen (after Gilly already saw him and left the premises; long story...), he acquiesced and offered me a small chunk of whatever precious time he had left in his day (this was 4:40 p.m.).
He took me into a nearby office and drew a diagram of the lesion as he spoke. He explained that the MRI report mentions a new nodule in the tectal region. He drew the nodule for me.
He then described how he took February's and April's MRI slides (images, whatever...) and compared them. He cannot see a difference; upon comparison, they look the same to him. He promised to contact the MRI department and pursue further. Unfortunately, he will be out of town tomorrow and Friday, and so we will not have the final verdict until next week.
He also informed me that he compared the CT scan with the MRI results to confirm that Gilly is being radiated in the correct location, even if the nodule is there. The treatment regime will not need to be altered, even if there is a new nodule present.
I asked, "Could it be that it was always there and just didn't show up before?" He said he does not know at this point.
I was very grateful for his time, especially since he was busy and had already gone through this with Gilly before I managed to find out about the meeting (I called him in the morning, but there was no answer and no machine. I then left a message for his nurse to initiate the meeting, but she only called me back at 3:45 while I was teaching, so I got the message at 4:15). He treated me with dignity, answered all my questions and demonstrated empathy towards us, evidently realizing the emotional turmoil we are experiencing. I left him by thanking him for his time, saying, "Bless you. Now I have a better chance of sleeping tonight."
It's not superfantastic news, but it sure beats yesterday's escapades.
Gilly is still smiling in a big way, but admits that the medication is taking its toll. He's hardly able to keep his eyes open (although I'm only seeing him at the end of his day, really). He had dinner with Tamara and Yaron while I attended a meeting. Now we're all tucked in, and off to sleep.
Yahoo!!! I get to spend the whole day with him tomorrow. we see the fellow from the CLSC at 10:00.
When I finally cornered Dr. Sultanen (after Gilly already saw him and left the premises; long story...), he acquiesced and offered me a small chunk of whatever precious time he had left in his day (this was 4:40 p.m.).
He took me into a nearby office and drew a diagram of the lesion as he spoke. He explained that the MRI report mentions a new nodule in the tectal region. He drew the nodule for me.
He then described how he took February's and April's MRI slides (images, whatever...) and compared them. He cannot see a difference; upon comparison, they look the same to him. He promised to contact the MRI department and pursue further. Unfortunately, he will be out of town tomorrow and Friday, and so we will not have the final verdict until next week.
He also informed me that he compared the CT scan with the MRI results to confirm that Gilly is being radiated in the correct location, even if the nodule is there. The treatment regime will not need to be altered, even if there is a new nodule present.
I asked, "Could it be that it was always there and just didn't show up before?" He said he does not know at this point.
I was very grateful for his time, especially since he was busy and had already gone through this with Gilly before I managed to find out about the meeting (I called him in the morning, but there was no answer and no machine. I then left a message for his nurse to initiate the meeting, but she only called me back at 3:45 while I was teaching, so I got the message at 4:15). He treated me with dignity, answered all my questions and demonstrated empathy towards us, evidently realizing the emotional turmoil we are experiencing. I left him by thanking him for his time, saying, "Bless you. Now I have a better chance of sleeping tonight."
It's not superfantastic news, but it sure beats yesterday's escapades.
Gilly is still smiling in a big way, but admits that the medication is taking its toll. He's hardly able to keep his eyes open (although I'm only seeing him at the end of his day, really). He had dinner with Tamara and Yaron while I attended a meeting. Now we're all tucked in, and off to sleep.
Yahoo!!! I get to spend the whole day with him tomorrow. we see the fellow from the CLSC at 10:00.
posted by Gilly at 7:43 PM
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