Abby's Journey Archive

Our radiation oncologist, Dr. Sapozink, was in the office (back from vacation) today. He looked at the 6/6 MRI and compared it with the treatment plan/MRI for Abby's stereotactic radiosurgery on 5/2. Apparently, the one "worrisome area" noted in the 6/6 MRI report actually HAS gotten smaller, praise God! What happened was that the 6/6 MRI scan was compared to the 4/25 scan because both of those scans were done at Banner Desert (the 5/2 scan was done at Banner Good Samaritan). However, between 4/25 and 5/2 (the day of Abby's radiosurgery), that nodule had actually grown. That nodule was radiated on 5/2 and is in the process of shrinking, but by 6/6 it wasn't smaller than it was on 4/25. So, it appears that the areas that were targeted with the stereotactic radiosurgery are indeed responding and getting smaller. From what we read, the process could take months.

The other "worrisome area" is in the thalamus. The MRI report calls it an "ill-defined area of enhancement". Dr. Sapozink believes this area is possibly radiation effect from Abby's radiation treatment. There is no way to be 100% certain if this is the case without going in surgically. Since the thalamus is an extremely sentitive area, surgery is impossible. Radiosurgery on that area is also not done due to the risks involved.

Dr. Graham in Tucson spoke to Dr. Sapozink about the results and he feels much better about continuing with the BMT. He would like to see Abby undergo a PET scan this week as well as an NMR spectroscopy (an MRI scan she has never had before). He hopes this will give us a little more information on the area in the thalamus.

So, at this point, it looks like we can possibly proceed with the BMT with a little more confidence. God willing, we are tentatively planning to arrive in Tucson on Friday the 17th and admit Abby on Monday the 20th.

Once again we are reminded how blessed we are to have so many wonderful people interceding on our behalf. We are so grateful for your prayers and words of encouragement. You all are an incredible blessing to us. God has definitely given us direction, peace and even more confidence in His ability to bring His best about for us. We are still praying that He will guide our path so that we are in the place where we can best glorify Him.