Test #2: MRI Not as Good, But Not Bad

It's 10:00 at night, and we're pretty tired. Just getting the kids to bed... sedating a 3 year-old for the afternoon can mess with their sleep schedule somewhat. We spent the afternoon at Childrens for Tessa's MRI. She did great, as usual. She didn't enjoy getting the IV, but was asleep in no time once the sedation kicked in. She was very still. Good girl.

Dr. Gordon phoned us tonight. He does that after each test, we're realizing. It's nice that he takes the initiative and that we don't have to hound the hospital for answers or results. Anyways, here's what he reported:

The rest of Tessa's chest looks clear, which is great news. The tumor looks pretty much just like they expected it to, which is also good news. However, it looks like the tumor has encroached (his word, not mine) into the vertebral column. Translation: the tumor looked at first glance that it was lying between the spine and the lung. Now it looks like part of it has grown into the spine, between some of the vertebrae. He said that it is nowhere near the nerves of her spinal cord, so there's no increased danger there.

It does mean that a neurosurgeon may be needed, in addition to Dr. Shamburger, for the actual surgery itself to remove the portion of the tumor that has grown into her vertebral column. We haven't seen the MRI images yet, and it's hard to visualize what this looks like. But Dr. Gordon made it sound like this was the expected outcome - that this was par for the course and that Dr. Shamburger will be the one to decide if he wants to call in a neurosurgeon to work with him in removing the tumor.

And Tessa just walked into the family room, holding Cameron (her stuffed wiener-dog), making him whisper-bark. "He's bawking qwietly." I think the medication just wore off. Great. She's really cute, but she'd be a whole lot cuter lying asleep in bed right now, methinks.

We don't know how to react right now. I'm not sure there's anything to react to. So, we'll just go to bed, because we have to leave at 6 am tomorrow morning to get back to Children's for her MIBG test.