Today we had an appointment with Dr. Puccioni, the neurosurgeon. Mark, as I call him, was one of my gross anatomy partners in medschool. Some classmates one doesn't want to see on a professional level, and I think neurosurgeons top the list! But it was still good to see him. He was quick to say that he had been talking to the neurologist and the neurooncologist and they were recommending that we do surgery as soon as possible. He felt that the tumor was likely one of two things:
1. A returning tumor that has possibly progressed to a higher, more malignant grade IV glioblastoma, or
2. Radiation necrosis, which are changes to the brain caused by the radiation and chemotherapy that Amy had in 2004 and are almost impossible to differentiate from a glioblastoma by looking at an MRI.
We sure hope it is the latter. Either way, surgery is indicated. Surgery should be able to remove most of the mass and the pathologists can look at it under a microscope and tell us if it is tumor or radiation necrosis. There is a risk of paralysis on one side of the body and losing some of Amy's visual field from the surgery. Hopefully, her seizures will decrease after the surgery. Surgery has tentatively been set up for December 2nd, but this hasn't been confirmed yet. Thanks for praying.
