Yet Another Brain Surgery...

Well I'm not really sure what all to say in this post. I wish I had better news to share so I apologize in advance for this depressing blog post. If you want you can come back in a few days and read a happier post about something fun like playing at the park or going to the lake.

So the results from my Dr. apts today were not good, in fact they actually blindsided Scott and I and we are having a hard time swallowing everything we learned. It's been a discouraging day but hopefully tomorrow will be sunny...

Scott put together a synopsis of what we learned today, so he's the author of this post today, I don't have the emotional energy anymore. From Scott:

I know many of you have had Heidi in your thoughts and prayers recently. We deeply appreciate your ongoing concern and support. Today we met with some of Heidi doctors and found out the results of some recent tests. The results are not what we had been hoping for. The tumor that was removed from Heidi's brain last fall has begun to re-grow, indicating the that three past surgeries performed on her brain have not been 100% effective. On July 16th, she will have a repeat craniotomy (open brain surgery) to remove the growing tumor as well as some of the surrounding brain tissue. Note that her craniotomy last fall only removed the tumor and the doctor did not take any additional cells at that time. Because the tumor is re-growing, he will take a “margin” of tissue around the tumor this time to try and get all visible and microscopic cancer cells removed. Because of the trauma this will cause to the brain and because of the location of the surgery, the doctor said there is a 50/50 chance Heidi may have a permanent reduction in her field of vision out of her right eye(25% to 30%) but he is not very concerned about other potential side effects. They will also follow-up the surgery with some chemotherapy treatments and radiation treatments in an attempt to kill off any cancer cells that remain after the tumor is removed. Between the surgery and the follow-up treatments Heidi will likely be fairly sick and going through difficult recovery over the next 6 to 8 week period.

We are saddened by this turn of events as we’d hoped for a healthy Heidi to be able to bless our lives for a period of time. However, we have complete trust in the plan of our loving Father in Heaven and will rely on him once more to get through another rough patch in the road of life. Thank you again for all your continued love and support.

Scott

Well I think he did a great job of explaining things so I think I'll leave it at that for tonight...I second his gratitude...I appreciate the prayers and concern so much. I still need them...I don't know how I'm going to get through these next few months....but tomorrow will be sunny right?