Holy Mackerel, Batman!

Apparently working overtime isn’t in some people’s makeup because I did not get any MRI results last night. As a matter of fact, I called the hospital just before I went to sleep at 11:30, and they still weren’t in. Anyhoo, I got the results this morning and they are looking good! Just to give you a review, the measurement I first gave you all in January came from the CT scan Mike had on January 2; those measurements were 4.5 cm x 4.7 cm. An MRI, which is more accurate, was administered on January 3, and showed a measurement of 5.5cm x 4.3cm. The MRI done by Duke on February 4 (when I was subsequently told Mike only had “days” to live) showed a measurement of 5.7cm x 5.2cm with new hemorrhaging. Now for the results of yesterday’s MRI (drum roll, please)…the tumor now measures 4.8cm x 4.0 cm, and there has been no additional hemorrhaging. Yes, that does indicate that the tumor is smaller than when Mike was first admitted to the hospital in January. For those of you who prefer lists instead of numbers all jumbled up in paragraph form, here’s a recap of tests and measurements:

CT Scan (January 2): 4.5cm x 4.7cm
MRI (January 3): 5.5cm x 4.3 cm
MRI (February 4): 5.7cm x 5.2cm, additional hemorrhaging
MRI (March 12): 4.8cm x 4.0cm, no hemorrhaging

Now that the tumor is smaller than the size when Mike was actually functioning on his own every day, it seems to me that Mike is just taking full advantage of all of this pampering he’s been getting from me. I’m going to have to toughen up on him a little more. Mike’s just going to have to get off his duff here pretty soon and start doing something productive…heck, I think he could even handle selling some of those Chick-fil-A’s and ice cold waters.

Mike’s platelets are higher than yesterday (39,000), but they’re still too low to take the Temodar, so he’s going a fourth consecutive day with no chemotherapy. With the results of the latest MRI, our oncologist still doesn’t understand why Mike is having difficulty with chewing. The latest theory from speech therapy (since it’s not from the tumor growing) is that Mike is fighting the tumor, so it’s making his body weak.

The mother I told you about the other day called Duke about her son. They called her back after she left a message, and she talked with Dr. Friedman. She apprised him of what was going on with her son, Ron, and asked the doctor if he could help. Dr. Friedman told her he could and just needed for her doctor to call him. Please continue to pray for Ron and his mother and that they will be able to get to Duke soon.

I have to share one sweet story before I sign off for today. Yesterday Ava and Savannah came to visit Mike. Unfortunately, Savannah developed a runny nose right when they got to the hospital, so she couldn’t come in the room. As Ava was sitting on the bed with Mike watching cartoons, she looked over to me and said, “I love him.” I told her she needed to tell him that, so she looked up at Mike and said, “I love him.”