Colin Loves Tractors » Diagnosis

Intersections and Digressions of Math and Life

Mom — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 03:11:15 +0000

Thanksgiving is easy. With so much to be thankful for, our feelings of gratitude are readily at hand. Adding to that, Colin had scans only two days before the holiday as the hospital emptied out while families in treatment left for visits home and others avoided check-ups during the holiday week. An impending check-up always [...]

Summer Kick-Started with a Scan

Mom — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 05:47:21 +0000

Even on the cusp of summer, Memphis is unforgivingly hot, but the weather is nearly irrelevant when you’re back for check-ups at St. Jude, which we were at the end of June. I packed instead for the climate-controlled stasis of the hospital and the expectation that our days would devolve into a mad dash of [...]

No, No, No, How are You Doing?

Mom — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 16:31:22 +0000

Perhaps I was naively unconcerned about Colin’s latest scan. We returned to Memphis after a month at home for a battery of follow-ups, most importantly the MRI of the brain and spine. The legendary furnace of early July in Memphis intimidated us, yet those first days turned out to be [...]

Parallels and Contrasts

Mom — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 03:32:40 +0000

It is all too easy to feed off of birthdays, anniversaries, and other meaningful demarcations of time. How long since, how long until? In the x days since returning home, we have done y activities and Colin has achieved z milestones, giving us something to plot and chart in three dimensions.

In Memphis, I had imagined [...]

Winding Down*

Mom — Tue, 04 May 2010 06:53:06 +0000

Our family’s time at St. Jude is drawing to a close. On Friday, April 16, Colin had his last MRI before he goes home. The suspected tumor, as we hoped/anticipated, remains stable, and the spinal scans are still clear. Furthermore, the blood clot has resolved significantly, with some pieces remaining and very good blood flow [...]

Reset Button

Mom — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 17:43:52 +0000

Colin’s second week of radiation was grueling: vomiting, utter fatigue, dangerous aspiration and an unexpected stay in the hospital. The third week (days 9 – 13) was a completely different story. After going back inpatient at St. Jude, Colin slept for two days straight, waking on Friday morning at 4 am to let me know [...]

Predator vs. Alien

Mom — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 06:08:38 +0000

Since finding out about Colin’s blood clot, we have settled into a normal non-medically intense lifestyle punctuated by the possibility of crisis. On Superbowl Sunday, Colin became inexplicably agitated and then very spaced out, eyes unfocused and suddenly falling asleep sitting up. The pseudomeningocele on the back of his head had become an even larger, [...]

Sword of Damocles

Mom — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 23:55:14 +0000

Colin is always full of surprises and has continued to not disappoint us. It would be funny if it weren’t so worrisome, with Friday bringing the need for another burst of medical education.

Friday, Colin had his two week post-op MRI to determine the disposition of residual tumor. As we all had suspected, there is a [...]

Rising Storm

Mom — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 15:24:53 +0000

On Sunday afternoon, I left Le Bonheur to pick up a few things at the grocery store, walking out of the sterile air into the openness of a springlike day. The sun was bright and the air a pleasantly neutral temperature, but the sky betrayed another mood in the dark gray distance.

By the time I [...]

Eyes on the Prize

Mom — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 06:30:00 +0000

[imagebrowser id=13]Colin’s habit of throwing us for a loop has continued unabated. Although blood cultures from the 12th did not produce anything, cultures from the 13th did. In a nutshell, Dr. Boop will not do a surgery, especially one that is long and complicated like Colin’s, without assurance that he is not harboring an infection.

Therefore, [...]