Colin Loves Tractors » Post-Neurosurgery

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 [...]

Out of the Nest

Mom — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 05:20:12 +0000

Colin Mugging for the Camera at Le Bonheur (Post-Ops)

Our little fledgling has returned to Target House for good, following his last inpatient stay at St. Jude (barring unexpected events, of course).

While we will spend every week day at St. Jude, our trips to the second floor will be restricted to social calls. This milestone [...]

Home Sweet St. Jude

Mom — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 06:44:36 +0000

Life doesn’t offer real do-overs, but there are times when an experience follows the parallel track of something that has come before. Returning to St. Jude after less than a week at Le Bonheur, I had the feeling that I was given the opportunity to completely repeat the past but improved in every way.

Rewind

When we [...]

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 [...]

The Jury Foreman Speaks

Mom — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 02:35:50 +0000

When juries wrap up quickly with a verdict, it can be a good sign or a bad sign, but it usually means that they have found the suspect not guilty. In this case, the jury adjourned hours earlier than expected to report that our little suspect is not guilty of having visible tumor.

At the time [...]

Colin’s MRI Results… and so Much More

Mom — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 19:22:49 +0000

Colin enjoyed three nights on the prowl (i.e. outpatient) before a planned admission on Friday for chemo to start on Saturday. He enjoyed his time out on the town, and it was great once again to have the family in one place. This was also our trial run of the new home health agency, which [...]

GRRRRR = Colin’s Tummy

Mom — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 17:51:14 +0000

Yesterday, Colin was extubated successfully. One of the sedatives caused him to generate a lot of secretions, so his breathing sounded very juicy and uncomfortable. He moved his legs constantly and didn’t seem to settle. It was disconcerting to watch but the doctors were unable to give him anything stronger than Tylenol for fear of [...]

MRI Comparison

Mom — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 03:01:07 +0000

This evening, Dr. Wisoff sat down and showed us the comparisons of the pre-op and post-op MRIs. The images confirm that he did remove 95 – 98% of the disease. There are two areas in addition to the one where he knew he left tumor where there may still be tumor there. However, it can [...]

Morning Post-Op Recovery

Mom — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 13:34:26 +0000

Colin continues to do well post-operatively. As we have experienced in the past, he comes out of sedation very quickly, so they administered fentanyl in order to keep him quiet. However, the fentanyl is a longer-acting medication that is not ideal to have in his system when they try to extubate him.

Right now, they are [...]

Post-Surgical Review

Mom — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 01:34:32 +0000

Dr. Wisoff gave us a quick post-surgical report, even before surgery was over (Dr. Harter was overseeing the closing procedure). He was able to successfully remove 95 – 98% of the tumor, which is great news and significantly more than we had hoped for in Westchester.

There is a small bit of stubborn tumor left on [...]