Happy Birthday Michael!

Today, September 18th,  is Michael's 32nd birthday. My boys and I would like to say happy birthday and we love you!

Kristy's Story...Waiting For the Third Brain Surgery

We arrived home on a Wednesday afternoon and waited for the doctor to call. Monday morning, September 12^th, Dr. Friedman called and said he has scheduled the surgery for the 28th of this month.  We are flying back to Duke on Monday the 26th of September. They are going to admit him on the 27th and surgery is the 28th. We will be there for at least a week. Dr. Friedman expects Michael will be a couple days in the hospital after the surgery then we must stay close to the hospital for another MRI before coming home.

We believe we have found the best care for Michael. We have heard and read that Dr. Friedman is the best brain surgeon in the world. He was the surgeon that did Ted Kennedys surgery. We feel so blessed to be here and believe Dr. Friedman can help Michael. We know we made the best choice in choosing Duke to help us.

 

I will continue to give updates on what is going on in Michaels life then after Michaels surgery I will keep everyone posted on the outcome….to be continued

Kristy's Story...Brain Cancer Treatment at Duke University

I immediately contacted them and they were so supportive and gave us hope. We had a sample of his tumor and his latest MRI sent to Duke. Dr. Friedman looked at the information and said he doesn't need another surgery but would like for Michael to come out for some test. We flew out to Duke for the first time in January 2011. Michael had an MRI that next day we met with the doctor. He told us that the tumor had not grown since the MRI in St. Louis.  He wanted us to fly back every 8 weeks for MRI’s to watch its growth.

We made several trips to Duke, every 8 weeks, like told. All the MRI’s since the first trip had shown no growth until this last on. Michael knew his headaches were different and thought that his tumor had grown. So we called Duke and they wanted us there as soon as possible. We took off and drove to Duke for another MRI. My husband was right, the tumor had grown. The doctor said Michael would need another surgery. So we drove back home, we wanted to see our boys, and waited for the surgeon to call...to be continued tomorrow

Kristy's Story...Brain Cancer Radiation Treatments

We met with the oncologist and Michael spent the summer going through 30 treatments of radiation which made him tired and nauseated.  Dr. Walz was his oncologist and he told us that he won't do another MRI until a month or so after the radiation treatments ended. The month passed after radiation and an MRI was scheduled.  After the MRI we went home and the next day Dr. Walz calls and talks to my husband while I was at work. He told him that the radiation did not work and there was nothing else he could do.

Now we had no clue what to do but to contact the surgeon and see if he could remove it again.  He told us he could but was worried because the tumor was so close to the brain stem.  But we didn’t know what else to do so we had another surgery scheduled again.  

But I knew that this wasn't the answer. If the first two surgeries didn’t work why would this one be different? So I started looking for another plan.  I jumped on the internet and researched many places that dealt with his type of tumor. I searched for clinical trials. I read any information I could get my hands on if it dealt with brain tumors. 

Then I found the place I believed to be the best, Duke University in North Carolina....to be continued tomorrow

Kristy's Story...The Brain Tumor Grew Back

The following day I got a call from the doctor while I was at work and he said that the tumor has grown back.  We scheduled another appointment to meet with him right away. The only thing he could think of to do was another surgery. So April of 2010 was to be his second brain surgery. This time Dr. Coppens told us that he would have a high tech MRI machine in the surgery room to check his progress and the surgery would take about 14 hours, which it did.  The doctor came in and talked to me after the surgery and said again that he thinks he removed all of the tumor but it had changed to a grade 2 astrocytoma.

  

Michael had to stay in the hospital for a week before coming home.  This second surgery was much harder on him. The surgery made his left hand shake when he grips anything. His employer had to let him go because you can’t do construction work with a shaky hand.  And his employer could not have him back to work without a full medical release. He did ask for a full release so he could work but the doctors said no.

Two months later we had to go back for another MRI and an appointment with the surgeon to go over the MRI.  Dr. Coppens came in our room and said the tumor is back again and he is going to refer him to an oncologist in SLU hospital. We didn't know what to think or say all we could do was cry on the way home.  But we agreed to meet with the oncologist....to be continued tomorrow

Kristy's Story...Michael's First Brain Surgery

We got to the hospital that night but the surgeon didn't come in to see us until the next morning.  The Doctor told us that he looked at the MRI and thinks he can remove his tumor but only gave us about a 50% chance of my husband making it through the surgery. He then told us that we could get a second opinion.  We looked at one another and said that is exactly what we wanted to do.

  

We called around and we both agreed he needed to go to Saint Louis University hospital. He was transferred by ambulance to SLU that Saturday. When we arrived at the hospital it was over the weekend so we didn't even meet the surgeon until that Monday morning. Dr. Coppens came into his room and said I can remove this tumor! We were so thrilled to hear that. Surgery was set up for the following day.

The next day his surgery only took 4 hours and when I got to see him afterwards he was fine.  Sitting up and talking. Dr. Coppens talked to us and said that he thinks he got it all and that it was a grade 1 astrocytoma tumor, which was benign.  We were excited and thought we had just beaten the odds. Until four months later when Michael was checked with another MRI. After the MRI we were sent home thinking all was well, except Michael was still getting headaches....to be continued tomorrow