MRI

Rosalie went in for her MRI at 9:30am. She is a pro.

An MRI of the brain and spine normally takes an hour and a half. After two hours and five minutes I began to panic; the last time an MRI took this long we received bad news.

Now I am relieved. We don't appear to be out of the woods, but we are in a better place than we were three months ago. Rosalie's scan shows that there is still evidence of tumor on the spine - but it is small enough that Mark and I cannot see it on a regular computer screen. The neuro-radiologist and Dr. Banerjee are able to see evidence of tumor on the more advanced equipment in radiology. The question is whether or not this tumor is active because there is so little enhancement (it now looks black instead of white on the computer screen). Dr. Banerjee is actually very happy with these results. Apparently it is rare for tumor to be gone altogether right after radiation. In many cases tumor remains "stable."

We need to make some decisions on how to proceed from here. We may not follow our original course which included oral chemotherapy directly following radiation. Rosalie will be presented again at tumor board this Thursday. We are also reviewing second opinions from four other institutions.

It has been a very long day. I had mentally prepared for the worst when Rosalie's scan took so long - so you can imagine that our tears are now ones of joy. We are still shooting for cure. We Can Do It! Good work, Rosalie!