It worked.

I had my follow up head MRI on Monday. I received a phone call from Dr. Whipple on Tuesday afternoon. Of course I didn't answer the phone. You all know how I am.... so he left a message.

He said I had "dramatic results". Rapidly shrinking cancer. While he still is consulting with the Doctor that does the gamma knife surgery; he isn't sure there will be any need for it. He also expects the cancer to continue to shrink and probably disappear completely.

whew....

I still have a lot of pain while recovering, but now I know it's working it seems more bearable.

So happy birthday to me! Could there be a better present?

now if I could find that damn 18 wheeler...

It's now been 20+ days since my last whole brain radiation treatment. I'm not giving you an exact count because it would take a lot of effort to figure it out. That's not normal for me; usually I can do number type things like that with no effort at all. But I've noticed a lot more difficulty with that over the last week or so. Which is amazingly frustrating when you have a child who asks you things like "what is 2 million plus 6 million plus 10,500?" on a regular basis. I don't know why he does this, he just comes up with math problems, and often will shoot out 6 or so before he gets bored with it. I used to be able just to flip back the answer....

The past few weeks have been some of the most difficult I've had. I would put it up there on the list as a tiny bit harder than chemo; but seemingly shorter, so they even out. But not as hard as having chest tubes in your side for a week. Definitely not something I want to do again.

I've had several effects from the treatments. Some quite surprising. Shortly after Valentine's Day this year I went to get my eyes tested and my glasses updated. While processing Jungle Roses orders I noticed that I was having a harder time seeing than before and was convinced I just needed an update. Now since radiation my eyes have improved a great deal. And all those cool glasses... one of which I haven't even picked up yet... are no longer what I need. I used to need correction at a distance and up close. Now I can see up close well and just need distance help. Dr. Johnson said this is definitley a sign of the radiation working. And I suppose in a few months I'll go get all new glasses again.

I also was in the midst of getting some dental work done when I got my brain mets diagnosis. At the time I did not remember having a toothache in my life. I had suddenly started having aches so bad I thought I was in for a root canal. Oddly the dentist found a cavity on the other side of my mouth and nothing on the tooth or area in question. He treated it for "sensitivity". Which seemed to help. Now I have that same ache back. But now on both sides of my jaw. It's so intense I'm living Lortab to Lortab. I'm hoping it disappears soon.

My tounge is still numb and so is a tiny part of my mouth. Which at times makes me talk a little funny. But nobody seems to notice; or if they do they do not react.

I'm almost completely bald now. Except for that little beardy looking part at the back of my neck. Which is kind of fun because it makes it look like I have hair under my hat because it sticks out on the bottom in the back. But wow... looks crazy without the hat.

And the most baffling to me; for days I heard noises that were not there. Seriously, I thought there was an 18 wheeler parked somewhere near my house with the engine running all night. I even looked for it. Then I had an "ohhh....." and realized it was me. That's gone for the most part now. Although once in a great while I hear it, but only for a second.

The worst though... exhaustion. I'm tired. More than I ever remember. I wake up tired, I go through the day tired and go to sleep tired. Worse than a hang-over after the biggest party. Worse than Mother of a newborn tired.

My follow up MRI to see how well the treatments worked is scheduled for the 29th. I can't wait. With all of this happening I can't imagine that it hasn't worked really well. I'm expecting it.