Good news on the brain tumor front… Ethan’s most recent MRI remains
stable. It took three tries to get it done (one insurance snafu and one
schedule bump), but the third try went without incident. In fact, we
also had a fabulous MRI day for a change.
We got a very reasonable anesthesiologist and I just asked her to use
Propofol (no civa), to give him some IV antimedics for vomiting, and to
hydrate him at a rate of at least 50 mL/hour. Excluding the hydration,
this is no different then the request I make every single time he’s put
under anesthesia. She just looked at me and smiled, then said “No
problem.” Who knew it could be so easy!?!? It took him a while to wake
up, but once he did he bounced back very quickly… so much so that we had
to make an emergency detour to get some food in his stomach before we
got home. He played happily and ate well the rest of the day. I
suppose the lesson for me is to arm wrestle the next Anesthesiologist
who hesitates or waivers. I think his extremely poor reaction last time
also carried some weight.
His check-up was Monday and he’s growing like a week. He's now 3'6" and
over 42 lbs!!! The only distressing news we got is that his polio
vaccination did not take FOR THE SECOND TIME! We immunized him last
December and again this October, yet his body still has nothing. His
Oncologist was a little puzzled and - as usual - has never seen anything
like it. She's now consulting with an infectious disease control
specialist for to figure out where we go from here.
We're all busy gearing up for the holidays - particularly the kids!
They are so excited they honestly can hardly sleep. Ethan's into Power
Rangers for this Christmas, but Kyra has thrown me a curve ball when she
asked for "Tinkerbell - a REAL one!!". Hmmmmm. Mommy's in big trouble
this year. We still have lots more on our "to do" list in the two short
days that are left, including a big batch of Snicker Doodles for Santa
(Ethan insists its the only cookie Santa likes...) and a gingerbread
house. Not to mention that not a single holiday card has left the
Gumabay household yet... YIKES!
Warm wishes for a terrific holiday season!
Kim.