Thursday, March 1, 2012

Praise God!! Go Cancer Warriors!

No news is good news and so is stable!!  While Lisa's cancer isn't gone yet, so far preliminary results from scans show it is stable which means no growth...yeah!!!!

Here is what our team emailed...

"Yes,  MIBG and head CT are back. CT of the chest is not back yet. MIBG is overall stable with no change from the previous. CT of the head is a little better. Report says “Mild decrease in size of cystic mass involving the left cerebellum." We will let you know when the chest CT comes back."

For those of you wondering about Bridget.  She had a safe trip back to Michigan and is now at Motts.  Unfortunately, her scans are not good.  Doctors have provided options and the family has chosen to continue to fight hoping to allow Bridget to have the best quality of life.  Her family remains faithful and are an inspiration to all.  Please continue to keep Lisa, Bridget and all the cancer warriors in your prayers;  there fight is not an easy one, but they often make it look easy.

Below is the update from Bridget's carepage for those of you who want to read the whole update.
"It has been a long 48 hours.

It is wonderful to be home back near our family, friends and our medical team. Bridget and I flew home VIP style in the University of Michigan Survival Flight small jet. It is really quite an amazing process. The team flew out to get us, A local ambulance company accompanied them to St. Francis to pick us up. Jo and Joe were our Flight team, along with our pilots. The plane is a very small jet (they wanted to know my weight!) When we arrived in Pontiac where survival flight keeps their plane, we were then transported by Huron Valley Ambulance to Mott, our hospital . The whole thing was pretty impressive and I am so glad we were able to get her home without worrying about risking her life driving without medical care. Yeah Survival Flight!!!

Bridget had the MRI we were all waiting for yesterday. It was a long day as they need to do hers under anesthesia. The result was not what we had hoped for. her condition has greatly changed since the seizures The neurosurgery fellow who has taken such awesome care of Bridget met us as we were going to meet her in recovery. The look on her face said it all. We so appreciated her careful explanation of what was there and that there were really no surgical options. I think both Brian and I could feel her genuine sadness that we were all back in this place again.

After we got our sweet girl back in the room,our oncologist, Dr. Robertson came and told us that the scan looked pretty bad. That there are now not just tumor cells throughout the brain, but also areas that are actual masses. This did not come as a surprise to either Brian or me as we have been suspicious all month that things were quickly heading in that direction.

We are not giving up on our brave warrior princess. After talking with radiation oncology and Dr. Robertson it was felt that radiation and chemotherapy could be of some value to possibly getting her a better quality of life with less symptoms of the tumor and to buy some time. It is not at all expected to be curative as there is disease throughout the brain and spine. That said, we feel Bridget is a fighter and we are going to give her every weapon that will benefit her in conquering this beast called cancer.

Things move pretty fast when a scan comes back looking like that and she has visibly declined so quickly from last week. We started radiation today. It will be a little easier on her this time as it face up and she can look at the beach scene on the ceiling. When we walked into radiation room, the only picture on the wall was of a zebra!!! She will have daily treatments for about 3 weeks. They can not do the same full dose as that would be too much radiation, so it will be about 2/3rds of what she had before. I believe we start chemo tomorrow, Avastin, a combination that with radiation, has been theorized to be more effective than only radiation. The researchers seem very excited about it's potential. She will also likely be starting a stronger chemotherapy that will probably hit her blood counts pretty hard. She may start that as early as this weekend.

The week has taken a toll on her abilities . Bridget has been quite confused since the seizures. She was having short term memory issues before, but short term memory may be nonexistent right now. it is hard to know as all the drugs and seizures can do this as well and she has been slammed by both. She is very sleepy, and not moving much. She hasn't walked since the seizures and really doesn't sit up on her own. Her speech is garbled and it is hard to understand. She can rattle of the names of her brothers and sisters and tell us her worries. she was concerned about whether we had Nora's car seat today and earlier in the week heard a baby and was worried about Mary (always the good big sister). She is on tube feedings now. Obviously, this is not where we hoped we would be.

We are sad and disappointed, but remain trusting that God's plan for Bridget is better than any we could design. The good Lord has already shown us his power with extra time we didn't think we had, not once, but twice. So we pray, we hope we believe and are assured that when and if she is called home it will be in God's time, not ours.

My friends, you have been with us in this battle and we ask that you continue to pray for Bridget and our family. Yes, pray for a miracle. We know that it is in His power. We also know that prayer changes things. Please storm Heaven that He heals her for His greater glory. Every Day With Joy!

"Do not fear, my little child, you are not alone. Fight bravely for My arm is supporting you" Jesus to St. Faustina Dairy 1452"

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