Marc & I saw the radiation oncologist today and were very encouraged. He told us that Marc has several things in his favor: his age, the fact that he regained the strength in the right side back so quickly after surgery, the fact that his speech continues to improve and most importantly that the surgeon resected the entire tumor and didn't just take part of it. He told us that Marc has a very good chance of beating this tumor. He uses image guided radiation therapy which uses CT imaging to guide the smallest amout of radiation to the area needed. The plan is to have 7 weeks, 5 days a week of radiation/chemo. The chemo is by tablet and he will take 1 tablet daily on each day that he has radiation therapy, then continue the chemo 1 day a week for 1 year. We are scheduled to begin the radiation/chemo regimen on December 1st.
The radiation oncologist recommended that Marc have the pituitary tumor removed prior to starting the radiation therapy. He felt that having the surgery now would give him the best chance of restoring his vision as now he has no central vision, just peripheral vision. The vision loss is due to the pituitary tumor's pressure on the optic chiasm (see the above diagram to help visualize the problem).
Long story short, Marc is scheduled to have the pituitary tumor removed on Monday morning next week. He should be in ICU for about 3 days, although he hopes it will be less.
Please continue to keep Marc in your prayers. I will again post daily while we are in the hospital.
More on Monday . . .
3 comments:
We continue to keep you all in our thoughts and prayers. With continued faith in the doctors and God, everything will be okay. Love to all.
Now you have an action plan! I bet that feels good. Between the treatment and the prayers being said for you, Marc will no doubt beat this thing. Thinking of all of you often!
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