The Upside Is.... More Latenight Posts?

Dr. Wheeler was out of the office on Friday, but he was concerned enought about these changes in symptoms that he wanted me to come in and meet with one of his associates. The essential concern was that such a sudden change in symptoms was probably brought on by some internal change. An emergency MRI was ordered and Dr. Wheeler called me after hours to tell me the results: there is definitely an area on this MRI that appears larger than September's MRI (If it tells you anything... my appointment was scheduled at 9:30 am, and I ended up leaving Goshen after 5:00 p.m).

He does not want me to panic because it would be highly unusual for new disease to be able to grow and thrive this soon out of radiation. He believes there is a greater possibility that what the MRI shows is a residual effect of treatment or scar tissue. No matter the cause, the effects are still devastating. The loss of ability to control my face was by far the most horrific effect of this entire process for me. The only possible solution the doctors could come up with was to put me back on Steroids for awhile to see if they could reduce the inflammation that is compromising my trigeminal nerve (the nerve that is responsible for all these facial movements). Steroids were probably the second hardest cross to bear. It appears I'm headed back to a life of 3:00 am omellettes, manic cleaning frenzies followed by loud fights with Corlissa when my attempts at perfection cannot be maintained by her 17 year-old living habits, and latenight posts. The only other upside to steorids is that I predict I may have all of my Christmas shopping done before December 1.
(I've already informed the doctors that I will be tapering off if I don't see some major changes pretty quickly.)

Dr. Wheeler is going to schedule another PET Scan for me sometime at the beginning of the week so that we have some definitive answer about whether or not this is more cancer. Those test results will probably guide our next steps... obviously a huge area where fervent prayers are needed. He also wants to discuss with me the possibility of of a specialized surgery called radial surgery. I've done some basic research online and found that he is probably referring to stereotactic radial surgery which is often used to treat tumors found in the head. From what I've read, it sounds like this is an alternative to the more intrusive brain surgeries. Obviously I need to hear much more about this from the doctor before any decisions are made. Furthermore, I do not know if he considers this the next step regardless of what the PET Scan shows.

Okay...I think this post should suffice all you active readers who have felt jipped by my lack of consistent posting. Standby for regular updates.