Neurosurgeon "Minutes"

We liked the neurosurgeon I was referred to.  The basic tid bits are:

-It appears to be a low grade tumor.

-Either congenital (I was born with it) or it perhaps has recently formed either a glioma or another variaton of a glioma.

-One of the considerations was possible traumatic injury (from the past) however, when I mentioned hitting my head on things and being hit in the head, he said it would have been a loss of consciousness type injury.

-There is mild swelling around it.  Which makes him lean towards the glioma etc.  

-For a "tumor" it is the best kind to have and located in the best possible place. 

-I see a neurologist next week and will get another set of MRI's in May. 

-Immediately following my MRI's I will meet with the Neurosurgeon to find out the "new" plan. 

-If my symptoms worsen or change I will be re-evaluated sooner. 

-The area in which it is located controls my memory and language.  So we will keep an eye out for those signs. 

Thank you for your prayers and kind thoughts.  

We are so incredibly appreciative of them. 

Little Update (but longish...)

What’s an Anniversary without an tedious “health” update.

Tomorrow Logan meets with our local school system to be evaluated for preschool services. We are seeing what he is eligible for and what they feel is the best for him. About 4 weeks from tomorrow we will head back without Logan for an “IEP” meeting to see what they school systems says versus what we want and to modify. Tomorrow morning we will go ahead and voice some concerns and specifics we would like for Logan. Luckily our Coordinator from the our local Infant and Toddler Program is coming with us as support and help address any of our concerns we may forget.

We have notes and folders of our concerns to help us stay on our game.

It will prove most interesting.

Last Tuesday we met with the neurosurgeon to get some information on his thoughts of my MRI results. It went pretty well and we are in a “watchful waiting” mode unless something (ie: my symptoms change for the worse)

Here is some background on the situation.

For 9 years usually in high stress situations I get aura/halo migraines (maybe of 1-3 a year). I see a Chiropractor and he helps a lot. (I can ramble forever on Chiropractic, but I won’t.) Well 5 weeks ago my migraines changed. The halo went from a black spot in my vision to a flashing/electricity like activity (it looks a lot like a sparkler when you “write” with one.) I did not think much of it until I got two in one day and then three one week, then 1-2 a week for the following week. It seemed that light was a trigger for he halo activity. Our bare light bulbs coming out of the garage ceiling, the sunshine reflecting off our white window sills. After two weeks we headed into my Family Practitioner. She gave me a thorough look over, a prescription and wanted an MRI since the migraine activity changed.

I put off the MRI for about a week.

The MRI did not go as I expected, I waited the weekend and saw my FP on Monday. This post  shows what I learned that day.

The Neurosurgeon gave us a little more explanation but not much. We at least now have a “plan.”

Will post more on that soon. 

7 Years

Amazing how fast 7 years and can go by and how fast things can change.

Happy Anniversary Andrew!

These 7 years of marriage have been wonderful and the last few so far from what we expected. I cannot imagine them any other way. I would do it all again. I look forward to the rest of our lives together and know that we can take all that comes our way.  

Learning new things everyday

"Irregularly shaped nonenhancing cystic lesion within the medial temporal lobe with minimal perilesional abnormal T2 signal."  

These are the findings of an MRI I had last week. 

We meet with a neurosurgeon tomorrow to see what it all means. 

We would be eternally grateful for Prayers. 

I do know in my heart that everything will turn out OK. 

Thanks. 

A 4 Year Old's View

We love talking to Aidan about his happenings of the day and hearing his rendition of the day.

Fellow Parents understand that at times the kid version of the story can be cryptic.

Especially when it involves their day when they are not with us.

Eventually we find out the what happened and then their story makes sense.

Wednesday's at Aidan's school they have Chapel. The classes meet in the Sanctuary and they are told a Bible Story and talk about it.

Today, I asked Aidan about Chapel.

He told me they talked about a man named Jesus. Jesus had empty pockets with no pig food and Jesus had no pig food to eat.

Of course this brings curiosity to figure out what Bible Story he learned today. I really love hearing his stories and seeing how incredibly accurate they are once I know what he is talking about.

Perhaps someone will know what story he learned just by the given details however, I am not the most savvy on Bible stories.

I pulled out the list of stories they will learn this month. The story for today was, “The Prodigal Son.”

I have to say he was pretty spot on in his own way. :)

What do you think?

A Little Bit of Everything with a dash of chaos...

Well there went January!  I meant to make more than one post however, just can't get my mind and fingers to work together.
I think a lot about things I would love to blog about...you know, journal-like but when I sit down at the computer it doesn't pan out.

What I start to type seems more like complaining than a story or summary of happenings.

Lately due to all of the appointments we miss out on play dates or beautiful relaxing days.

I am very much overwhelmed and most days physically and mentally exhausted.

Right now, with Logan we are preparing to meet with the school system because when he turns 3 he will age out of the Early Intervention Program.
This means filling out more paper work, more meetings, more evaluations and more change.
Intimidating for anyone but especially for Logan since he is "thrown" into it.
Of course not really, but to him he is.

I know everything is a process and this journey will be bumpy.  For me it is hard.  I love my child more than anything and want the best for him.
Many days my brain is scrambled with all the things I think and worry about for him.  Then I worry what all that distraction and worry does for the other two.

There are days where I think, I got this and then others where it all hits the fan.  I know this is typical with kids in general, but it doesn't help when all that seems to shine are the frustrations/challenges of Logan.
 I then yell at myself to stop the pity party!!  We have a healthy, (mostly) happy child.  We have no terminal diagnosis or anything dramatically life changing.
Our day to day is more of a roller coaster than I could ever of imagined.
There are times I see him, and am in awe of all he is.  Then comes the times where I look at him and want to cry for him.  I want to cry about all of the unknowns.
Even though there are always unknowns in life but his seem much more intimidating for me.

When times are intimidating it still doesn't take away my awareness of how far he has come since last May.  This last year is far from what we "expected." (What year is?!)
We gauge Logan's progress differently now and some days that is hard.
Aidan is starting to notice more and has more frustrations about it.  He doesn't understand why Logan gets all this extra special times with his therapists.  To Aidan, Logan is getting extra special attention and treatment.
Daniel will never know any difference but he is quickly gaining on Logan and can do many things Logan has trouble with.
Some days are just hard.
They're supposed to be though.
It makes us who we are and ultimately better people.
This is a constant battle with me most everyday.

In the meantime here are some videos of our Sweet Wild Men showing us their smarts.


 Aidan is always asking us how to spell things so I asked him about some of his favorite things to spell.


This video shows how far Logan has come.  I saw him with a puzzle and he was willing to interact with me. For one of the few times he kept it up even after I got the camera!  :)



Here's a little video of DHR and his sweet little voice.
He is always telling us some secret.

2012

Andrew and I are welcoming 2012 and hope to see a "calmer" year.  

2011 was stressful and a little scary but nothing near devastating.  

We had some fun mixed in with it all too.  

We learned a lot about ourselves and about the needs of our Children. 

Andrew and I had a lot of time where we felt like we were in a cage being poked constantly.  Just to see how much more we could take.  

It was not our most graceful year, but we survived.  

2012, begins with many new goals and a hopeful outlook.  

These Goals may seem small to some, but for us and our Family they are leaps and bounds.  

We are hopeful of great and wonderful year. 

We are excited to see how our Children will further amaze and challenge us.