2 weeks to the day...

when we took Soph to the ER at Central Dupage Hospital, and received the first shock of our nightmare, that the CT scan revealed a 4cm (later upgraded to 5cm) tumor in her brain. What a whirlwind of 2 weeks, all of our December has been spent in the hospital here.

We met with the neuro-oncologists yesterday, and they gave us the update that the medulloblastoma, initially thought to be the more aggressive, high-risk, anaplastic variety, has been "downgraded" to the classical category, which is more of an average-risk diagnosis. Here's a link to the American Brain Tumor Association site on medulloblastoma. The PDF brochure at the end of the article is a pretty comprehensive explanation of Soph's condition, in layman's terms.

This changes things a bit with regards to our treatment plan. They are still awaiting the second opinion from Mass General, but the chemo will change from a more intense 6 cycle, 6-7 month plan to a more prolonged 12+ month plan. That's a bit harder to swallow, b/c we were envisioning a long, but intense 10 month treatment, but now it seems to be longer than a year for her total treatment.

But we have to keep in mind that our goal is to obliterate this cancer, so that she is cured long term, and even if it's a rough short-term (1+ year), our goals are long-term in nature. We have to keep reminding ourselves of this.

We are still on track for Monday procedures to remove her EVD, spinal MRI, lumbar puncture, and port placement. This week has been a bit of a slow week with new news and updates, but we have a feeling next week might be fast and furious. There is a real possibility we might be discharged towards the mid or end of next week, so it'll be a busy week trying to move ourselves and all our stuff back home, then try to get settled in at home with our new normal.

Thanks again for all of your prayers, visits/food, emails, facebook messages, comments, texts, and offers to help. We definitely could not have survived these past 2 weeks without your help. It's just the start of our journey, and we'll definitely be leaning on all of you in the months to come.