Well, we are back from the hospital. Most of what the doctor told us we already knew, but he made sure we understood and let us ask questions. Justin also got the staples out of his head (there were three). I am impressed with the doctor. He is very good at making his patients comfortable, informed, and cared for.
First, the good news. The endocrinologist has decided that since there was not cancer in Justin's thyroid, they will just do nothing for one year, unless his airway seems to be getting in the way of his breathing. That is good news.
The neutral news is that for the time being, they are also doing nothing with the vascular malformation. It has a 3% chance per year of having a bleed. The doctors think that is a chance they are willing to take. Because of this, he has been restricted from power lifting with weights or lifting very heavy things that change his blood pressure. No problem.
Then the bad news. It is something we have known, but he put some numbers with it this time. Justin has an oligodendroglioma. It is a tumor that is slow growing and non-aggressive at this point. The doctors and pathologists have given it a grade II of four grades. Grade IV is the worst. It is not curable, and it is not fully operable. (I asked Justin if I could write this and he said OK, as long as I don't try to milk it for sympathy!) So here goes...There is a bell curve to the survival rate of gliomas. It is not a tall and skinny bell curve that results in most people having the same symptomes at the same rate. Rather, it is a short and very wide curve, so it is impossible to guess an individual's survival rate. However, the average is 7 to 10 years, with some as soon as 2 years from diagnosis, and some that have a glioma that has not changed in 20 years. There does not seem to be an advantage to treating a glioma right away. The doctors in Iowa City will wait to treat the tumor once symptoms are needing to be dealt with. They will have choices, but will probably do radiation first, then chemo, then surgery, in that order.
I have been looking at information on Justin's type of tumor on the Internet. This article is a good one that makes it understandable. If you are interested, there are many web sites available regarding brain tumors. The biggest piece of advice I can give you is to remember that no doctor or scientist has control over a life. That is God's alone. So all these facts are what we think, not what God knows.
http://www.abta.org/siteFiles/SitePages/BE237E81490FDB6286AF83C71D912A42.pdf
We have hope that Justin will have a long and prosperous life. We believe in miracles and hope for one. However, we also place this in the hands of our loving and gracious God, who loves Justin even more than we do, and already knows the outcome.
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