Troublesome Tumor

On Monday Kristi had a MRI of the just her head.  She has never had a scan of just her head.  She’s had full body scans that include the head – but those scans do not do a good job of seeing things in the head, especially the brain.  So, when she began having headaches and mentioned that to Dr. Ganjoo, Ganjoo ordered the head-only scan.

 

The good news is that nothing that we didn’t already know about was found; nothing in the brain – which was the best news.  She does have some cutaneous tumors on her scalp and we’ve been watching a tumor in her sphenoid sinuses (that’s the sinus area between and around the eyes).  That tumor has grown steadily over the last year or so and has encroached into the area at the rear of her right eye.  It is pushing on the optic nerve.  This has likely caused her vision to become blurry and may likely be causing the headaches.

 

So what’s next?  We had a video appointment with the radiation doctor today.  He gave Kristi the option of just radiation or surgery, then radiation.  He suggested that surgery before radiation would be more beneficial.  We will meet with a surgeon next week to discuss the surgery.  We are leaning towards the surgery/radiation option, but we definitely want to meet with the surgeon. There seems to be two ways to do the surgery, one less invasive than the other, depending on the size/location of the tumor.  So a consultation with the surgeon will probably solidify the decision.

 

We’ll have another quick update when she decides how and when to proceed; yet another when there is more to share, likely after the procedure.

 

Here’s a fun pic from our experience early this summer … a cable gondola ride above the rainforest in Cairns, Australia. Kristi spotted a koala in the canopy and we both saw a red tree kangaroo snoozing in the top of a tree.