I am so touched by the outpouring of love and concern shown by just about everyone I've come in contact with in the past week. There is something beautiful about the unifying energy of a tragedy like this one. So many people of different races, cultures, religions and lifestyles, all with the same desire...for Andrew to be healthy.
Thank you so much for the words of encouragement, the good thoughts, phone calls, emails, texts, prayers and love. We have all benefited in many ways from the wealth of positive energy being thrown into the universe by so many!
Andrew had a pretty low key day today. He did a lot of resting, which he obviously needed. He's still on a lot of medication, but it was easy to see that our little Andrew is definitely still very much himself. I was able to talk to him for a bit this morning, and he is still as pleasant as ever. Not a single complaint...except maybe that he didn't want to eat any more jello because he really wanted chicken enchiladas. Unfortunately his little tummy didn't even want him to eat the jello, so I think the chicken enchiladas may have to wait a day or two.
He was singing songs, making jokes and smiling his sweet little smile whenever he was awake. He has many fans among the hospital staff, and they all love his sweet little disposition. He just never says no to anything they ask him to do!
They did a CT Scan this morning and found a 1/4 inch blood clot just above the area where the tumor was removed. They are hoping that his body takes care of it on it's own, but are watching it closely. There is such a huge range of implications for a clot like that, in that location, that it's scary to even think about, so we're dwelling on the fact that they do believe his body will be able to dispose of the clot on it's own. Hopefully we won't have to deal with it any further.
They also discovered that his top cervical vertebrae were out of whack so they gave him some muscle relaxers to help relax the area so his body could let the bones move back the way they were supposed to be.
Tomorrow they will be sedating him again to take a full body MRI so they can see a detailed view of his brain, brain stem and spinal chord. They'll be studying it closely to see if they can find any residual parts of the tumor or evidence that the tumor spread to his spinal column. The surgeon feels fairly confident, based on the size of the tumor and what he saw when removing it, that it had not spread, which is good news. Apparently, if it spreads to the spinal chord the tumor presents more like grains of sugar sprinkled on the nerve tissue rather than a solid tumor so surgical removal is not possible. It requires a much more intense and aggressive chemotherapy and radiation regimen to treat and is much more likely to resist the treatment.
If the tumor has not spread, he will still begin both chemo and radiation treatments very soon, but the outlook is much brighter.
They expect to put a semi-permanent tube in his shoulder near his clavicle to assist with taking blood and administering the meds while he undergoes the treatments, but at this point, if that is the ONLY tube he has to deal with I think that Andrew will be elated. He doesn't much care for the catheter or any of the other MANY tubes and wires hooked up to him right now, but they seem to be decreasing as time goes by.
Carrie, Ashley (my other sisters) and their girls arrived early this morning, and Taylor was elated to have her cousins to play with for the day. We're all hoping to do what we can to make Brittany's life a little easier as she continues to find the strength to deal with all of this.
It was nice to have my sisters here and wonderful to be energized by the loving spirits of my little nieces. I am truly blessed!
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