Running for Lachie

We had our quarterly MRI yesterday and we got the results from quickly. Maybe it was because the Oncologist said he needed to talk to me alone, or that he started with "it isn't good".

The good news is that the tumour doesn’t look significantly different. However, there is a big cyst inside the tumour that has grown between the scans (seems larger than the tumour was at the last scan). They’re not sure about the options now.

The medical team could potentially drain the cyst but this has some risks and often cysts refill again in the future. They could possibly insert a catheter to help with draining if it refills. As it’s a cyst, it won’t respond to radiotherapy or steroids necessarily. It is also unclear what the impact might be for irradiation with the cyst there. And cysts can also become inflamed with radiotherapy.

The cyst can has the same impact as the tumour in terms of pressure on the brain, blood vessels and the system that drains the fluid for the brain (increasing the potential for hydroencephalitis again).

The medical team meet Friday to discuss options but the onc didn’t sound overly confident in any option (although noted that the options weren’t his area).

So we’re now we wait to find out if the back-up option for progression (reirradiation) is an option. In the mean time, we will plan an extra special birthday for Lachie (he turns 10 on the 17th of December) and Christmas (I'm thinking over the top Christmas lights and are welcome to suggestions!).