It took James a little extra time to recover from the shunt revision. As he gets older, the surgeries tend to get harder on him. But he is doing well now. We just saw the surgeon about two weeks ago. He removed the stitches and reviewed James' MRI. Although there is one ventricle that still looks slightly larger, he agrees that unless something is causing a problem, another surgery would not be the best idea for James. He was very happy with how well James is doing and how well the incision healed up. Now James just needs to get his hair back. :)
The last MRI showed growth in the tumor again. It is estimated that the tumor is about 30% bigger than when we started this treatment. The doctors have all agreed that they don't think we are dealing with the same tumor. It can only be assumed that when Dr. Wisoff took 70% of James' tumor out in 2008, and then it completely returned in 6 weeks, that what returned is not the same. Of course, James' symptoms and entire response to the treatment that he had already done for 4 years is also an indication that it is not the same. Anyone that knew James then knows that he did very well on the treatment with few complications and had 25% shrinkage of the tumor.....definitely not what we are dealing with now.
This has certainly caused us to step back and assess the decision that was made and ask God what He wants us to do. We can put James back on chemo and/or he can undergo radiation. I'm not saying that we won't have to pursue one or both of those options someday, but I don't yet have a peace about it. It is my hope that the tumor is growing because of the inconsistency of the treatment due to sodium issues and shunt related issues. The bottom line for me is that I need to be able to say, should James need to undergo chemo and/or radiation (which neither will be easy on him), that we have done everything we can for James first.
So the plan is to change our diet to a strictly healthy diet with juicing to stabilize the sodium, which would allow him to stay on the treatment more consistently, as well as aiding his body in fighting the tumor.
ABOVE ALL, to pray and ask God to turn this tumor around.....to do what the doctors and medicine cannot.
I do not have a date yet, but the next MRI should be at the end of August. At that point, IF the tumor continues to be out of control, we will definitely have to make a decision.
We appreciate EVERYONE's prayers for James. We certainly have not felt a crunch like this in James' care and life since he was diagnosed. I believed then that God wanted to show the world what He could do through James' life....and I believe it still today!!! It's easy to say "God is good," but it is our prayer that the truth of it will be seen in our lives.
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