Quiet, Uneventful Day

Makenzie spent most of her day today sleeping. She woke up this morning and ate some eggs and drank some Sprite, but after that, mostly sleep. The physical therapist came in and sat her up for a bit. She does have some weakness on her left side so she made need some physical therapy. But, the surgeon said her post surgery MRI scans look great and he expects her to regain her strength quickly. Other than that, we don't know much else. She should feel a little perkier tomorrow as that anesthesia wears off.

Out of Surgery

Makenzie was a trooper. She started her day early with an MRI that took over an hour. Then, a few hours just waiting around. She went into surgery about 1:00 and came out about 7:15. The surgeon said it took a while, there were a lot of blood vessels in the tumor (yes, it was tumor and not a cyst) and it was a race to stay ahead of the bleeding. But she did not lose enough blood to need to be transfused. He was able to remove all of the new growth. He did not touch the old part of the tumor that is down in her brain stem as that is too risky. And right now it seems that Makenzie did not suffer any damage from the tumor resection. She did wake up, move her arms and legs, and talk a little (I know, hard to image that she only talked a little bit). They will keep her sedated and resting throughout the night. We are not sure of the pathology on the new growth yet. The pathologist said it looked like low-grade astrocytoma, but the surgeon thought it looked more aggressive. We will get test results and the brain tumor team will meet in the coming days to determine what the next steps are. Right now, we are just thankful for a successful surgery. We are also not sure if she will need her shunt replaced or not or exactly how long she will be in the hospital. That will all get figured out in the next few days. We will continue to post updates daily.

Unfortunately, because of the swine flu scare, NO VISTORS ARE ALLOWED IN THE ICU right now. She can take phone calls, you can leave a comment on her blog and we will read them to her, and we can make deliveries to her.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who has called, prayed, fasted, visited, brought food, watched our boys. We are extremely grateful for the support.

Today was a good day. We are keeping busy having fun to pass the time. There is so much to be done to prepare for being gone from home for 10 days. I wish it was because we were going on a fabulous vacation. We found out today that Makenzie has to be at the hospital early in the morning for an MRI. They will take it of her brain and spine. They need to make sure that nothing has trickled down her spine. After the MRI we will have to wait until noon for the actual surgery. We will have like 3 hours to wait in between. Then they are saying 5-6 hours of surgery and it is a rough estimate. I think it all depends on what he finds when he goes in. We are so thankful to be blessed to have so many wonderful family and friends surrounding us. We feel your prayers. Thanks to all who fasted on Sunday and to those who are going to fast with us Wednesday. There is still a chance that this could be a cyst. We are asking for the best possible results. That it is a cyst and not a new malignancy. terri :)

Surgery On Wednesday 4/29

We met with Dr. Moss, Kenzie's neurosurgeon, this morning. He told us that the new growth that we had been told was a cyst is probably new tumor growth. Makenzie will have surgery on Wednesday to remove it. We won't know for sure whether it is a fluid filled cyst of tumor until they actually get in there to remove it. The good thing about the new growth is that it is a solid mass, higher up in her brain, and is operable (the original tumor is not operable because it is in the top of the brain stem and is not a solid mass... it weaves its way inbetween and around healthy brain cells). The surgeon will remove all of the new growth, but will not attempt to remove any of the old tumor as the risks are too great. He said it will be a fairly straight forward surgery, the part he will be removing is easily accessible. They will send what they remove to the lab to see exactly what the new growth is and what treatments might be needed. After surgery, Makenzie will stay in the hospital for about 7 - 10 days. 5 - 8 days after the first surgery, she will need a second surgery to revise her shunt since the first surgery will probably clog it up. Then, after the shunt revision, if all goes well, she will come home 1-2 days later. They gave us the option of doing the surgery tomorrow or next Wednesday, but we decided to wait so we could get everything in order and have a little fun as a family first. We will be fasting this Sunday, 4/26, for a successful surgery and the best possible test results. We welcome and appreciate any and all who would like to join us. We will post updates as we get any new information.

Update

I got a call this morning from the hospital. Her Nero Surgeon Dr. Moss wants to see us in the morning to go over her scans. I am a little freaked out because he never goes over her scans with us. It is usually her oncologist. We know that it has to be something to do with her shunt or the cyst. It makes for such a long day today. Just waiting to hear the results. Chris brought Kenzie home from school again today with a bad headache. Her eyes were doing some funny things. Chris called the surgeons office and talked to his nurse. He tried to get some info from her but she wasn't going to say. She did tell him that if she becomes unresponsive to bring her in. She said Makenzie should be fine until tomorrow and that they will be able to fix what is going on. That makes me feel a little better but still. I am impatient and I want to know NOW! Carson has soccer practice tonight, then American Idol Result show and I have volleyball. Hopefully that will make the night go fast. Thanks for listening to me. :) t

Quick Update

Just a quick update. They finally called today to set the MRI up. We are scheduled for tomorrow afternoon. Kenzie does not like getting MRI's but knows they are necessary. She does great. She does not need sleepy medicine anymore. It is great because we can walk right in and right back out. Before, when they would put her under she would have to wait over an hour in recovery until the medicine wore off. That is a long time to hold still. I don't think I could do it. :) PLease pray that all will be well and that the doctors will know what to do for her.

We LOVE you kenzie :)

Field Day

First I think this is a record. I have posted more than twice in a month and now on to my third. I forgot how fun it is to keep this going. I have to brag a little on my Carson. He is such a sweetheart. He is so concerned this year with good choices and bad choices. He really wants to choose the right. I really hope he hangs onto that as long as possible. He is just getting too grown up. His first field day was on March 13th. He had so much fun.

Carson is playing soccer again. The last time he played he was in la la land playing with the grass other than playing. This year he has just taken off. He LOVES to play. I catch him practicing around the house all the time. Today at church I had to talk to him because he was walking down the isle during the sacratment practicing his kick. So funny. On Saturday he scored his first goal and then ended up scoring 2 goals. Way to go CARSON!!!! I am sad to say that I was so busy being excited that I forgot to grab a picture of him making a goal. Maybe next time :)

Random thoughts

I had every intention of mailing out Christmas cards this year. I printed my pictures. I decided what I was going to do and had all the stuff. I was doing a top ten for the year. Family being number one and a few other highlights. Life got away from me and they turned into Valentines cards. Valentines Day snuck up on me and here it is APRIL and still no cards. So this is a Merry Christmas, Happy Valentines Day, Happy Easter and anything else you can think of. All online so everyone knows they were thought of. :) Here are the Pictures I had printed. They were taken by my super cute friend Erin (THANKS!). Maybe I will have better luck this year.

I can't believe school is almost out. Chris will be home for the summer. I can not wait. Since Kenzie will HOPEFULLY not be on Chemo we are going to have a FABULOUS summer. We are going to have fun here for the first part and the middle of summer we are going to the Orgeon coast with Chris's family. We are just happy to not have to worry about dr's and such.

Today was nice. Went to church and came home a little early with Kenzie. She had another bad headache. As long as she has Tylenol the headaches aren't too bad. We forgot to give her some before church and I think that is why it got so bad. I wish I was a little more upbeat in my last post but I just had to vent a little. We are going to insist on an MRI in the next couple of days. We need to know what is goint on. terri :

Please Pray

I am a terrible blogger. Chris has done the last few updates. I am hoping that people still look at her blog because we need prayers. Everything has been so great for Kenzie. She has really felt well. School is great. Playing a lot. Started piano lessons. Just fun girl stuff.
On Sunday she started with a really bad headache and felt like she was going to throw up. This has continued all week. Monday she actually threw up twice. Lots of bad headaches. I am worried that it might be a shunt issue. Last scan it showed a cyst that had enlarged. I am worried that it could be getting bigger. She had an appointment today for a port flush and I talked to her nurse about it. She did not seem as concerned as me but said we would get her a scan sooner rather than later. I really can't stand waiting. I want a scan NOW! If the headaches continue tomorrow I might just take her to the ER and insist that she get an MRI. Please pray for her that her body will fight. Please pray for healing. Please pray that the headaches will stop. Please pray for new scans to come back with good results. We have been blessed beyond measure. We know our Father in Heaven answers our prayers. Miracles still happen. We are so grateful for everyone. Hope your weekend is great! terri :)