Tuesday November 8, 2011

Today's appointments brought some relief to the anxiety we have been feeling.  Shannon's complete neuro exam showed good, even strength in all her limbs and good reflexes and control of her eye movement.  A slight wobble is present, and the ear pain and some head pressure persists, but Dr. Keating didn't see any changes that alarmed her.  She is hopeful that the symptoms Shannon has been feeling are most likely caused by fatigue and the chemotherapy affecting the tumor.  And, without steroids, these changes are noticeable to Shannon.  We discussed the possibility of needing a small dose of steroids again if these symptoms continue or worsen during the next maintenance dose.

Shannon also did bloodwork today and we looked at those results with Dr. Keating as well.  The line graphs show the effect that all the treatment and medications have had on Shannon's system.  Strange to see the data in picture form that shows how far some of her counts have fallen.  Yet, her various counts that are low are still not low enough to cause concern other than to remind us to be vigilant about avoiding illness as best we can.  To that end, all four of us got our flu shots today.

So, all things considered, Dr. Keating feels Shannon is doing very well.  We will keep an eye on these symptoms during the next cycle of Temodar.  We were relieved with how the exam went, but still anxious to see how the tumor has been changing.  We will have more definitive answers when Shannon has her fourth MRI next Tuesday.