What IT looks like

There has been a lot of talk lately about Chad’s head. What’s in it. What’s not in it (largely because he attended NC State…but I digress). I’m KIDDING, all you Wolfpackers!

In the Spring, we finally showed you the MRI images that started this whole journey.
I’ve wanted to show you more, but it’s a little bit of a pain now. When Chad started radiation last Summer, he started receiving all imaging at a different facility than before. The software is a bit different. The images are a bit different. The whole feel is just a little bit different.
I finally put all of the images together, with similar slices, for you to view.
I will warn you that the images started in August of this year are slightly less enhanced. This is due to the subtle differences in the different MRI machines.
I will try me best to walk you through the pictures. You should be able to click the picture for a larger view.

11.13.07
The first MRI. Pretty disturbing. Pretty….yuck.

11.08.08
One year later. Still no change.

02.04.09
Still no change.

08.05.09
The tumor is still there. You’ll notice that you can’t really see much of the cloudy mass towards the middle of Chad’s brain…that’s because there is no tumor there. That’s the area Dr. Tatter was able to safely remove. It’s difficult to see how much/how little was removed because you would need to see all the “slices” to get a real handle on the situation. Just believe me when I say that removing any of IT is truly a miracle. It’s even more of a miracle that Chad is missing a good little chunk of his brain and is, relatively speaking, functioning.

11.04.09
Still there. No changes. That’s good. And it’s not so good. We want some positive change! But we will take no change versus negative change.

Alright. There you have it.
The state of IT, two years later.

And, in case you’re wondering, Chad is not feeling better from the shunt reset. At all. He has noticed absolutely no change, and he should have started feeling mildly better by now.
He is sleeping terribly, even more so than usual.
He is fatigued.
He is lethargic.
And he is just…well, I don’t even know.
It’s hard to say if he’s had a good day or a bad day when every day is the same. Every day he is miserable and hurting.

I have to get him feeling better. And right now, I think he is leaning towards surgery. I hate to push it on him; I really do. But I feel like we have to try every reasonable thing suggested to us.
Chad & I were discussing this a few days ago & his statement was that he wants a guarantee surgery will fix the current issues. Of course, I would want a guarantee too. But no one can guarantee that. No person, any way. So we have to trust in the skilled physicians that we have been gently guided to — and pray for the best possible long-term outcome.

It’s hard to believe that two years ago, we were told that surgery was not an option and wouldn’t help.
Here we are…three (maybe four) surgeries in one year. The tumor may be “better”, but Chad is not.
Life can be so tricky sometimes.